Is it possible to make a (decent) living as a home baker?

[LivingoffCoffee]

I'm feeling very unfulfilled with my career choice and the whole covid-19 situation has made this more obvious to me. I love to bake and do a little "side hustle" selling cakes to friends of friends. It's not much now, but would usually do 1-2 a month without much promotion.

In my dream world, I'd love to be able to take a proper pastry course/degree and pursue baking further. But unless my DH gets a massive pay rise, I do need to continue bringing in a decent wage.

Any mumsnetters out there make a living selling baked goods from home? If you put all your (work) focus on that, can it be more than a hobby?

I have a friend who is a home baker and makes an excellent living. She is successful for a few reasons but the one being she is excellent. She has never ever done mates rates and she values her own worth. Her cakes are upwards from about £95 and go wel into the hundreds. She is very social Media savvy and she also supplements with cupcakes which are quick to do, look good and are less time consuming. But she works like mad, often 6 days a week.

I think unless you’re like the PPs friend, most hobby bakers struggle to make a decent living. You have to be excellent and not afraid to charge properly for your time.

You only have to look on MN to see what kind of cake people expect for £50 (when the ingredients cost £35)

My cousin made a few Christmas cakes for friends which grew into taking orders. It went from Christmas cakes / puddings to wedding cakes.
Five years on she was employing people and had taken on space to accommodate the size needed.
Covid hit , no wedding cakes required . She also supplied Christmas cakes to hotels/ businesses and would be making them now but it has dried up as hotels being extra cautious. She has just got herself a part time job in retail to tide her over.

I think that’s true. Because she does so many cakes she buys supplies in bulk and is very good then at maximising her profits. Honestly the key is absolutely charge what it’s worth and never apologise for your prices. She knows her market too - a wedding or christening cake is more simple to do than say a paw patrol one but it’s also more expensive because people will pay more for a christening than a birthday therefore the profit is higher. Instagram is her best friend.

Thanks for all the replies. It gives food for thought...

I own a coffee shop and sell bespoke celebration cakes alongside it, only 3 years down the line am I starting to see a decent return. I work around 60hrs a week though between running the shop and baking, so I'm not making a very good hourly rate compared to some but I love it!

I must say, I am pretty fed up of all the homebakers selling on fb over lockdown...most of them probably have no insurance, no registered premises, no hygiene quals, so very few overheads and likely not even declaring their income. I even saw one offering prosecco afternoon teas, I highly doubt she had an alcohol licence!