I Feel Good...dunuhdunuhdunuhduh! But Is This Illegal? ^_-
Decorating By Cakeuhlicious Updated 11 Aug 2011 , 10:24pm by BlakesCakes
I'm not worried about this particular instance, it is merely an example. However, if I continue to offer this to friends and friends of friends, I want to make sure it isn't a no-no. Lets start by saying while I work in the baking industry, I don't work at or own a bakery, nor do I have a permit to make food commercially from my home (don't boo-hiss just yet!).
My BFF asked me to make cupcakes for a baby shower she is throwing for her sister. She is going to go shopping with me and purchase the ingredients and then help me decorate too. She asked me what I wanted as payment for this and I said nothing, but I asked her to instead make a donation, in her own name (or the baby's name), to a charity organization I have been interested in helping, and provide me a copy of the receipt.
Since there is no exchange of funds, is there anything terribly sketchy about this? I usually have a guest or two at friend's events that ask me if I would make something for someone other than the friend hosting the event and I always say no, because I make all of my stuff for friends/family for free as it is not legal otherwise. But this I would def. consider continuing, if it was unlikely to get me into trouble. Thoughts?
Your baking with a friend. I see nothing wrong with it. Even the donation isn't in your name... Nothing wrong with it at all.
No exchange of funds = no commercial transaction = no problem.
Baking for friends or family is not an issue in my book! Thats how most start off, right? What I do when baking for fam/friends is instead of payment i just have them buy the ingredients.
Sweet! I assumed she couldn't give me money to buy the ingredients but I wasn't sure if her purchasing them herself would be alright. I also didn't know if the "strong suggestion" (and request of a receipt) for her charitable donation would be a problem. I would love to raise more funds for charity this way. 
Maybe support the local food bank or soup kitchen, that would be a really nice "food" related charity.
All of my cakes are done for donations to a charity/non-profit.
The client chooses the charity, I tell them the retail value of the cake, they do an online donation & e-mail me the receipt no less than 48 hrs. before delivery OR I bring a money order made out to the charity (which they copy and/or keep the receipt from) and they give me the cash equivalent, mailing off the money order ASAP.
I require a receipt in the amount that I've determined is the value of the cake because I absolutely must know that the donation has been made or else there is NO CAKE.
I also tell the person the value of the cake because, sadly, for many people, left to decide for themselves, they'd actually think that a $50 donation would be "more than enough" for a 3 tier cake. For that amount, I'LL make the donation and NOT go to the trouble of making the cake 
Rae
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