How to bake cakes to order. A step-by-step plan for implementation from a professional pastry chef

Any family or corporate celebration without a cake is considered incomplete. This is a tradition, there is no escape from it. But this is also an idea for an excellent business if “your hands grow from where they need to be.” Let's figure it out. Let's start with who this business is for - custom cakes.

Don't think that you need to understand cooking. This is a desirable quality, but not at all mandatory. The fact is that to start any business you need “start-up capital”. One will have talent, another may invest money and organizational skills in the production of cakes. But both need to understand where to start.

How to start baking custom cakes

The first step, as any marketer will tell you, is choosing a team. Let's say you yourself are excellent at baking and decorating your products. This means that your small team will for now consist of one person - yourself. To let the world know about your talents, you need to prepare promotional materials. You will have to work hard for this. You need to prepare a whole catalog of photos of your own products.

The “custom cakes” business will have to start with “ charity event" Where else will you put the dozens of products that you will need for the first photos? It is recommended to turn this preparation into a kind of advertising. The prepared masterpieces can be presented to potential buyers, whom you can easily find at school, kindergarten, at my husband’s work and so on. People will see your talent and at the same time have a tasting. You will be guaranteed your first clients.

Advertising

Next you will need to develop. Attracting customers can be expanded by searching for advertisements on the Internet or publishing your own. Be sure to use photos, dividing them into “topics”. That is, make separate texts for children’s cakes, holiday, anniversary and other products. This will expand the audience of interested parties. In addition, you will demonstrate the versatility of your skills.

Feel free to choose epithets to describe your masterpieces. The “custom cakes” business is a very delicate area. Firstly, the product can be sold in a specific, well-defined territory (it is not profitable to transport it to another city). Secondly, you may have competitors. Most likely, you will also find their advertisements online. Therefore, colorful photographs need to be accompanied by colorful descriptions. If you do not have literary talent, then you can order “tasty advertising” from an experienced copywriter.

Organization of the first production

Naturally, at first there will be few orders. The space of your own kitchen is enough to carry them out. Of course, it makes sense to find a convenient room in advance. Just renting one until you understand whether the custom cake business is right for you is not recommended. You will spend money, but there will be little profit.

If you initially appointed yourself to the role of manager, then the first orders can be made in the kitchen of your “chef”. You will have to do the delivery yourself for now. Although this issue is resolved individually with each client. Someone can come pick up the order themselves. Don't be shy and ask what's more convenient.

Procurement of products

Baking cakes is a rather expensive and material-intensive process. In order to master a wide “menu”, you need a lot of different products and decorations.

Do not forget that some products will have to be sent to the buyer in their own container. You will need to purchase many different products and materials.

Naturally, you will have to think about special equipment. Nobody whips creams or biscuits by hand anymore. For this purpose, specialized devices have been invented.

You need to make sure that your equipment is reliable, powerful, and does not fail at the most crucial moment. Products can be stored on your home premises for now. Moreover, for the most part, fresh ones are used in confectionery production. Therefore, they will have to be replenished daily.

Business plan for cake production

When you have roughly imagined how and what you will do, proceed to boring calculations. This must be done before the first sale. The point is that you need to know exactly how much a certain product costs. For this purpose, a calculation is prepared. Enterprises strictly calculate how much one kilogram of a particular product costs.

Don’t forget that you need to include other costs in addition to products. These include electricity, water, and most importantly, labor, that is, wages. You may not receive it at first, but it must be included in the price of the product. In addition, you need to calculate the cost of boxes, stickers and other decorations. You can order them at the nearest topography.

Naturally, the total figure will greatly depend on the region. But we can assume on average that you will need about one hundred and eighty thousand rubles for products, six thousand for advertising and decoration. It should be taken into account that the calculations include a profit of at least twenty-five percent. Otherwise, the “company” will burn out.

How to win the competition

In order to overtake your business colleagues from the start, it is recommended to immediately think through the “highlights” of your products. To do this, you should wander around the confectionery shops and study the assortment. The client can be attracted by originality and specificity. So, every time before official holidays give people new ideas for cakes.

For men, it’s worth coming up with something grandiose. Please note that the stronger sex loves scope and volume. This woman will be tempted by miniature cakes with small details (she protects her figure). An ordinary man will look at a three-tiered masterpiece,
decorated with large appliqués. This is, so to speak, a “classic of the genre.”

