How much should you charge to deliver a cake? Charge round-trip miles at the IRS business mileage rate, plus your round-trip drive time and handoff time at your hourly rate, then add a setup charge for any cake you stack or finish at the venue. With the IRS rate at 76 cents per mile for July through December 2026 (opens in new tab) and an illustrative $25 an hour for your time, that comes to about $22 for a drop-off within 5 miles, $54 within 15 miles and $86 within 25 miles.
Those numbers may be well above a flat $10 or $15 delivery fee, and the gap is nearly all drive time. A 15-mile delivery is an hour in the car before you count the handoff, and that hour is time you are not baking.
The cake delivery fee formula, worked into three zones
Write the formula once and you never have to guess again:
Delivery fee = (round-trip miles × mileage rate) + ((round-trip drive minutes + handoff minutes) × your hourly rate ÷ 60)
In words: pay yourself for every mile the car drives, then for every minute you spend driving and handing off the cake.
The mileage rate covers the car. The IRS sets it for deducting business driving, and it changes: it was 72.5 cents for the first half of 2026 and rose to 76 cents from July 1 because of higher fuel prices (opens in new tab). That makes it a sensible, published per-mile number to price from, and one you can update when the IRS does.
The time term covers you. Use the same hourly rate you put into the cake itself. This is where a delivery fee most easily leaks, because driving doesn't feel like cake work.
Rather than calculating every address, price by zone, and price each zone at its outer edge. The customer 4 miles away pays the same as the one at 5, so the zone never loses money.
| Zone or add-on (one-way distance) | Mileage (round trip) | Time (drive + handoff) | Delivery fee |
|---|---|---|---|
| Up to 5 miles | 10 mi × $0.76 = $7.60 | 35 min = $14.58 | $22 |
| Up to 15 miles | 30 mi × $0.76 = $22.80 | 75 min = $31.25 | $54 |
| Up to 25 miles | 50 mi × $0.76 = $38.00 | 115 min = $47.92 | $86 |
| Tiered or wedding cake, set up on site | No extra mileage | add 30 min = $12.50 | zone fee + $12.50 + your risk charge |
Two inputs here are yours to change. The 30 mph average is a mix of town streets and a stretch of highway; check it against a real run or two of your own. The $25 hourly rate is illustrative; use yours. The table also leaves out the cost of a cake box, non-slip mat and cooler, which belong in the cake price because they ship with every order whether you deliver it or not.
The last row is the one that matters for weddings. A stacked cake means more time on site, and it carries the risk that something shifts on the drive and has to be fixed at the venue. That risk is why the wedding cake pricing guide treats delivery and setup as their own line with a stability premium. A flat risk charge, the same on every stacked cake, is easier to defend than one you invent per order.
Once the fee is set, the work is making sure it actually reaches the order. In Ardent Seller, the delivery fee goes in the sale's Shipping field, so it lands in the order's total and on the invoice as its own amount instead of disappearing into a round-number cake price.
Three ways a delivery fee leaks, and the fix for each
The free-delivery radius. "Free within 10 miles" sounds generous, and by the formula above it means giving away about $38 on every order that sits right at the 10-mile edge (20 round-trip miles plus 55 minutes). If you want a free radius as a sales tool, make it a deliberate discount on orders large enough to absorb it, say above a set order total, and keep charging the zone fee below that line.
Waiting at the venue. A wedding cake booked for 2 p.m. at a venue that isn't ready until 2:40 costs you forty unpaid minutes. Put a waiting charge in the order terms, billed per quarter hour past a grace period, so the couple's planner has a reason to have the cake table ready. A second person, if a tall cake needs two sets of hands, gets added at their rate for the whole trip, not just the setup.
The tax line. A delivery charge may be taxable in your state, and whether it is often depends on whether the cake is. The Texas Comptroller (opens in new tab) states the rule plainly: delivery charges tied to a taxable sale are taxable, and when the sale itself is exempt, the delivery charge is exempt too. Some states exempt a cake sold as food to take home but tax prepared or served food, so the answer can change with the order. Check your own state's rule before you add tax to a delivery line or leave it off.
If you bake under a cottage food permit, check one more thing before you set a 25-mile zone: whether your state limits how the cake travels. Arizona, for example, says a cottage food product that is potentially hazardous or needs time or temperature control for safety, and is transported before final delivery to the customer, must be kept at an appropriate temperature, cannot be transported more than once, and cannot be transported for longer than two hours (opens in new tab). Your state's page in the cottage food law hub lists where and how it lets you sell and deliver.
The short version: a delivery fee is a price for your time and your car, not a courtesy. Work out your three zone prices once, put them in your order form, and add the delivery line to every cake order you take. Start free with Ardent Seller to keep each order's delivery fee on its own line, next to the cake.
Related reading
- Wedding Cake Pricing & Contracts — How to price a wedding cake by the serving and write the delivery, setup and cancellation terms into the booking agreement.
- Custom Cake Pricing — The per-cake price the delivery fee sits on top of: ingredients, decorating hours and rush fees.
- How to Price a Dessert Table Per Guest — Per-guest pricing for a dessert table, where delivery is its own line and setup is already in the labor.
Free resources
- Home Baker's Order & Delivery Tracker — Log each order's delivery address, date and zone fee alongside the deposit and balance, so no delivery goes out unpriced.
This article is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, tax, or business advice. Cost structures, pricing examples, mileage rates, and sales tax treatment are illustrative and will vary by your specific circumstances and state. Consult a qualified accountant or small-business advisor before making financial decisions based on this content.