Idea PlannerStarting home bakery and cakes: what to find out
Questions to answer and numbers to collect before you put money in.
No earnings or costs are stated here, because they depend on your place and on you. This page lists what to find out.
Who might buy
Families celebrating birthdays and festivals, small offices, local shops.
What you usually need to start
an oven, moulds and tools, packing, a clean place to bake, a way to deliver. Get quotes for each before you decide.
Rules to ask about
Ask the authority about registration or licence rules for selling food from home and for labels. This site does not state the rules.
The main risks
Cakes that fail, orders cancelled late, and the heat in summer. Ingredient costs can rise quickly.
A small first test
Take orders from friends for a month, test recipes and note what is wasted.
Numbers to collect from the test
Cost of each cake, orders a week, wastage, advance taken, repeat customers. Put them into the monthly profit worksheet and the start-up cost worksheet.
Also read questions to ask customers and how to find out what you need.
Keep going
This site states no profit figure, start-up cost, licence requirement or loan scheme: you type your own numbers, and the idea pages list questions to ask and things to measure. Interest rates in the worksheets are typed by you. It is not financial, tax or legal advice. Checked 14 November 2026.