It makes sense to work on children's themes. You understand that parents buy sweets with great pleasure for their offspring. Therefore, it is advisable to come up with cartoon, fairy-tale and other decor for your products.

The cake will be a table decoration for any occasion. Sometimes you want to surprise your guests with unusual baked goods, not bought in a store. In this article we will tell you how to learn how to bake cakes at home. Let's consider all the subtleties of preparation. But first we’ll tell you where a beginner can start.

Sometimes a person has different desires. For example, one fine day the thought may come to mind: I want to learn how to bake cakes. Before you start learning the basics, you need to be aware that the process is long and requires skill, patience and imagination. And you shouldn’t be afraid to experiment. But this is when you will already get classic cakes with a solid A+.

Room

How to learn to bake cakes? What do you need for baking? Of course, every master will need a room to work. The kitchen should be spacious (preferably), fully equipped with high-quality appliances. When there are problems with the oven, it will take much more time to learn how to bake good cakes. After all, it is important that the base is baked and not burnt. You can also use a slow cooker.

Tools

You will also need tools:

• Be sure to have a mixer with different attachments; a whisk won’t hurt either. At first, he will be a lifesaver. If you don’t have a mixer and need to buy one, then it’s better to take a stationary one. Beating egg whites sometimes takes time. And while the mixer is doing this, at this time you can prepare other ingredients.
• Bowls different sizes made of plastic, stainless steel and enameled.
• Different sizes of spoons, forks and spatulas.
• cakes. It is advisable to purchase detachable metal and silicone ones in different sizes. The shape can be varied; it is not necessary to buy only round ones.
• Be sure to have a kitchen scale that is accurate in grams. Sometimes just 1 extra gram can ruin a masterpiece.
• Measuring cups and spoons will come in handy.
• Pastry bag with nozzles. It is much more convenient and easier to use than a syringe.
• Stencils for applying patterns.
• Brushes for smudging and painting on a cream base.
• Equipment for rolling out dough. For example, a rolling pin.
• Food film.
• Apron and headscarf/cap.

Ingredients

It is important to check the recipe more than once to ensure that all the necessary products are available. Before you start cooking, be sure to have everything at hand or within close reach. There is a basic list of products that is used for almost every baked product. It is advisable to have them in the house all the time. In the process of work, each cook develops his own list of necessary products.

Books are needed!

To learn how to bake cakes professionally, you need to buy more than one cookbook about baking cakes and short layers for them. After all, the recipe for one pastry varies from book to book. You can take into account all the nuances, choose the most useful chips, then the cake will turn out incredibly tasty.

Think about the design of future products

You need to work on decorating the cake in advance.

• It is recommended for a beginner to start with mastic. This is a fairly elastic mass, reminiscent of unleavened dough for chebureks, and tastes sweet. You can simply cover the entire cake with it. And put an inscription or a kind of design on it. You can cut out decorative elements from it.
• You can buy a spray (confectionery) and cover the cakes with it, either separately or on top of the mastic.
• Or buy ready-made figures to decorate the cake. They are all edible. They can be in the form of flowers or with inscriptions.
• There is also simply colored sprinkles that will decorate any baked goods, not just a cake.

Sometimes it is recommended to start making cakes from store-bought cake layers in order to thoroughly master the process of assembling and soaking the base with creams. Moreover, the purchased cake is always smooth and perfectly round. Initially, the simplest cake designs are selected.

How to learn to bake cakes from scratch

Before you start practicing, it is recommended to watch several videos on making simple cakes. Then start learning how to make cakes. A perfectly smooth and well-baked and fluffy (sometimes not fluffy) cake layer is the basis of a beautiful cake.

Description of making a cake from scratch:

1. Buy special confectionery flour. It contains less gluten, so the dough is not as fluffy as in buns. It is sold in any grocery store. If it happens that it is not on the shelves, then you can cook it yourself.
2. To do this, take 1 empty glass with a volume of 250 ml. You need to pour 60 g of corn starch into it and fill the glass to the top with wheat flour (highest grade). Pour mixture from glass into bowl required size and mix thoroughly. After this, the resulting flour must be sifted. To make the dough more fluffy, it is recommended to sift it 2-3 times.
3. Before you start kneading the dough, you need to prepare all the necessary ingredients. You need to start by mixing all the dry ingredients. Mix thoroughly so that you can use it immediately later.
4. Recipes often call for milk and even specify its fat content. It is not recommended to deviate from the recipe at first. But you need to know that whole milk can be replaced with its analogues.
5. Be sure to keep track of what kind of oil is required in the recipe: butter or vegetable. If it is creamy, then it must first be melted in a water bath. Sometimes it also needs to be whipped. If the oil is mixed up, the taste of the cake will not be the same, and this will also affect the appearance.
6. Use the mixer only to beat egg whites. In other cases, use a whisk or spatula.

