I am in North Carolina. I went through all of the steps and got a legally inspected bakery. I was having to pay rent on that space. I have decided to build my own small space at home and when it is competed, I will have it inspected again. I moved out of the rented space to use that money toward the construction. I still have my bakery page up on facebook and I am receiving requests for cakes. I have noted on my page that I am in the process of building a new bakery. Can I fill the orders for cakes from my home as long as I don't charge for them? Some people are insisting that they give me something for them, but I am not putting a price on these cakes. I look at it as an opportunity to build my skills while my bakery is under construction. Thanks for your advice.

just depends on if it is legal to do this according to your local regulations - you need to check locally for the answer

I would recommend against it. If these are total strangers, and for some reason someone is dissatisfied, there is a risk it may not work out in your favor, regardless if you charged a fee or collected a donation. You may want to evaluate if it is worth the risk.

Speaking from a similar situation we only bake for friends and family. As much as we are asked and sometimes even begged to do cakes for people we don't know we chose not to for everyone's best interest. When someone asks us to do a cake as much as I want to I always remember our future in baking is worth more than doing one cake now.  We do giveaways on our facebook page but always pick people we know to win ( we do it randomly still) that way we aren't baking for strangers  but still getting our product tasted by others and a chance to practice. Of course we would like to do cakes (or anything else we make) all the time to build our skills but one bad deal could ruin it all for us so we take what opportunities we get and really pour ourselves into them. Also when someone contacts us about a cake that we don't know instead of telling them sorry I can't bake for people we don't know I just say "sorry we are unable to do a cake for you we are already full that weekend". That way they will check back again with you and not be completely put off.  I told our local health department how I handled those situations and she was totally fine with it and understood why we wanted to say that. It's your choice but for us baking for only people we know is the right choice for us. 

It's easier to stay out of trouble than it is to get out of trouble :)  

I had not considered that. This is a good idea for me. I have people asking me about cakes but I don't think I have the skill to do cakes for people outside the family. Next time, I will say this.