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Original poster

Re - Cake Baking Business

13 replies

chorne39 · 09/11/2013 11:21

I'm not sure whether I should be posting in this section or possibly the education part of the forum. But here it goes anyway. I'm a keen baker - I love it! I'm just wondering if I can turn my passion for baking into a business or at least a bit of extra income. Does anybody have any advice or is there a course I could go on to help me get established? Any help would be really appreciated.

OP posts:

BoundandRebound · 09/11/2013 11:28

Depends if you can get people to pay what it's worth in ingredients and time you're talking a lot of money say £100 over a £10 supermarket cake

Your cakes would have to be stunning in taste and look IMO

Google novelty cakes

(Then have a look at cake wrecks for a laugh)

IslaValargeone · 09/11/2013 11:32

Is it worth having a bit of a baking session and setting up a stall in your local market or town street market if you have one? You could get a feel for what people like and possibly take some orders if people like what you are doing, then take it from there?

ChubbyKitty · 09/11/2013 11:42

I'm trying this right now as well. My first cake was a freebie for my friends wedding (just to test the water) and it was better than I expected, I really amazed myself. We are our own worst critics after all. At the minute I'm doing it in spare time, asking colleagues if they need one or know anyone who needs one and that sort of thing. Already got a customer for December as he saw the wedding cake and decided he wants a cake off me

Are there any local people doing it already? It's good to check out what they're up to and how much they charge etc to get a rough idea of how to get into it. One of my DPs friends does it and she gives me lots of useful tips, rather than us being rivals iyswim?

Good luck

Original poster

chorne39 · 09/11/2013 11:46

I bake cup cakes, stand alone cakes and decoration cakes but I'm not sure if I should be concentrating on one or the other. Any thoughts on this? Thank for the feedback...really helpful. I'm thinking that a market stall may well be the way to go.

OP posts:

IslaValargeone · 09/11/2013 12:42

I visited my local street market this week and spotted a cake stall, I think she was fairly new but it was peeing with rain and I didn't want to get soaked whilst asking her questions so I bought cakes and ran.
She was selling a mix of cup cakes, brownies, rocky road, and bigger cakes like Victoria sandwich etc.
The Victoria sandwich cakes were mahoosive. She had an offer of any 3 cakes from a particular table for £3 and 3 from another for a fiver I think it was. Dh had a rocky road and said it was lovely, but the main attraction for him was that it tasted home made and there as a bit of spice in it which made it stand out from a normal shop bought one as he said it was quite different.
I'd go with a mixture and take it from there, at the early stages it might be worth showcasing all your skills and then seeing what kind of feedback you get.
Have to add, I'm not a business person but I love a good cake.
I would certainly use this particular lady if I had an event I needed cake for, now that I know she does cupcakes and bigger stuff.
Best of luck with it all.

schmalex · 09/11/2013 13:02

I think it's very hard to make money from, so make sure you cost everything up before you start and work out whether it's worth it.

You should also do a food hygiene course and register your kitchen with environmental health at your local council.

Bunbaker · 09/11/2013 13:15

Since TGBBO has been such a big hit there have been so many more people either doing their own baking or starting up their own baking businesses. So what you have to offer will have to have some kind of USP (unique selling proposition) to stand out from the rest.

I go to a lot of craft fairs/fund raising activities and there are so many baking stalls still piled up high with cakes that I am beginning to think that the home baking market is reaching saturation point.

Sorry this sounds so negative, I just wanted to inject a bit of realism into this thread.

Original poster

chorne39 · 09/11/2013 20:00

Thanks for all your comments. I'm thinking that I might need a course of some description to equip me better in going to the next step to setting up commercially. Any thoughts and suggestions of courses?

OP posts:

IslaValargeone · 09/11/2013 20:26

There is a website called confectionperfection (sorry rubbish at links) it tells you about qualifications and other stuff.
It might be able to point you in the direction of courses near you?

Original poster

chorne39 · 10/11/2013 12:09

Hi Isla thanks for the website I've just had a look at confectionperfection.co.uk which seems to do loads of courses but they seem to be about baking cakes rather than the aspects of setting up a cake baking business. Has anybody any suggestions about suitable courses that focus on the business side of cake baking?

OP posts:

Original poster

chorne39 · 16/11/2013 19:07

Hi again. I've been doing a little bit of searching about on google and have found a couple of business orientated cake making courses. One is with Paul Bradford's sugar craft school and is online however this is specifically about a cake decorating business. I'm still not sure which route to go down. The other is at a School of Food which is a general setting up a cake making business

Has anybody any experience of either? I'm really struggling with finding any business orientated cake business courses. I'm surprised. I'm keen to not make too many mistakes and could really do with getting some practical insights before launching.

OP posts:

wrenster · 16/11/2013 20:38

I'm in a similar position and having started to run it i'm really having second thoughts as the monetary return was very little for the hours and effort put in! However I still do love baking so I'm keeping everything ticking along at a very low level which is working better.

I used a couple of things to help me start. There's a guide on Carina's cupcakes (she runs a v successful business) I think it's around £30. I also downloaded a book 'start a cake business from home' by Alison McNicol.

Personally to go on an actual course I think is unnecessary, presumably you know the direction to want to to I.e. celebration cakes / cookies / puds and so you just need to find out how to run the actual business which you can pick up.

Good luck with it all

serin · 16/11/2013 21:23

I am just so sick of the whole cupcake thing, now if you were to bake me a nice French patisserie style cake or a huge coffee and walnut sponge that I could cut and come again to or a well thought out quiche, I would buy that

We recently ordered a birthday cake off a lady at work (for a colleague) When we collected it we were all so disappointed as it was quite amateurish and any one of us could have done better. Price wise it was also a complete rip off.

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