How much to pay a friend to make a Birthday cake??

Honestly i think a lot of people in the baking industry are determined to professionalise this type of thing. I suspect because reality is, the fact that there are lots of skilled hobby bakers out there happily making a retirement cake for Ken from accounts for free, is one of the biggest factors limiting what people are then willing to pay a "professional" baker for their time.

I've never bought a professional cake for the huge price tags you see quoted on here, I'd always simply nake my own. Its not that hard once you've learned a few techniques and built up a stash of kit. Its a hobby to me, i enjoy the time I spend doing it so I don't need to charge for it. Of course the professional bakers hate people like me, it undercuts anyone wanting to be paid for time spent on this.

I think giving him a fixed budget will be a good exercise for him in working out how much he is spending, how much he'd potentially make, how to work within a budget.

I agree with this.

Is it a special birthday that DH is having ?

as a 3 tier birthday cake is special.

and will cost !

I would pay for the cost of ingredients plus £20 hr . The time and effort deserves to be appreciated.
edited because I think anyone’s time is worth £20 hr regardless of age!

That'll be £60 for his time alone.

Offer to Pay him at least an extra £40

On top of the ingredients

Anything less is just a bit embarrassing

Thanks George, i'll take that very seriously.

Thankfully I'm an educated professional capable of reading the regulations in question and judging that they absolutely do not apply to me.

^This is good advice.
I'd say cost of ingredients and then £10-12 an hour for his time.

Additionally allergen training and level 2 food hygiene are 2 different sets of training. If you want to get your knickers in a twist about it 🫢

It is the same with making toys. Some people take the rules too far.

I was told I need to get a CE toy mark for a toy I was making for me.

In case it isn't blindingly obvious, i don't run a business.

Every fucking mum who's baked a birthday cake needs to apply the new labelling guidance. Right.

Honestly I'm pissing myself now.

Obviously not 🙄

I was talking about allergen labelling. If you’re not a business there is no legal requirement here in addition to no legal requirement for anything else.

I mean this kindly, but it sounds like you’d benefit from some guidance in this area.

I mean this kindly - dfod.

Since you are presenting yourself as an expert, please tell me what is the cross contamination risk of re-use of plastic items designed for reuse that have been sterilised?

You honestly do not fucking need city & guilds health and safety training to bake a bloody cake for a family birthday. I think you are really getting the wrong end of the stick.

Oh right so it's ok to kill someone with allergens if no money changes hands?????

Respectfully, I disagree.

Even if you don't need the certificate you need to be following the rules so people don't get ill

You absolutely do not need to have an EHO inspection for making family cakes for free. How absurd!!!
I’m not sure allergen stuff would come into play here either if there is no sale!

Respectfully, it doesn’t matter if you’re being paid, if it’s being eaten by a large number of people, then it will usually fall under food hygiene legislation.

Google says you do not need a hygiene certificate if you are making cakes for charity. And also not if you are making them for friends (as in the case of the OP).
If you are running a business, you do need certification.

No they don’t but legally you are not allowed to charge, even for ingredients. ‘Donations’ would be fine I guess.

Out PTA needs to have someone with level 2 food hygiene now even to make a cuppa!

The test is not if youre being paid, but depends on the number of people that will be eating it. It’s always advisable to have at least the city &guilds in food hygiene and if you’re sure your methods are hygienic, what’s the harm in having an inspection?

I mean this kindly, but it sounds like you’d benefit from some guidance in this area. You absolutely need to be complying with the new labelling rules too, which, respectfully, it sounds like you’re not.

A 3 tier cake will serve a minimum of 70 people and is very much a lot of cake.
Do you mean 3 layers?

From some googling, do food hygiene ratings even apply if you are not operating a business?

I think pretty much every PTA/WI/Rotary club/Scout fundraiser is more at risk than me making my kids birthday cakes, given none of those have their hygiene certificates either that I've ever come across.

Overpayment

Point me to the legal requirement to have a food safety inspection when you make occasional cakes for your own family & friends birthdays etc at zero charge?

I do not do this at any scale! I just make for nieces birthday, parents anniversary etc. I have a big family so we get through a big cake! You are really being absurd.

I have a full time job in finance, I'm not some craft baker dodging regulations.