I occassionally do cakes for friends and family, but since I'm not a legal bakery I don't want to get in trouble for selling my cakes so when asked how much I would charge I don't know what to say. I have always told them, "Since I'm not a legal bakery I can't set a price, but the cost of the ingredients are $xx." I then pray that they give me a "gift" for my time. However, the last 2 times I've done this I have only received the reimbursement for the ingredients...the first time the cake took me 14+ hours! The second time it was two half sheet cakes with one having a pregnant belly on top. No compensation for my time and energy at all is not acceptable to me and this is from friends from my church! I know it has to be a problem with the words I'm using that makes them think it's okay. What words should I use instead? I need some serious help or I'm going to have to start saying no Please help!

If you can't sell legally, you'll just have to say no unfortunately.

I understand totally. I bake for family/friends/coworkers and look at it as a way to cover the cost of my hobby. Some people give a " gift" but not all, and ones that think it's terrible that people don't pay me for my time never ask for a cake. Sometimes though I feel worse when they give you $10 for your time- usually 10+ hours. Cakes for my sisters and families are always a gift from me

Your phrasing doesn't need to be re-worked. But YOU have to decide if you are going to "sell" without a license or remain a hobby baker who does NOT get reimbursed for your time and talent. Unfortunately, this is an expensive hobby. Unless you plan on selling "under the table" as is done by many, many people; all you are going to get is the cost of ingredients/supplies. If you want to sell cakes and get paid for your talent and time, you need to investigate and see if your State/County allows a legal Cottage Food option for home bakers, or what is required to be legal.

Selling non-licensed cakes is a VERY hot topic here on CC because those bakers who have gone thru the considerable time and expense and business preparation/marketing to sell cakes legally are offended that new cake decorators can undercut their business by up to 90% with no investment of time or overhead before selling cakes. With that said, there are a TON of people who sell cakes without a license all over the USA.

As far as friends and people at church not compensating for your time and energy, it's not going to happen. Don't take it as a personal affront or slight, they have ZERO clue what it takes to make a custom cake. You gave them a $$ number ("Since I'm not a legal bakery I can't set a price, but the cost of the ingredients are $xx."), and they happily pay it and think you are happy to receive that amount.

If you did not provide a $$ amount for the ingredients, they would think it costs you about $15-$25 MAX for the ingredients and supplies. Ask a couple of neighbors who have seen your cakes and who have NOT been quoted a price for ingredients. All of them will give you a massive "understatement" of price. Then ask them how long do you think it takes for me to make this cake? They'll probably say 2-3 hours.

Good luck with your decision.

Aren't you busy enough giving cakes away to friends/family/co-workers?? I said no to a friend of a friend the other day and it felt great. It was one of those "My one year old is having a first birthday and we think it would be great if you could make her these SUPER COMPLICATED cupcakes for next to nothing!! So could you just, get right on that? Thanks!"

I said, in these exact words "Hi XXX, I only make cakes for super close friends. I am sure there are many bakeries that would be able to accomodate you. Have a great day!"

Still LAUGHING.

A good response for this type of question is to just say that you can't legally accept any money for cakes made out of your house, but you can give the person the cake as a gift (if you are so inclined). This gives you the opportunity to control the scope of the cake so it doesn't get out of hand.

Another response would be simply saying that you don't have enough free time to make the cake, but you can recommend another reputable baker in the area. This also works if you get push back about increasing the complexity of the cake.

It would be fascinating to hear back from you if you refer people to another custom baker in the area. Custom cake price sticker shock should elevate your personal status considerably. (It will also enhance your status in the local custom cake community to refer potential business to others.)

Sparklekat6~~Your work and designs are AWESOME!!!!! I looked at your photos and sighed with deep and avid appreciation. (I laughed at your post about your family saying, "How many hours will it take for the carousel cake?"
Hours??? HOURS???? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
"Umm... about 50".

If your family doesn't even "get it" after all this time, sure as heck nobody else has a clue.

Let us know if your friend "XXX", gets a quote from a bakery for one of those SUPER COMPLICATED cupcakes.

"Since I'm not a legal bakery I can't set a price. It would cost you $942 if you were to order it from a custom cake shop - so you decide what's fair."

@Apti: Oh I am sure he won't. People think they can act dumb, like we don't know they called us because we are hobby bakers and they think they can get a huge break on the price. I personally find it really insulting. My time is just worth too much. Especially when compared to how much I make in my actual job.

If you don't live in a state that allows you to bake legally from your home kitchen you should not take a dime, not even for ingredients. Even taking funds for the cost of ingredients is selling the cake. End of story.

cakesdivine is correct. Even barter is considered income. The only amount of money you can legally accept is none. Not even ingredients.

Doing this kind of complicated work when you cannot be paid even the minimum wage doesn't make sense. People who buy cakes this way are doing harm to the ability of all bakers to earn a decent wage.

PLEASE do not let anybody run you around this way. If you want to take a cake to a family/friend party you do so as a gift. Period. No "proper wording" is going to change your status. What you can change is peoples perception that they should get something for nothing.