Step-by-step preparation of sponge cake

The ingredients are for one large cake or two medium ones. You will need:

• 4 chicken eggs(elite);
• 450 g pastry flour;
• up to 7 g salt;
• 17 g baking powder;
• 350 g granulated sugar;
• 250 ml milk (whole milk or its analogues);
• 25 g vanilla sugar;
• 180 g butter (pre-melt).

You should start preparing the dough by mixing: flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Be sure to mix everything very thoroughly.

Add milk, melted and cooled butter, eggs and vanillin to the dry mixture. Stir until the mixture becomes homogeneous. It is better to use a spatula to mix the dough.

While the dough is preparing, you need to preheat the oven. The temperature should be 180 degrees. It is better to cover the mold with baking paper, do not grease it with oil. If one cake is baked, then the baking time is 45 minutes. And if there are two cake layers, then bake for 30 minutes. Until the baking time is up, it is better not to open the oven. Otherwise the cake will lose its fluffiness. When it's ready, it will have a brown crust on top.

The cakes should remain in the pan for about 15 minutes after they are removed from the oven. This will make it easier for them to come away from the paper. And they don’t deform too much when transferred to a plate. The advantage of the prepared cake is that you do not need to beat the egg whites separately; the dough is prepared without any difficulties. Plus, the finished product can be consumed immediately. Or you can lubricate it with: boiled condensed milk with butter (200 g of butter per can of condensed milk); You can soak it in regular yogurt and so on.

An additional advantage of the cake is that it can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 days; before serving, it must be warmed to room temperature, this will take up to 4 hours.

It’s better to start mastering the culinary art of making cakes with recipes like these. You can also experiment with decorations on them. Then you can complicate the recipe for the cakes and diversify them with creams.

Honey cake is also considered one of the simplest. Although there are nuances in preparing the dough. You can try making cakes based on dry biscuits.

Now let’s figure out how to learn how to bake cakes according to the advice of experienced chefs. You should always follow the recipe exactly, taking the exact quantities of all ingredients. They are calculated by trial and error. Be sure to use scales. The components must be placed in strict sequence. Any, even minor, deviation from the recipe can result in failure. Experiment and add other components only when experience has already arrived. There it will be possible to determine by eye the required number of components.

Must comply temperature regime. If you set it a little less (for fear that the cakes will burn), then there is a high chance that they will not bake and will settle when they are taken out of the oven. If you rush and increase the temperature, the cake will most likely burn, but the dough inside will remain raw.

For cooking, use only clean and dry dishes and tools. Even a small drop of water can ruin everything. This is one of the important rules on how to learn how to bake cakes.

When mixing ingredients with a mixer, sometimes you should turn it off and mix with a spoon. It is good to scrape the contents from the walls. There may be lumps left there.

If the cakes were baked in advance, they should only be stored in the freezer. In the refrigerator they lose moisture and become stale. To make a cake from a frozen crust, take it out in advance so that it comes to room temperature.

You can decorate only completely cooled cakes. Otherwise, the butter decoration may melt or heavily saturate the cake. And this can cause it to become dry and begin to crumble. Don't overdo it with sugar. Of course, it will sweeten the product, but because of it the cake may burn, and the dough will not have the desired consistency.

If the recipe does not specify what the product used in the recipe should be (warm or cold), then all ingredients should be taken out of the refrigerator in advance so that they come to room temperature. This is especially true for eggs. Otherwise they will not beat well.

The dough should fill the pan only halfway, since during baking it rises almost 2 times. And as a result, the edges will be uneven, plus the escaped dough will fill the entire apartment with a burnt aroma.

If the cake is made from several cake layers, you should not simplify your work and bake one and then cut it. It's better to bake several. Then the chance that they will bake will be 100%. Give the cakes time to cool in the mold, and only then remove them from it. This way they will keep their shape better. The cream is applied in two stages. At the beginning to soak the cakes. Then for decoration. You need to wait at least 15 minutes between them.

