I have been baking for only 2 months. I was wondering if it was ok to do this. Alot of people I know do it but I was just wondering if it was ok and if not what steps to take.

No... definitely not legal to bake from home in NJ. NJ makes it very difficult to become legal and you can get a very stiff penalty for violating this. I think you can rent commercial kitchen space and get licensed that way. I have a second kitchen in my house and I've been told I can't even get that licensed because it's attached to my house. Right now, I only bake for friends and family. I am researching renting kitchen space but I've had no luck finding a space so far. If you have find out anything else, i'd love to hear about it. Are you a member of the NJ cake decorators club? It's a great group and we have really fun meetups.

Yes. I am a member of the NJ Cake Decor. It seems to me that everyone or almost everyone in the group cooks from home. It must be really difficult to do it any other way.

Yep. that's exactly it. It costs a fortune to rent space anywhere in the state and then add insurance on top of it all so most people do it under the table from home. Alot of people say NJ doesn't really enforce it but it's a really stiff penalty if you get caught, I want to say like $2000. My worst fear is that someone will report me, a snotty neighbor or an unsatisfied customer so I don't risk it. Hopefully we'll see each other at a meetup soon!

I'm from NJ. Where is the cake decorator's club? I would really like more info

I'm from NJ. Where is the cake decorator's club? I would really like more info

try this link
http://www.meetup.com/njcakedecoratorsclub/

if it doesn't work, go to www.meetup.com and search for cake around montclair, nj and the club will pop up. Hope to see you soon! It's a great group!

thank you so much

So, is it even worth the risk to make business cards and sell them to people outside the family if the penalty is $2000? This doesn't seem to make sense or even be cost effective if that is the case! Any tips?

no its really not worth the risk I don't remember where to confirm what the fine is actually. I read it somewhere awhile ago and haven't been able to find it again, if anyone comes across any information, let us know. I think in addition to the fine, the other thing to be aware of is that if you get fined and later on try to open a business, it could hinder you... Now that being said, I attended a cake decorating class a little while ago that was led by someone thats been in the food business for awhile and she said its likely you will never be caught unless someone reports you or you advertise your business...

Thanks so much for the advice! I greatly appreciate any help I can get!