# Guides for home bakers

Canonical: [Guides for home bakers](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/)

Locale: en-US

Purpose: Practical guides for home bakers: how to price cookies, how to price holiday cookie boxes and how to track custom orders, deposits and balances.

Content updated: 2026-11-06

Source revision: d6e45e0aedce

Maintenance owner: Tidy Batch Studio

[Topic map](https://tidybatchstudio.com/llm/topics/site.md) · [Complete scoped map](https://tidybatchstudio.com/sitemap.md)

Worked examples for pricing and custom orders. Every number is a fictional example you can replace with your own.

## Pricing

*Start here*

### [How to price baked goods](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/how-to-price-baked-goods/)

The formula behind every price, with cookies, cupcakes and a cake compared, and why three times the ingredients is not enough.

*Cookies*

### [How to price cookies for a home bakery](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/how-to-price-cookies/)

Ingredients, time, packaging, fees and margin, step by step, with a box of 6 worked out.

*Per dozen*

### [How much to charge for a dozen cookies](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/how-much-to-charge-for-a-dozen-cookies/)

A plain dozen and a decorated dozen worked out, and why a dozen is not twice a half dozen.

*Decorated*

### [How much to charge for decorated sugar cookies](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/decorated-sugar-cookie-pricing/)

Price each design by the minutes it takes: simple, medium and detailed sets compared.

*Cupcakes*

### [How much to charge for cupcakes](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/how-much-to-charge-for-cupcakes/)

A dozen, a half dozen and single cupcakes, with frosting time, boxes and card fees.

*Market data*

### [What small US bakeries charge](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/bakery-price-survey/)

Published prices for decorated cookies, drop cookies and cupcakes from 19 small bakeries, read in November 2026.

*Holiday season*

### [How to price holiday cookie boxes](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/holiday-cookie-box-pricing/)

Mixed boxes, gift packaging, assembly time and order deadlines.

## Orders

*Orders*

### [How to track custom bakery orders and deposits](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/bakery-order-deposits/)

One row per order, deposits, balances and pickups you can see at a glance.

*Deposits*

### [Bakery deposit policy](https://tidybatchstudio.com/guides/bakery-deposit-policy/)

How much deposit to ask for, worked out from what a cancellation would cost, with sample policy wording.

*Free form*

### [Bakery order form template](https://tidybatchstudio.com/bakery-order-form/)

A printable custom order form for cakes, cookies and cupcakes, with the questions to copy into Google Forms.

## Prefer to try it with your own numbers?

The free [recipe cost calculator](https://tidybatchstudio.com/recipe-cost-calculator/) works out what a batch costs from what you paid. The free cookie pricing calculator turns that into a minimum price and a price for your target margin.

- [Find your recipe cost](https://tidybatchstudio.com/recipe-cost-calculator/)
- [Price a box](https://tidybatchstudio.com/cookie-pricing-calculator/)