# Why are cakes in the grocery store so gawd damned expensive? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 13, 2014, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182 "2014-10-13T06:07:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/101 "2014-10-17T00:54:16Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > Yup. Minimum wage in most US states is around $7.25/hour. There’s a movement to push it up to $10/hour, but hell if that’s going to go through because we’re the US, and we like our people poor and uneducated. At least, those in power seem to. And raising the minimum wage throws people out of work. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2014, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/102 "2014-10-17T04:17:35Z")
Wasn’t that the same argument made when the minimum wage was introduced? :dubious: > [@Yookeroo](#): > > Maybe. But I’d say it’s pretty rare for a grocery chain to be baking their own cakes. Decorating? Yes. But not baking them. Well that I couldn’t tell you. But it’s not just “some goop” on top of them. And they are pretty damned good. ---
**Author:** ![actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@actualliberalnotoneofthose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/actualliberalnotoneofthose)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/103 "2014-10-19T01:25:20Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > And raising the minimum wage throws people out of work. Some (and some data) would disagree, but in my experience we aren’t even talking about minimum wage jobs here. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/104 "2014-10-19T02:49:29Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Well that I couldn’t tell you. But it’s not just “some goop” on top of them. What is it then, spotted toad snot? If it’s red and it’s consistency is “goopy” calling it red goop is no vice! ---
**Author:** ![dba\_Fred](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c37758/32.png) [@dba\_Fred](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dba_Fred)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/105 "2014-10-19T17:02:11Z")
But is the red goop **Gluten Free**! ??? (inquiring Dopers want to know) ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/106 "2014-10-19T23:32:01Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > What is it then, spotted toad snot? If it’s red and it’s consistency is “goopy” calling it red goop is no vice! Tell ya what – why not put your money where your mouth is and try making the same cake on your own? Then tell us if you can do the same for $5 bucks? ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/107 "2014-10-19T23:51:57Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > Tell ya what – why not put your money where your mouth is and try making the same cake on your own? Then tell us if you can do the same for $5 bucks? Too late, boombalatty, my wife already did. Bought cake mix (white) frosting and some orange goop. (red goop was the same price). Total was $5.12, twelve cents higher than my estimate so sue me :rolleyes:. Oddly the goop pen was the most expensive item.😕 Other than the color of the goop cake looked identical and tasted mighty good. Was going to take a picture of it but she had cut it up and gave my daughter inlaw half of it before I got around to it. You are aware that we’re talking about a single layer, nonfilled sheet cake, correct? Not the multilayer cakes that I saw that were actually 12 bucks less for some reason. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2014, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/108 "2014-10-19T23:56:53Z")
Thanks to this thread, i actually checked out cake prices at my local Vons when i went in there today. They had two half-sheet cakes available: a white cake with white frosting, and a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. Each cost $33. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/109 "2014-10-20T01:23:20Z")
> [@pkbites](#): > > Too late, boombalatty, my wife already did. Bought cake mix (white) frosting and some orange goop. (red goop was the same price). Total was $5.12, twelve cents higher than my estimate so sue me :rolleyes:. Oddly the goop pen was the most expensive item.😕 Other than the color of the goop cake looked identical and tasted mighty good. > > Was going to take a picture of it but she had cut it up and gave my daughter inlaw half of it before I got around to it. > > You are aware that we’re talking about a single layer, nonfilled sheet cake, correct? > Not the multilayer cakes that I saw that were actually 12 bucks less for some reason. So you paid $5.12 in cash and you wife made the cake and you now confirm you consider the cake was made for (about) five bucks. Congratulations, you have just confirmed that you value your wife’s time at $0 per hour. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/110 "2014-10-20T01:32:51Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > So you paid $5.12 in cash and you wife made the cake and you now confirm you consider the cake was made for (about) five bucks. > > Congratulations, you have just confirmed that you value your wife’s time at $0 per hour. And he likes powder and frosting. Or stole the milk, eggs and oil. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/111 "2014-10-20T01:35:49Z")
