is it worth a go?

A question about : is it worth a go?

Sorry if this is the wrong place to post this question but here goes any way.

i'm looking to make some extra money & fill my time more once my children are all at full time school in september. I will have 3 days to myself.

would you pay someone to make a cake for you ie, bday's christmas etc?
i did years ago go on a ice decoration course but have since sold all the bits i brought.

i have been thinking of about do this as a side line for a while but just can't make up my mind if to go for it or not. also not sure how much to charge or how to start?

any advice welcome good or bad:confused: :confused:

Best answers:

• why not start at a car boot or local fair selling your cakes and ask the people who buy them? or ask around your neighbours to see if it takes off?
  homemade cake is always very popular.
  im not sure on the health and safety aspect, whether you'd have to have your kitchens inspected or something!!
• Word of mouth at the school gate is often a good place for these types of 'sidelines'. Many people do buy cakes made by others, so it depends if you make something that people want, and charge a 'competitive' price... There is a lady (mother) at our school who has made a mini-business out of making party bags, and providing the themed plates/cups etc for kids parties. She is kept quite busy!
  Things to think about... there will be others of course, but this is what comes to mind initially..
  firstly, after your course, were you any good at the decorating?
  Do you have pictures of cakes you have made to show people?
  Do you enjoy doing it?
  would you still enjoy doing it if you had 3 cakes to make for the same weekend?
  What are the 'set up costs' of the equip you need to get started ?
  What would the cost of the cake have to be to pay you a decent return for ingredients and time? (is that a price ppl will pay?)
  Good luck.....
• food hygiene certificates, environmental health inspections etc, are all needed when making and selling food products.
  My sister used to ice cakes for people and word got around, unfortunately it eventually got round to the council who inspected her kitchen and issued her with a "notice to cease production for general public" which meant the kitchen was fine for family, but no good for making stuff to sell.
• Hello 2kidsonedog,
  Reading what has gone before, I know that all are true, but equally, don't want you to feel discouraged before you begin.
  Charity shops and carboots are good sources of equipment - there are no risks with cleaned and sterilised decent-looking tins, icing tubes, wedding cake columns etc.
  I want to wish you well and say HAVE A GO! AND CONGRATULATIONS FOR EVEN THINKING OF IT, ahead of your little ones' departure for school.
  Very sensible and you write with thoughtfulness, too.
  Whatever you decide - and I can't see you doing nothing at all - I really feel you'll succeed.
  But YOU must remain in charge of your own agenda/timetable. Keep it pleasurable, both from the earning(not to mention the template your children will absorb) and from your sense of independent self.
  BONNE CHANCE, BON COURAGE!
• thanks guys for such quick replies.
  everything you have writen is something i have thought about.
  Ampersand your words are very kind.
  oh well trying out scones tonight much to hubbies delight.
  also trying them out on a friend in the morning,
• Is there a local WI market [or whatever they call themselves these days] near you?
  AFAIK you do not need to be a member, but they at least would give you a steer on selling cakes, maybe even at the market
  My local one has loads of yummy stuff there, including cakes
• As someone who has worked in catering for a number of years, I'd suggest that you look carefully into this before you do it. You cannot legally sell, for an extended period of time, food that you have made in your home kitchen. There are certain 'loopholes' that allow you to sell a cake at a school fete, for example, but these say that you can only sell things that you have made for a certain number of days per year and there is a limit to the number of consecutive days that you can sell this produce.
  You would also need to invest in public liability insurance, and it is now a legal requirement that all people involved in food production have a basic food hygiene certificate. Your kitchen would need to be regularly inspected by an EHO and it is very unlikely that a domestic kitchen would pass all of the requirements - you really couldn't produce cakes etc that are to be sold 'professionally' in a household kitchen. You would also have to produce ingredients sheets and allergy notices, and create COSHH documentation for all of the cleaning products that you use.
  I don't mean to be discouraging but it really isn't as simple as just baking a cake and selling it. There is a reason for all of the food hygiene regulations and you can't just bypass them. You *could* set yourself up icing cakes for friends and neighbours and *hope* that you never have any problems or that the authorities never find out, but personally I think that's too much of a risk.
  I know that I sound harsh here but I have had experience of people who do this kind of thing and it has not been good. As a baker and confectioner, I was once asked to ice a christening cake baked by 'someone's friend' who made cakes from home and sold them. This I did, only to end up in a very difficult situation because someone, when eating a slice of the cake, had nearly choked on a paperclip that had been baked into the cake. It turned out that this woman had used paperclips to hold the greaseproof paper together and had lost one. She admitted what she'd done, thankfully for me, but from that day until I left that bakery we absolutely refused to decorate any cakes other than our own.
  Again, I don't mean to sound negative but please think of all of the ramifications - at the end of the day you could, potentially, make someone ill and if you're selling the cakes for a profit then you face a LOT for trouble.
• Don't want to discourage any money making ideas but health and hygiene laws are now very strict please look into this carefully your local council should be able to advise you.not everyone bending the regulations gets off with a warning some get fined. Its a minefield off redtape out there these days
• Oh no, this was my grand plan too. I have a lovely 4 month baby & want to stay at home and cake decorating seemed perfect. I havn't done a course though, I just practiced and people thought they were good. I've only ever sold 2 but really just to cover costs. I knew about the health & safety bit but it seems like a lot of hassle for a bit of icing!!! I think I'll have to find something else, shame though because it costs a fortune to get a cake from the cake shop & they don't use really nice ingredients. Mine are all butter yum yum!
  Maybe the best option would be to try and get work with a cake shop if there was one near? Although that doesn't help with wanting to work from home... hmmmmm....
• One of my friends used to make very fancy cakes and before long she was in demand by people that had seen them.
  She wasn't doing it as a job, but as a favour so asked for expenses for the ingredients. However, she found that no-one anticipated just how much time and effort went in nor how much the ingredients actually cost as most of them just used to buy themselves the cheapest types of cakes at the supermarket. So they often got very annoyed and refused to pay the full amount.
  In the end she gave up even though she used to derive enormous amounts of pleasure making them for others, now just makes for herself.
  I think the same is true of other hand-made items that people sell. Buyers will often want to pay the least amount possible and it could lead to unpleasantness.
  That said, I know someone else that makes cakes for famous people and sells them from their house but were a professional caterer at one time so I'm guessing it must be easier for them to set it up.
• Well done, geordiejoe.
  I was startled to find this objectionable individual newly on an ancient thread I'd once looked at.
  Thought Mods were removing him/her/it.
• Absolutely! We know of a couple of people who do this from home as extra cash. One person seems to make a bog standard cake with strawberries and kiwi on top but it sells big time.
  It works on word of mouth more than anything else so spread the word!
  Hygiene certificate will be needed to of course!
  (although the post has been deleted, I take it we're talking about the one and only Hayleyco?!)
• Indeed we are nads.
• I'd say, do it properly and meet the council head on...I mean right from the beginning. If you do your home work, you may get approval? After all, that young lad who made no sugar superjam (now in major supermarkets) started from his own kitchen!
  I'd also do online marketing, shopping cart etc so that people can make an order with a click of a button!
  Have a look here too https://www.bigbarn.co.uk/producers/index.php?place=mk14
  Good luck!
  mp