The bakery made $1446 total. We represent this as the cost of each cake ($23) times the number of cakes sold (x) plus the cost of each dozen cupcakes ($18) times the number of cupcakes sold (y).
Thus, 23x +18y = $1446.
The bakery sold 72 items total. We represent this as the number of cakes sold (x) plus the number of each dozen cupcakes sold (y).