Starting a Cake Decorating Business at Home, part 1

There are many reasons for starting a cake decorating business at home – from the artistic to the purely financial, and it is the intention of this blog to take a look at some of the things you will need to consider before embarking on this fascinating, enjoyable, and potentially lucrative enterprise.

Think about the numbers for a minute – there are 6 billion people in the world, and every one of them has a birthday every year. Of course, they don't all have birthday parties, and of those who do, not all of them will have a celebration cake, but even a small percentage of 6 billion is a fairly sizeable potential market, and that's just for birthday cakes. Consider the number of people who get married each year – just in your local area or circle of acquaintances – and then consider that everyone who gets married then has an anniversary each year, often celebrated with an anniversary cake. The numbers are starting to stack up, don't you think? Don't forget graduations, retirements, business and club anniversaries, and of course Christmas – all regular occasions that require the services of a creative and reliable cake decorator.

If you are considering entering this profitable market, there are a few things you will need to consider apart from the development and refining of your baking and decorating skills, and it is the purpose of this blog to address some of these issues, as well as to display some of the quite stunning photographs and videos of the amazing cakes made by some very clever people in this industry (of whom you will eventually be one if you master your artistic abilities alongside your business management skills.)

Here are a few ideas to begin with – there are plenty more in upcoming posts:

Specialise in one type of cake to begin with Every occasion requires a different type of cake, and these all use different techniques, materials, and equipment, and employ a wide range of themes. Decide on a niche, then research the market thoroughly and develop your skills accordingly. If you are mainly interested in weddings, then study that niche and become familiar with it. As you work the niche, you will gradually become known within it and build up a client base which may even be sufficient to enable you to make a good living from just the one niche, but if you wish to broaden your horizons, by all means learn and master other niches too. Many of the skills you develop are interchangeable across all areas of this diverse market, especially the basic business principles.

Perfect your techniques It goes without saying that your cakes need to be of a high standard before you can offer your services to the market. Practise makes perfect, and you can gain heaps of this by decorating cakes for family and friends (not for free though – it can be an expensive hobby, and you will at least need to recover your costs), and of course for your own immediate family's special occasions. If you need help to refine your skills, there are a number of top quality books and tutorials available online, or at the local bookshop, and you can probably find classes in your area as well.

The importance of promotion The cake you decorate and supply for a special occasion will be the focus of attention for a number of people for a period of time – cake cutting is usually the focal point of the formalities – so the cake itself is your best advertising tool. This will generate word of mouth, a vital ingredient in any marketing campaign, and absolutely indispensable in yours. With good word of mouth, you can probably run a successful cake decorating with no other advertising; without it, you may as well not bother. Of course good word of mouth advertising is not only free, but also very easy to get. You just have to provide a consistently high standard of product and service, and make sure everyone knows your name.