Starting a Cake Decorating Business.

Since the birth of our first child 2 and a half years ago, I have started a family tradition of crap birthday cakes. The cakes are edible (very nice actually - the one in the picture is my very popular carrot cake) and little kids don't care, but I would really like to be able to present a cake for their birthday parties that I don't feel the need to make pre-emptive jokes about. Decorating has never been my strong point, but as the children get older, I don't want to embarrass them with cakes like this one - my son Hamish's 2nd birthday cake - (Rua means two in the New Zealand Maori language; we are members of the Ngai Tahu tribe). I am determined to make one he and I can both be proud of, and there is only one way to do this - take lessons from someone who knows what they are talking about. I have found this fantastic e-book that focuses on developing your cake decorating skills to a standard easily good enough to go into business - Cake Decorating Secrets - and if you are wanting to start a cake decorating business, this would make an excellent companion piece to the programme previously mentioned.

Well, I've been practising. He wanted a blue fairy cake for his birthday party, so that's what he got! I've discovered that I'm not a brilliant cake decorator - I'm also no good at drawing pictures and as for my handwriting - the less said about that the better! What I have found though, is that by applying some of the methods I have learnt over the past year or so, even an artistic black hole like me can make a cake for his son's birthday that he is not embarrassed to show. (Actually this one got quite a bit of praise, even though it looks a bit like it was bought in a cheap Hawaian souvenir shop!) The important thing is that I learnt some new methods, ingredients and skills, such as buttercream icing, which makes the whole cake decorating process so much easier. Anyone with creative ability can make professional quality cakes by learning and applying the methods taught in Cake Decorating Secrets and easily make cakes good enough to sell.

He asked for a gingerbread house house ages ago, and by the time his birthday came around he had forgotten, so this was quite a surprise for him (and a major mission for me as I had to hide the work in progress every night so he wouldn't see it). It takes a few days to make a gingerbread house, especially for a gluten free vegetarian child.

The house itself wasn't that hard, as I have a really good recipe for Gluten Free Gingerbread Men which is also really good and strong for the structural demands of building the house, but decorating it was quite difficult as most confectionery (over 90% of what I could find!) is made of gelatine which of course is no good for a vegetarian. It was great fun though, and I was especially pleased that I managed to stick to the rule of everything on the cake being edible (except for the candles).

Hamish especially liked being able to pick bits off the house to eat, as he is usually told off for picking at things like this! I haven't received an order for next year's cake yet, so watch this space. Meanwhile, his little sister is 2 on Sunday, and I still haven't added her cake form her 1st birthday. Better get busy!

Once you have polished your cake decorating skills to the necessary level, you are ready to take your creations to the world (a world that is willing to pay for them!). Here a few tips to make this process as efficient and profitable as possible.

Research Tax and Health Regulations in Advance These will of course vary between states and countries, but the basic principle is the same - find out what is required of you before you start. It is best to make sure you meet their requirements from the beginning, rather than find yourself being audited (or worse!) at a later date. Keep detailed records and receipts of all your expenditure from your very first 'practise' cake so you can claim all expenses against income. No expenditure is too small - they will soon add up - and why give the taxman a larger slice of the cake than you have to? Find someone helpful within the tax department (they do exist!) and find out what you can claim - you may be surprised. In my country (New Zealand) home based businesses can claim a sizeable percentage of their rent or mortgage, and their power and telephone bills as a business expense, and it is not a difficult procedure. Find out your local requirements and adhere to them - it will pay off in the long run.

Photograph Your Cakes at various stages from initial design to finished product. This is extremely useful to refer back to in the future and is also vital for the building of your portfolio to show prospective customers, and for your various promotional efforts - brochures, websites etc. It is also a good idea to get copies of the official wedding photos of your cake - most photographers will be happy for you to use these in your advertising in return for a credit (and photographers are good contacts to have in your wedding industry networking.)

Promote your cakes, your business, and yourself. Promotion and advertising are vital for any business, even more so for a home based business with no shop front. Use brochures, business cards, websites - anything that will help spread the word. And remember - the best advertising for a cake decorating business is the cake itself. Make sure as many people as possible at the various places your cakes appear know who made them and how to contact you. Leave some business cards with appropriate people who can give them to anyone who enquires. Word of mouth is your best friend here - if you start to build your business by doing cakes for friends and family, word will spread and you will soon attract customers from the wider public. And of course - use a website.This is great for a portfolio of photos and general information, and an easily remembered website address is better than phone numbers or street addresses. Using sites like Squidoo is not only very easy, but also very inexpensive (actually it's free!). Sign Up Here

Be Aware of Fashions and Trends The wedding industry is as fashion conscious as any other industry - perhaps more so. Keep abreast of trends - watch the wedding channel on cable, attend wedding and bridal expos, take note of what people are doing at weddings you are invited to. The same applies to children's birthday parties if that is the area you are working in - be aware of what television and movie characters are popular with kids. In this type of business you will need to strike a balance between the traditional and the modern, so keep your finger on the pulse and make sure your portfolio has examples of both.

Have Fun Like any business, cake decorating is hard work, but how many businesses create a product that is so much fun to make, so beautiful to look at, and most important of all - delicious to eat? Remind yourself when you have broken your third cake of the day and are surrounded by a pile of chocolate and fruit cake fragments, and misshapen fondant flowers, that office workers can't eat their mistakes! Just watch your weight!

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