If you love baking and enjoy being creative with your masterpieces, owning a cake decorating business will be an enjoyable experience.
There is no feeling like the one you get when you have finished designing the perfect cake for a client, especially when it’s for a special occasion such as a birthday, anniversary or wedding.
In fact, selling wedding cakes may often be the bulk of the orders that come in, and most often are the most successful home based cake decorating and baking services in the industry.
The more special attention and customization that you put into your work, the faster your name will be known for quality and reliability, and since these cakes will always serve as a focal point of the party, you can quickly create client lists with little effort, as long as your finished product has been created with your client in mind, and not just based on what you believe will be appealing.
Start-Up Costs
The cost of starting your own cake decorating business is a lot less than you might think, especially when compared to more traditional brick and mortar businesses. Since your first step should be to create a service from your home you can save on overhead costs, such as rental space, larger equipment and of course, staff.
To start your business from home you will just need the essentials including basic equipment, baking supplies and of course elbow room! You should also designate an area that you use for your baking supplies.
Most people who are considering a home based cake decorating business generally have most of what they need, so, again, the initial start-up cost should be low.
The Industry
Wedding commerce is a huge industry, and when I say huge, I mean a 30+ Billion dollar a year business.
Whether you intend on focusing just on this market or expanding to include other special events like anniversaries, birthdays, catering or restaurants, there is a lot of potential and an enormous opportunity for you to make an ongoing, steady profit just by baking and decorating these cakes.
In the following chapters of my Cake Decorating Business series you will discover exactly how to start and run a successful cake decorating service as well as other features including design ideas, how to build a client list, financial considerations and equipment and supplies that you will need.
I will always do my best to give you as much information as possible and since I always update this book with additional resources, you will receive alerts when a new version is available (as long as you say on my mailing list, of course).
Getting Started
How should you begin?
My first step was decorating birthday cakes for families in my community. I placed a few ads in the local classified and put up some bulletins on the shopping mall entrance boards.
Within a few days I had calls from potential clients, and within a week I had over 11 orders. I catered to baby and bridal showers as well.
These cakes will be the main source of your income at first, however as you grow and take on the wedding industry you will see your business really soar!
While every cake is very important wedding cakes tend to be the center point of the event, since it is a very large part of the reception process. In addition, wedding cakes are highly photographed especially as the newlyweds cut into it.
For this reason I treaded carefully and only focused on wedding events after I had been in business for a couple of months.
As a cake decorator you must realize your responsibilities are enormous.
Tools Of The Trade
You can take online workshops, you can watch the cooking channel, you can read about how to create the perfect cake, you can do all of this and more but NOTHING will help you improve your skills than taking a hands on approach and actually doing it!
So, what tools will you need?
If you are a bake regularly you probably already have most of these baking tools in your kitchen, however if you don’t, rest assured that most of the baking supplies are relatively inexpensive, and some of them can be purchased at a later date whenever you receive a custom order that requires them since otherwise they aren’t used that often.
Here are the tools that I made sure I had when I started my cake decorating business.
1) The Obvious One, An Oven!
Myth: You do not need some specialty-baking oven to create the perfect cake. A regular oven will work just fine, provided that you are able to regulate the temperature correctly. If your oven is under-cooking in one corner and burning in another, it is probably time to head out to your local appliance store and consider a new one.
2) A Hands-Free Electric Mixer
My grandmother, a popular cake decorator in the city burned up three stand mixers before she had ever learned about the Kitchen Aid mixers.
She then bought a second hand Kitchen Aid 5 Qt. mixer over 20 years ago. That mixer is still in use to this day. The icing she uses really does put some stress on the mixers.
My point?
A heavy-duty mixer is a must. This will quickly become your new best friend. It’s an essential piece of equipment for the cake decorator and something you can not avoid buying.
The Kitchen Aid 5 quart Artisan stand mixer is perfect for the job. They are not cheap however they will save you a lot of time, so it’s well worth the investment.
If you shop around you can usually find them on sale, so be sure to hunt down a bargain for this item before you buy one.
Here is the link to all of the models that are available:
Kitchenaid
3) Cake Turntable
Sturdy turntables are a necessity. There are several styles and designs available for the sugar artist.
