I absolutely love cake decorating! [and I find that everyone else here does, too...of course ] I am also interested in starting a business...however, I am currently a college student. Now, it would be great for some extra money, but I would absolutely LOVE to make a full-fledged business out of it. Many of my cakes have gotten rave reviews for taste & appearance. But...being realistic, could I pull this off? I fully understand that time constraints on cakes is not necessarily a good thing from the standpoint of being unable to produce a quality product. I also understand that college courses weigh heavily on time. But, most weddings are in summer, when I'll be on break...so?
But, I have a facility that I could use to run my business, have consultations, bake, etc. Being the experienced cake-bakers, businesspeople, and decorators that you all are, perhaps you can provide me with some insight! Thank you all so much!

I would go for it. I love when people go ahead a venture out. Start small and build you never know where it will lead. Yes its hard work but so what. When you love what you do it's okay. Find out in your area what it takes to get things going. You say you have a place check out about licensing, insurance all the things you would need to start a business. If this is something you really want to do don't let nothing stop you.

As long as you can do it legally, sure give it a go.

You'll need to (probably) take a sanitation class for yourself and have your facility inspected and licensed. Then register with your county and state for local/sales taxes, get a federal ID number for federal taxes. You'll need to set up some type of bookkeeping to track sales and tax amounts some that they can be remitted either monthly or quarterly.You'll need to set up some form for your business, LLC, sole proprietor or S Corp, create forms including a cake contract and worksheets. You'll also need liability insurance, generally at least a $1 million policy.

Then you'll need to figure out your marketing plan. And oh yes, bake cakes.