My state does not license home kitchens. If I found a licensed kitchen to use, do I need anything else? Do I need a license? Do I need to do anything to be legit beyond having a commercial kitchen to use?

You need to contact your local health department to find out exactly what you need. It varies by state, county, neighborhood, etc.

More than likely, YOU will have to take a food safety course and apply for a permit.

I sent a cake with a friend today and two people at her shindig asked if I would make cakes for them. I hate to turn them down and I'd love to be able to find a way to do it---and sleep at night

Here in NYC you need to have insurance to rent out a kitchen.

I have use of a restaurant kitchen and I needed to get a permit and inspection through the dept. of agriculture, a tax ID number, and I needed to take a food handlers exam. Once I cut through all of the red tape and figured out who I needed to talk to, it was fairly painless but a little expensive...I'm in FL

A little expensive, rharris524? I'm in Fl, too. Good to know.

The food handlers course was about $100 and the permit was about $230...I don't have insurance b/c I'm covered under the restaurant's but otherwise that would be about another $300

Thank you for the specific breakdown!