> [@](#): > > Not the multilayer cakes that I saw that were actually 12 bucks less for some reason. This is what I’m most curious about. So there’s a multilayer cake, same dimensions selling for $12 less? I would actually ask the store why that is. The sheet cake selling for $29 I wouldn’t even notice, but that there’s a multilayer cake selling for $17 at the same or comparable size? Yeah, I’d wonder about that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/112 "2014-10-20T01:40:13Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > And he likes powder and frosting. Or stole the milk, eggs and oil. If it’s a standard cake mix, then it’s also a 9"x13" cake not a 12"x15" cake. But, really, it doesn’t matter. Like I said, I can bake “artisanal” bread for about $0.50-$0.75 that the store sells for $4-$5. So what? Sometimes, I’ll buy that loaf anyway, because I don’t have the time or energy or desire to bake up that loaf and the 8x premium is worth it to me. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/113 "2014-10-20T02:07:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > If it’s a standard cake mix, then it’s also a 9"x13" cake not a 12"x15" cake. But, really, it doesn’t matter. Like I said, I can bake “artisanal” bread for about $0.50-$0.75 that the store sells for $4-$5. So what? Sometimes, I’ll buy that loaf anyway, because I don’t have the time or energy or desire to bake up that loaf and the 8x premium is worth it to me. Right, but as suggested by **Princhester** ’s most recent comment about the value of **pkbites** ’ wife’s labor, it’s not really an 8x premium unless you believe that your time and your labor are worth nothing. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/114 "2014-10-20T03:53:53Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Congratulations, you have just confirmed that you value your wife’s time at $0 per hour. You’re perpetuating the myth that these grocery store cakes aren’t being made on an assembly line in a factory. They are. Until rather recently there was such a factory very close to my house. The cakes rolled off the conveyer belts dozens, maybe hundreds per hour. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/115 "2014-10-20T04:15:58Z")
No, I’m not confusing anything. You said you made the cake for about $5. The ingredients cost about $5, so that means you valued your wife’s time at nothing. How much it cost the factory to make is a different question. On that subject, way back at post #100 I asked you a question and you never answered. How about we start there? ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/116 "2014-10-20T08:35:51Z")
pkbites, What price do you think those cakes should be sold for? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/117 "2014-10-20T10:05:59Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > pkbites, > > What price do you think those cakes should be sold for? Another question: if they cost less, would you buy them more often? ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/118 "2014-10-20T10:13:43Z")
Nothing better to do this rainy morning so I worked out how much it actually cost me to make a simple Victoria Sponge cake. Two layers, 8 inches round, with jam filling. We would cut that into 12 slices. 8oz Flour = 25p 8oz Fat = 69p 8oz sugar = 20p 4 free range eggs = 83p Vanilla essence and 16oz jam = 75p Electricity = 18p Total = £2.90 ($4.67) If I wanted to ice it, I would use ready made icing and that would add £1.40 ($2.26) Time to make is a guestimate of half-an-hour. I don’t count the half hour the cake spends in the oven unsupervised. I used the supermarket website to price the ingredients and they are the ones I normally use, not the cheapest. I notice that they sell a sponge cake, size not specified but supposedly for six slices, for less than £1. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/119 "2014-10-20T12:56:38Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Aso FWIW, in the milieu in which I grew up, serving “bought cake” was distinctly frowned upon. The product was regarded as second-rate, not something fit to be served to guests or worth eating yourself. Even something like a wedding cake you would make yourself (and not from “cake mix” but from basic ingredients) and then send out to have professionally iced. Interesting. Trying to think of another example (not the social valuation part) of shared food prep in this way, beyond gussying-up a professional store-bought food. Or using any packaged (“professional”) ingredient at all… ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2014, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182/120 "2014-10-20T12:59:00Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > Nothing better to do this rainy morning so I worked out how much it actually cost me to make a simple Victoria Sponge cake. Two layers, 8 inches round, with jam filling. We would cut that into 12 slices. > > 8oz Flour = 25p > 8oz Fat = 69p > 8oz sugar = 20p > 4 free range eggs = 83p > Vanilla essence and 16oz jam = 75p > Electricity = 18p > > Total = £2.90 ($4.67) > If I wanted to ice it, I would use ready made icing and that would add £1.40 ($2.26) > > Time to make is a guestimate of half-an-hour. I don’t count the half hour the cake spends in the oven unsupervised. > > I used the supermarket website to price the ingredients and they are the ones I normally use, not the cheapest. I notice that they sell a sponge cake, size not specified but supposedly for six slices, for less than £1. Also, you know how to bake cakes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-cakes-in-the-grocery-store-so-gawd-damned-expensive/701182.md?page=7)