How to Have Your Own Business as a Specialty Cake Baker

Description of Job - Specialty Cake Baker

• Create custom edible works of dessert art for celebrations and special occasions.
• Produce unusual image cakes and theme designs.

The Need

We are almost all blessed or cursed with a sweet tooth, and there are few better ways to mark a special occasion than with a cake. However, there are cakes . . . and then there are very special cakes.
134 PARTIES, ENTERTAINMENT, AND SPECIAL EVENTS
The specialty cake baker produces extraordinary cakes to the exact needs and wants of the client, customizing flavors, fillings, styles, shapes, and decoration. A child may want a cake in the shape of his favorite superhero or her beloved pop star. You could score points with a serious sports fan by making a cake in the shape of a football stadium or a baseball diamond. A corporate gathering could celebrate a sales meeting with a cake formed and decorated to look like its latest product launch. A custom wedding cake could include decorations and elements that make reference to the story of the bride and groom. One of the newest touches in cake decorating is the image cake, which uses a computer-scanned photo or a digital image to control a special printer that applies food coloring to icing to re-create a picture on a cake. Similar effects can be created freehand by a capable painter using edible inks.

Challenges

The primary skill is the ability to bake a cake and decorate it with an artistic touch. You’ll need to fully communicate with clients about how much chocolate is needed to satisfy a chocoholic,how much carrot goes into a proper carrot cake, and the exact specifications for frosting and decorations. You’ll also need to become an expert on state and local health codes related to the preparation, sale, and delivery of food. In some localities you need a license for commercial sale of food and may have to follow strict regulations about cleanliness, supplies, and storage of finished goods. Depending on the regulations, you may be able to perform baking in your own home or you may have to create a separate area; you may be able to use your personal utensils and other equipment or you may need to segregate them from items used for commercial work. You’ll also need to know about food allergies (peanuts are a somewhat common problem, and some clients may insist on food prepared without whole eggs, wheat, or certain other ingredients); and you’ll need to understand state and federal definitions of low fat and other terms that may impact your business. Be very specific about the size and dimensions of your cake,and give precise and reasonable estimates of serving portions. If you say your cake will serve 20, it is not your problem if 40 show up with plate in hand.

Know the Territory

You can’t become a specialty baker without having spent more than a little time in front of an oven. Develop a collection of tried-and-proven recipes (and know how to scale them up or down for different sizes of groups).
Special shapes for cakes can be accomplished by using shaped baking tins or by carefully sculpting sheet cakes. Image cakes can be created using freehand artistic skills or with the aid of some high-tech equipment. For freehand work,you can use an overhead projector or a slide projector to display a photo or drawing on a plain frosted background; special airbrush equipment can spray food coloring onto the surface. The high-tech solution is to use a computer scanner to copy a photo or image into a digital file,or to directly import a digital photograph. The resulting file can be edited using a digital image program such as Adobe Photoshop. Once the file has been prepared and sized to fit the cake, you can use special edible inks and an ink-jet printer to apply the image to a thin,edible carrier sheet that can then be put on an iced surface. Finished cakes can be picked up by a customer or frozen and packed with dry ice for shipment anywhere in the country. (Again, you’ll have to follow regulations about preparation and shipping of foodstuffs.) Frozen cakes are usually shipped in insulated coolers for overnight delivery; products shipped in this way can be sent to homes or businesses,but some carriers do not deliver to post office boxes or overseas locations.

How to Get Started as Specialty Cake Baker

Start locally by advertising your services on bulletin boards at community centers and schools. Place ads in newspapers and shopping guides. Make contact with area party planners and caterers. Offer a commission for jobs they send your way. Ask satisfied customers to recommend you to their friends and acquaintances; offer a discount or bonus for business they refer to you. Rent a table at wedding and holiday shows to display photos and actual examples of some of your work. Consider offering a “sample day” where, by appointment, customers can try some of your cakes.

Up-front Expenses

To begin, you’ll need a commercial or high-quality consumer oven plus mixing bowls, baking pans, pastry bags for filling, icing tools, and other utensils. You’ll need to invest in basic ingredients and store them properly. For formal cakes, you’ll need elegant presentation platters and cake plates. To create image cakes, you can choose to draw pictures freehand using a food-grade airbrush system with food coloring. The high-tech solution requires a computer and scanner to create digital files from photographs or an Internet connection capable of accepting digital images sent directly by customers; you’ll also need image-editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Finally, you’ll need an ink-jet printer, a supply of edible food color ink, and special edible transfer sheets that can be laid on top of an iced cake. Ink-jet printers range in price from about $150 to $350; ink and edible frosting sheets cost about $2 to $4 per cake. You will also need delivery boxes for local customers and shipping containers and access to packaged dry ice for cakes that will be sent by air freight.

How Much to Charge

In most situations you can set a fixed price for creating specific types of cakes at particular sizes. Add a fee for special icing or decorations and/or for special ingredients such as costly marzipan, fudge, or liqueur. For local customers you can include charges for slicing the cake and renting display dishes and utensils. For customers out of your area, add to the price charges for packaging, dry ice, and shipping. Prices for custom cakes deserve to be somewhat higher than for off-the-shelf offerings from commercial bakeries or out-of-the-box cakes from supermarkets. However, keep in mind all these competing prices your customers will find if they shop around. Typical prices for customized sheet cakes start at about $20 to $25; image cakes typically cost about twice as much. Fancy multilayer cakes can rise in price to hundreds of dollars.

Legal and Insurance Issues

Special notes: Make sure you are aware of any legal requirements in your area regarding the preparation of food. An insurance agent can offer counsel about commercial insurance or riders to your homeowner’s policies to cover business use of your kitchen (providing such use is permitted in your locality)