From the basic small plastic version, to a reversible one side rectangular and the other side round with an elevation of about 6 inches, to the motorized elevated turntable. There are many sizes, designs and prices to choose from.
A better quality turntable is best since that way when you get into heavier tiered cakes you will not have to purchase a new turntable.
4) Baking Pans
Good quality basic shaped pans.
As you are acquiring your equipment buy the best quality pans you can afford.
Buying good pans does make a difference. Don't buy the bargain versions if you plan on using them for a long time. Multiple sets of the basic shape pans will allow you to bake in a shorter amount of time. One 14” pan must cool after baking before you can wash it, refill it and bake again.
Your time is valuable. Two or more sets will allow you to use your time to a better advantage.
As your business grows you will probably want to even add more sets. I personally work with 4 sets of the round size pans that include sizes in 1-inch increments from 5 to 18 inch pans.
Larger shapes are available but you must make sure that your oven will accommodate those sizes.
Measure the inside of your oven before buying the larger size pans. The other shapes such as hexagon, square, rectangular and etc. are not requested as often in the wedding cake business so I only keep 2 sets of each of those.
For those odd size pans (5, 7, 9, 11, 13, 15 and 17 inch) it is advisable to always shop at professional bakery equipment supply stores, craft stores, or online cake decorating site rather than a department store.
Talk to professional bakers about the pans they use and check out online forums for bakers. If you plan on using your pans for a long time, investing in a quality product makes all the difference in the world and will save you money in the long run since you will not have to replace these items as often.
Versatile Shaped Pans - The ball, petite doll pan, horseshoe, and others can be used for many things. The ball pan can be used for all kinds of balls, soccer, basketball, baseballs, and etc.
Half of the ball pan can be used for a baseball cap, a domed top on a building, or maybe even rounded top on a wedding cake. That little pan is very versatile.
Make sure the pans you purchase have 90-degree sides and corners. If you will be doing cheesecakes, purchase pans with removable sides.
5) Cooling racks
Large heavy duty cooling racks are a necessity.
6) Separators
As your business grows and you start to create wedding cakes you will need separators. Choose wisely in deciding on the type of separators you want to use. The most stable of set ups is the type that the legs go through the cake and rest on the plate below. Again storage space is important along with the look you want.
7) Angled spatula - For applying and smoothing icing.
8) Piping (or pastry) bags – For creating borders and other decorations.
9) Couviers - For changing tips easily.
Tips - Basic tips include those used for lettering and creating flower petals, leaves, and borders. Purchase others as needed.
10) Digital Camera
A really good camera. Learn to take really good close up pictures of your cakes. When you are trying to establish yourself in your community as a sugar artist these pictures will show your customers just what you can do.
Other Items to remember:
Greaseproof paper
Tissue paper
Foil
Icing scraper or comb
Icing ruler or comb
Serrated knife
Decoration for top of cake
Pillars (if required)
“Possible” Legal Requirements
The following is a list of things that may be required of you to become a legal business.
City - State License
Fed ID No for Tax record purposes and buying from the wholesale florist, restaurant supply and institutional food warehouses.
Health Dept. Fee - City and State
Physical House Requirements MAY include:
3 compartment sink with a grease trap installed
Hand sink and mop sink ( 2 separate sinks)
Lights covered (They make clear plastic tubes that cover the fluorescent bulbs)
Washable surfaces - walls, floors, cabinets, counter tops
Ceiling must be of non-absorbent material
Separate refrigerator, freezer, oven (with thermometers)
Separate Entrance
Storage for Equipment - pans, spatulas, bowls, etc.
No pets in work area
Approved Water source
All Ingredient containers must have covers and be labelled with contents and dated in refrigerators, freezers and cabinets
Heating and Air Conditioning may need to be separate from the house system.
If your cake decorating area is to be a separate building from your house you will probably be required to have a small rest room installed.
Best of luck to you in your home based cake decorating business
Until Tomorrow,
Terry
Additional Resources
Cake Decorating Business Secrets (Free direct download)
Frosting Perfection (Free direct download)
Expert Cake Decorating (Free direct download)
