Cash from Baking??

ButterflyX

ButterflyX wrote: »

Hi, I like everyone else new on here have been following this for a while. I was hoping to get some advice from those of you who run a cake making business from home. Is it easy to sort out the tax part of things? Do you have to fill in a tax return form every year? And do you make much money from doing cakes from home? This is the part thats been putting me off getting up and running really.

Hope you can help and by the way all of your cakes are amazing. I had my first attempt of rose swirl buttercream tonight and i am really happy with the results, especially for a 1st try.

Anyone got any advice???

neneromanova

babyplum wrote: »

Esmer - did you get this one?

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/2233/Professional-Piping-Set

I have had my eye on it for a while and can't decide if i should splash out or not....

I have these, bought them on a whim, and all I can say is wow. They are AMAZING!!!

Totally worth the money

Aaaaaand I'm back . After about 9 months Had to look after my new DD2. meaning the cakes have had to take a back seat for the time being

But now she's about 8 months, and letting me leave her alone for a while I can start doing cakes again

So how do I start? Shall I make myself a website? Get a couple of dummy boards and cover them and decorate them for people to see what I can do? or what? I'm confuuuuuuuuuused.

:beer:

code-a-holic

babyrut wrote: »

Brilliant idea, did you just cut around the edges of the doillie?

The doilies i bought had a printed line inside the pattern on the outer edge so i just cut along that.

judywoody

Hiya,

wow this is such a long thread!! I was trying to get some information but gave up after page 3 :-)

Problem is: All the information I could find online on setting up a cake business was mainly based on the US. I know what I need to set it up.
I have been self-employed in the past and know about taxes, insurance etc.

I was wondering if anyone of you guys think I can do it part-time? I would like to work 2.5 - 3 days max. and I am not quite sure yet if I should go for proper cake decorating (which I like but think is too complicated and time consuming if you only have part-time hours available) or make lovely cupcakes. I have looked at websites of local cake bakers and came up with the following result:

- all my future competitors have very cheesy and cheap websites (I think I can do better)
- all their cake designs are cheap or the cakes are way too expensive (if I work from home I could offer them cheaper)

Here is also something I would like to offer (I guess some of the local cake bakers do that already but I would advertise this specifically):
choice of interesting flavours (not just madeira, fruit and chocolate) like carrot, cheese etc and a choice of wheat free or vegan and other special needs.

I have already practiced cake decorating and everybody LOVES my cakes. Same thing with cupcakes.

What do you think about my ideas?

BUT: I wanted to restrict myself to Weddingcakes/cupcakes. Do you think that this is a wise decision? I offered free cakes in the past (just asked to pay for expenses) and I got swamped with birthday and general party requests. Which is great if you have the resources but because I can charge a little more for wedding cakes (as I would be working part-time) and what's even more important I really like wedding designs and would like to put all my time and energy into this one special cake I would make per week. I know how important a wedding cake can be to a person and I think it will be easier for me just to restrict myself to one theme.

Would that be ok? Could I get away with that?

Wanted to attach my latest cake (The bride chose the design) - I taught myself how to do it and this is I think my 5th cake or so...
But I think I am not allowed to attach anything yet..or can someone tell me where to find the correct button?

There u go:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/img20110408211649.jpg/

neneromanova

you have to host your photo with something like imageshack.us or photobucket.com and then it will give you a link which you copy into the reply box to add your picture.

judywoody

Duh!! Thanks..I could have come up with this before..

Here we go:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/img20110408211649.jpg/

Got a better picture somewhere else but just found this one...

babyrut

judywoody wrote: »

Duh!! Thanks..I could have come up with this before..

Here we go:

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/828/img20110408211649.jpg/

Got a better picture somewhere else but just found this one...

That's brill! No suggestions on what is best as just starting out myself!

ButterflyX

Hi, those of you who bake from home, just wondering what documentation you keep for each order you do, what records you keep, etc???

judywoody

@ButterflyX:
I would always keep any details the customer wants on the cake and also I would give them a receipt and keep the copy. When I made cupcakes I would also ask them for a deposit for the stand and give them a receipt for that.

steviecoyle

Bake small platters for parties or business events.

Also try a small facebook page with info about what you do and how to order. I know a woman who makes birthday cakes and uses facebook like this.

Google Real Bread Campaign, I know its for bread but you might get ideas.