I'm the same as most people here. I do most of them in lieu of gifts. If the friend wants something bigger than I normally do they pay for the extra ingredients.

There are times that I don't have a reason to give the cake away. That explains the extra pounds I'm currently carrying. lol

I also try to save as much money on ingredients as I can. I refuse to buy a cake mix that costs more than $1, so I watch the sales. And sometimes I used canned icing. Like today, for example. I've been wanting to try making a topsy-turvy layer. It didn't need to be perfectly smooth, so I just used some canned stuff. Based on the fact that my family is currently devouring it, I guess it must be okay.

I like the barter idea. How do you put a value on your cake when you barter? I don't decorate as much because I don't have the people to eat my cake. I have promised myself to get back on the horse this year. Honestly, I have taken money for cake before(really only what it actully cost to make the cake). I know that everyone who has their own bakery would like us to go in debt because they had to. Funny thing is almost every well known cake artist were Iillegal when the first started out. I don't understand how some people in my town have been doing cakes for years(even weddings) and have no plans to get legal. I think if you plan on making money from cake decorting you should get yourself a commerical kitchen. However, I would not envy them

..moving to Cake Decorating forum.

My name is Ginny and I'm a cake toy junkie.

I've been looking at the photos from many of the posters on this topic, and wow! Your cakes all look so professional!!!!!!!!!! I'm so impressed - and humbled!

I am a hobby baker and bake mostly for family and people at work. All the cakes are gifts.
As I don't get to do enough cakes for practice, I've now started to do dummy cakes for friends and family back home. I do cakes for their birthdays and anniversaries and e-mail them a picture. They are happy and I get to practice. They don't have to know that its a dummy cake.

I just learned to barter....two months in a row now my daughter is going to gymnastics for free because her instructor loves my cake! Other than that, it's in lieu of a gift for a party. Trying to figure out how to get tot he manager of Kroger so he will give me free groceries every month LOL (I wish!)
Ever since my family found out I like to play with cake, they buy me cake toys for bday and this past Christmas.

HI, my name is Linda and I am a (insert name of many many many hobbies) toy junkie! I really cannot ever try any new hobbies because I am flat out of room in my house to store the REQUIRED paraphernalia for anything else. I already even opened a retail business at one point to support one addiction! (Economy took care of that for me.)

Machine embroidery, English smocking, French lace heirloom sewing, cookies, cakes, knitting, quilting.......

I'm addicted to cake toys.

You can never have too many cake toys!

ahhhhhhhhhhh.....so we're calling "them" cake toys now are we!

I have enjoyed reading everyones comments and looking at all your great cakes. I took up this hobby after I retired and love it. I spend many of my waking hours thinking about and planning cakes. I like to try new things and learn new things all the time. I haunt the thrift stores, garage sales, and sales looking for things I can use for cakes. I spend way too much on cake toys. Some I may never use. I have just started ordering online. Wow! what fun.

My cakes are for family, friends, and my church. If I do for friends of friends or my family's friends I do charge a small amount to help pay for some of my toys. If I was charging for my time I'd be making 50cents to a $1 an hour. I love it when they let me design what I want.

As a hobby baker I rely on the jolly fat man to bring me caking presents around the holidays.

Most would think this is Santa but due to my DH's jovial personality and my penchant for the foodie arts, he refers to himself as the jolly fat man during the Christmas season!

*shrug* It's pretty much like any other hobby. I actually spend LESS on baking annually than I do on scrapbooking, sewing, jewlery making, and other craft supplies and I do occasionally have a friend want to purchase a special occasion cake or cookies from me. And even so, DH far out spends me on his electronic and computer gadgets and games and tools for his home workshop. At least most of the stuff I do ends up as gifts, instead of cluttering up the house!

I only bake cakes for my kids' and husband's bdays, and our anniversary. I would have to buy something, so we're actually saving money, and it's much better and more creative than what I would buy. I also bake cookies for every party in school that my kids have to bring food to, and even some that they don't. There are 3 charity organizations that I bake cookies for their fundraisers in lieu of a donation. I am baking 300 butterflies on a stick and 300 logo (stenciled) cookies for 2 of them this month. YIKES!!!!