Sorry to open a can of worms. Thanks to all that were kind and those of you that weren't, well.......

I think you should have the person wanting the cake buy the supplies, Then they would realize a gift would be warranted. AND it isn't bartering or selling.

Nothing is ever clear cut in the law. There is always a grey area. If someone provides you with all ingredients, you turn those ingredients into a cake, and after the cake is made, you return all unused ingredients, I can't see how you, the baker, received value in that context.

However, if you keep any ingredients, you would be recieving value. And that runs afoul of the law, even if you only kept the two eggs left over in the carton that was dropped off for you by the person asking for a cake.

Of course, this doesn't help the OP any because she wants advice about actually getting paid for cakes as an unlicensed baker in a non-CFL state, which is illegal. As someone said above, there are tons and tons of illegal bakers out there, in every state receiving compensation, including profits, for their work. They do this because in most locations, they are able to fly under the radar (no advertising other than word of mouth), and if they do get noticed (usually because someone turned them in), authorities usually just warn them to stop (or if there are fines, they would have been less than what they would have paid to be fully licensed and insured). Again, this is illegal, but many perceive the risk of getting caught and suffering dire consequences to be low, which is, unfortunately, why there are so many unlicensed bakers out there.

I'm a teacher and I make cakes and cupcakes for department luncheons and showers for colleagues I know pretty well. Staff members ask me all the time to make cakes for their events. It goes like this: " I loved the ( for example) tiki cake that you did with the flowers and the bamboo. Would you make me one like it for my daughter's graduation? I can't spend much, only about $ 30." The cake, of course, took me twelve hours and $50 worth of ingredients. It's so nice to be able to say, "Gee, I'm sorry, but I'm not licensed, so I can't." That will be followed by some sort of wink wink, "We won't tell", or "I'll pay for ingredients", or "I'll just slip you a gift card". If I do agree to make a cake or cupcakes or fondant figures for someone, it will be for a friend and it will be a gift. I can always say no if I don't have the time or if I just don't feel like doing it. I never feel taken advantage of and I never break the law. I do take the time to casually inform people about how much ingredients cost and how much time it takes to make these things. I also tell them how those cakes they see on TV cost. BTW, I especially like watching "Fabulous Cakes" when it's on because they tell you how much the cakes cost.

Duplicate post

No, it doesn't mean it's wrong...  Sorry, but I completely disagree. 
 

Oh good grief.. 

     Don't listen to the negative people on here.  If you want to sell a cake to someone who knows you and wants to buy, then go for it!  Just because it's "illegal" doesn't mean it's wrong.  I can't believe that people are actually telling you that you can't even accept cost for ingredients because it's "illegal"!  That is just silly nonsense and don't listen to it. No one is coming to arrest you because someone gave you money for a cake. No one is coming to fine you because you've sold someone a cake.  If people at your church or work or wherever know you do cakes and want to get one from you.. go ahead and tell them what you'd charge for your time.  You'll have to come up with prices on your own based on how good and how professional you think your work is and what other people charge in your area. 

The only thing I think you should watch out for as far as legalities go is if you start doing many cakes and you advertise, have a website, are handing out biz cards... At that point I would be careful as the county could catch wind and ask if you are licensed.  You could potentially be fined, but normally the county would just tell you, "you can't sell cakes here without a license.. so stop".  But that's ONLY if you've become so big that everyone in the county knows you do cake.

As far as your wording..  There's no need to say, "I'm not a legal bakery".  I think everyone you talk to will know that you don't have a store front and are baking out of your home kitchen.  Just make sure that indeed they know you'll be making the cake in your home kitchen as most will assume anyway.  And then do whatever anyone else would, see what kind of cake they want, how many servings it would be approximately, estimate a cost for ingredients and then estimate how much time you think it would take to make.  You could mentally set a price per serving to give you a ball park.  For example, someone says they want a cake for 25 people..  and your base price is $2 a serving.  Mentally you can ball park this cake at $50.  At that point you could tell them, "ok, well I would charge between $40 and $60 depending on what type of cake you want"     

Again, if you're just selling cakes to people from church, work, family n such...  My rebel self says GO FOR IT! 

No government will EVER tell me that I can't sell a cake to someone if I want to.. PERIOD! 

If I were ever fined I'd take it to the news and get "7 on my side!" and struggle to get the laws changed.  But fortunately I live in a state that has cottage food laws and am very lucky.

Please take my advice, because I'm right.  There are people that will twist my words and try to make it sound as if I'm suggesting you go sell crack...  We both know that is not the case. 

Since when is cake illegal?  lol  Makes me shake my head and wonder and laugh.
 

I also understand that Uncle Sam wants his cut of the action...   But that's if she's doing hundreds/thousands of dollars in business per year...   Uncle Sam is not going to give two figs about the 4 cakes she sold last year for $50 each... 
 

A

If your state's food safety laws do not allow food made outside an inspected commercial kitchen to be sold, then you can't legally sell food from your home kitchen, even if you break even or take a loss. Your chances of being caught are directly proportional to your volume and visibility in the marketplace.