ok, so i'm gonna try to post this without making people mad or having a lot of people jump on me. i have a couple friends who have recently added a local bakery. this is fine with me, since i'm not legal and do not see that happening anytime soon. i decided to mosey over and check out their page. come to find out, they too, are not legal. and going through the pictures that were posted, i found several that showed cakes made from the wilton pans with price quotes under them, and more that show the cakes pictured with the pan itself.

i emailed wilton to ask them advice or see if they would say something to them. i know if i try to say something to her personally, they are going to take it as i am trying to get rid of competition...any advice?!? please help me figure out how to ease my conscience on this!!!

I think without being legal yourself, you don't have a leg to stand on as far as "telling" on them. Don't throw stones while living in a glass house.
Not jumping on you, but your conscience isn't going to be eased until you get yourself legal.

They may not know what they are doing is illegal. So many people are clueless when it comes to selling cakes. I was before I found cakecentral and thankfully only made cakes for family. I am now legal under the cottage food law. I would send this bakery a very nice message letting them know the laws in your area.

When you say made from the Wilton Pans, I'm gonna guess you mean that they were made from the copyrighted characters? Not all of Wilton's pans are under copyrights.

As far as what to do. You can send them a personal message, I would not do it on the public wall and gently tell them that copyrighted characters can't be sold legally, you can even direct them to the information where they can see that for themselves. You could also send them where to find the rules on baking in GA.

They either know it is wrong and don't care or they don't know it is wrong. As a WMI I can't even begin to tell you how many people took the classes so that they could sell cakes and had no idea that it wasn't legal to do in our state.

After that one message I'd leave it be.

If you want to get really fired up...go to Craigslist and under Baby and Kids search cakes and see how many people are selling cakes for birthday parties. There is someone that posts in San Diego and takes pictures of her cakes sitting on her disgustingly dirty stovetop. I always just want to post something informing the general public that home baking is illegal...and do you really want a cake from this place? LOL My best guess is that no one is buying her "fondant cakes for under $30."

My advice is just let it go. I know other people totally disagree that if we let them get away with it we are doing the world an injustice, people will get sick etc. I would rather track down the local drug dealers and report them...

We all have a right as citizens to be offended and to take action when the law is disregarded. When people have no regard for the law, along with this comes no collection of sales tax, tax evasion at the state and federal level, and non-payment of social security tax.

We as taxpayers, pay their portion of police protection, teachers' pay, social security paid with no contribution, and our very freedom by paying for our military. This is just four of many things we pay... our fair share and theirs.

Whether you turn someone in is a personal decision. Most people are turned in to the IRS by their own customers or someone who is aware of the situation and just gets fed up with it. The IRS alerts the other agencies.

I think you should be polite and honest with them and inform them, privately, that what they are doing is illegal in the state of GA. They might not know about the law.

When I took my last Wilton class, the teacher often talked about the cakes she was selling. There was another student also selling cakes from her home, so I started thinking about how to advertise and then I became a member here, and found out it was illegal to sell cakes from home. I did not report them but I CHOSE NOT TO SELL CAKES.

What I don't understand, is how a legal business can sell copyrighted characters and logos cakes? I doubt they are all asking permission.

I had the impression the OP had a major typo. Her subject line mentioned FB. I think she meant her friends added this bakery to their FB pages - because she said she moseyed on over to have a look.

I did not think that the OP meant her friends opened the illegal bakery. I think her question is legit based on my interpretation. But I am slow to jump on to the finger pointing wagon - with the exception of finger pointing to finger pointers.

To the OP: You contacted Wilton. You are done. You can contact the local authorities if you wish. Whether anyone with authority does anything about it or not is not your problem. You reported. Your fulfilled your duty.

And I am sorry that you cannot ask this seemingly simple question without fear of being blasted and then actually being blasted - confirming your very fears. Sad, really sad.

tryingcake, I understood it the way you did. I had the same thing happen when a family member asked for an outrageous cake as a present. She wanted a 3D bulldog... up on four legs. I told her I would be happy to give her the $125 in ingredients and supplies on the original cake she asked for and accepted, toward the $1000 cake she now wanted. I couldn't even do that cake, but my relatives were behind on their house payments and other bills so I thought my explanation of the cost of that kind of cake at any bakery was enough. She agreed to the original cake again. This was to be a three tier fondant cake that was school spirit all the way... plus cake pops and molded chocolates. Then my daughters see on facebook that she is still looking for a bakery and asks her friends for suggestions. You would not believe the list of illegal bakers with addresses and phone numbers. Yes, I have a file. Each one of these people have already had their HD warning and got another. About half are still advertising. I emailed her that obviously my cake was not what she wanted so I would be bringing a gift instead. Walmart got that order.

Just a little background, I am new to CC and have been baking as a hobby for a couple of years. I assumed that one had to get a license and bake in a commercial kitchen, etc. to advertise and sell cakes legally, so I just make cakes as gifts or have family or friends buy the ingredients for me as a contribution.

I just came across a wedding website that connects people with local vendors, and it actually has a section for cake vendors that lists whether they are licensed by the state or not. I am so discouraged at the number of illegal baking businesses in my area - one just blocks away from me. How can they get away with this? I am upset because I am working so hard to practice my craft and save my own legally obtained money so that I can finally be legal someday and open a business. These women have made enough large wedding cakes to be able to lease a space and get licensed and insured based on how much they charge per serving, yet they've been taking orders for 3, 4 years and haven't done so.

I know all the reasons I should become legal and I intend on doing so, but this is just discouraging that others can blatantly advertise without having a license. Anyone else feel this way? How do you continue to tell people who've seen your work that you can't sell them a cake because you're not legal?