Ok, so I have been doing cakes for 2 years for friends and family and decided to start my own business. Here in NM we are allowed to bake from home so all I need is to get legal. My plan is to start small, since I work full time and I'm not planning on leaving my job, I enjoy what I do but I also enjoy making cakes. What I want to do is only offer small cakes, 6 & 8 inch round/square cakes at a fixed price, exactly what CharmCityCakes.com have on their website under "Cakes for Two". My only problem is that I don't have enough pictures of that size to post and was wondering if it would be a good idea to post your pics on a seperate folder and post a brief description of who made it and your website? Would anybody have a problem with this, or should I just wait until I get enough pics to post? Your input or any ideas are greatly appreciated.

Hi there - I would only suggest IF you choose this path you ask each individual member personally if you can use any cake image they own. However, I think its preferable to make and decorate half a dozen of your own cakes and put them up on your website instead...make it all about you, because otherwise the lookers might follow a link and simply buy a cake made by someone else!

All the cakes on my website were designed and made by myself only...I started out with not that many photos, but now there are over 150 I think. As your business grows, you add more, which will suit YOU as you are starting small as you begin to incorporate this new venture into your life (especially with a full time job already).

I say this is a really bad idea and be preparred for this thread to de-rail, blow up, get hostile and probably get deleted . Just being honest based on what I've seen happen to other threads about using other's works on your website.

Sell your own work. If you want visual representations then get dummy cakes and devote a weekend to do a few sample cakes to represent your decorator's ability. That's all people are looking at anyway, NOT scale.

I have a spot on my website for inspiration cakes that I credit to The Knot and Martha Stewart Weddings (none from CC), it's a separate link that I make clear it's not my work and I only did it to help with the "duh" brides that have no direction for their cake. But I waited to do anything like that until I made sure I had tons of photos of my own work and established a client base.

Now I run from this thread

Getting customers isn't just about having pictures of the right sizes of cakes...the pictures of your own work prove that you've got the skills to provide what you're promising.

I agree with the others. When people are looking to buy something they want to see what YOU can do, not what other people can do. As a customer this would turn me off...as a maker/decorator it makes me scratch my head, lol.

Spend an entire weekend making cakes...Or buy some dummy Styrofoam cakes and go to town on those and take pictures.

Thanks guys,
I knew I could count on you, you. You guys are always right and yes I'll definitely start making my own and wait 'til I have enough. I just wanted to start right away.

I agree with the others. They have some good advice. The main reason I do not have a website is because I do not have many cake photos. I am just starting out small for now and when I have done alot more cakes and am ready for more business, I will set up a website. There are a few cake decorators in my area with websites that feature only "inspirational cakes" (their words). I figure if someone has the knowledge to get onto your website, they can also type wedding cake photos in a google search engine. Good luck with your business.

Agree, only use your own work/photos. When I was starting out I'd bake a cake and then decorate the front and back differently so I could take 2 different photos.

You can get 3 or 4 photos from one cake.

Ice a 6" cake. Put a ribbon around the bottom. Take pic.
Add some scrolls/dots on the sides. take pic.
Add a 2nd thinner ribbon on top of the orig ribbon. Take pic. (here's a pic of a cake where I used 2 ribbons, just so you can see what I mean: http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1199535 )
Place some small BC rosebuds in a corner on top of the cake. Take pic.
Place a mound of icing on top of cake, then cover with lots of icing flowers. take pic.

With the above plan, I've got 5 photos to add to my website but only had to invest the time into making one cake.

Here's an example of taking pics to show multiple decors:
Plain Cake before any decor: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/3557926949/in/photostream/

Added Ribbon: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/3557921939/in/photostream/

Added flowers: http://www.flickr.com/photos/55969028@N00/3557916241/in/photostream/
(notice the mound of icing on top of the cake to give the flowers height)

I've seen a lot of websites lately that are only one or two pages & don't have a gallery. They just have an intro about the business, what type of cake, kinds of flavours, fillings etc. Then they just have a few pictures, of the cakes, on these pages with something like 'this is small a example of the cakes we make' Perhaps you could do this for now, as you are eager to start, then build your site up as you make more cakes.

Go to Lowes and get a sheet of Styrofoam insulation. Cut rounds and glue together to look like a cake. Ice and decorate each side different. That way you get two photos for one cake!! It will give you practice and photos as well.

Tami