The taste and shape of the product are important!

Those who are interested in learning how to bake cakes to order should definitely monitor the taste of the product. Its beautiful shape is a secondary thing to strive for. Even the most beautiful cake, if tasteless and dry, will not be in demand.

At first, you only need to experiment with one recipe until it tastes and looks the way it should, without any flaws.

Where can you learn to bake beautiful cakes?

When you manage to cook cakes without mistakes, you want to know where you can learn how to bake products. There are several options here:

1. Attend one-day courses. They often talk about all the new things in cooking, without knowledge of which you can begin to lose even regular customers. These courses are important for those who want to learn how to bake custom-made cakes at home.
2. You can just watch online video lessons on the Internet, but there is a minus. Mostly simple recipes are considered and the most important features are not revealed, without which masterpieces will not be created.
3. A good option to learn how to bake custom-made cakes at home would be to attend paid courses. The so-called from A to Z. All the intricacies of cooking will be explained there. There will be feedback from the pastry chef and you can figure out why the dough has settled after baking, or why the cake crumbles so much, and so on.

Conclusion

Nowadays, homemade cakes are gaining great popularity. Learning to bake cakes at home is not difficult. The main thing in this matter is patience and the desire to achieve results. Then what you love will also bring financial stability. Here you need not only to know how to learn how to bake cakes, but also to be able to look for clients, and even advertise for yourself.

In this material:

Baking cakes at home is a business that does not require a lot of expenses. To implement it, you do not need to rent premises, hire workers, or even draw up documents to conduct business. Every housewife who knows how and loves to cook sweets can turn her passion into a profitable business.

A cake is a key element of any celebration, be it a birthday, a wedding or a small corporate event, so finding buyers will not be difficult. In addition, consumers for the most part give preference to sweets prepared to order by skilled housewives, because... Such cakes not only have an amazing taste, but also an original look.

Advantages of a “sweet” business

Unlike other types of activities, the cake business has many advantages, for example:

• minimal costs for ingredients;
• quick return on investment and guaranteed income;
• the ability to work at any convenient time;
• development of creative abilities.

The only negative aspect of this business- lack of stable income in its first stages. But don’t despair, because you can improve the situation by advertising your own products. In addition, customers who like the sweets often become regular customers and bring their friends. Gradually home business develops, the client base is growing, thereby increasing financial income.

The success of your own baking business directly depends on the skill of the housewife, so she must constantly develop: try new recipes, experiment with the design of sweets, make maximum use of creativity when decorating products. Today you won’t surprise anyone with elegant cream roses on a cake or swans made of frozen chocolate. To attract large quantity clients need to master the technique of transferring photographs onto glaze, learn how to prepare multi-colored mastic and sculpt various characters from it.

Thanks to the Internet, it will not be difficult to learn all the intricacies, as you can find many master classes on baking and decorating online. In order not to transfer the ingredients, it is recommended to practice creating decor not on mastic, but on dough of a similar consistency.

Organization of work and search for clients

To turn amateur cake baking at home into a high-income business, you need to take the issue of organizing it seriously.

It is not necessary to draw up a business plan, but it will be needed if production expands to a full-fledged confectionery. There is also no need to prepare documents for an individual entrepreneur when working from home with a small number of clients.

To organize the production process at home, you need to purchase everything you need for baking cakes:

• forms of different sizes and designs;
• somewhat nasty;
• special plates and cutlery for cakes;
• kitchen appliances.

As for products, it is recommended to buy them as needed, because... most of them may deteriorate or may not be needed at all. An exception may be flour, sugar, jams, preserves, soda and other ingredients with a long shelf life.

Next important stage Creating a “sweet” business will involve finding clients. You can declare the services provided in several ways:

1. Prepare cakes for celebrations held with family and friends. As a rule, the first customers of baked goods are acquaintances, because they had the opportunity to be convinced of its excellent taste.
2. Place advertisements in media sources, i.e. in newspapers or on the Internet. It is important not only to correctly compose an advertisement, presenting an attractive offer, but also to attach several photographs of your masterpieces taken earlier.
3. Publish homemade sweets on your social media pages or create a separate community.
4. Hold a free tasting or bring your products for sale at a fair or other public event, and you should give away potential clients business cards.

Calculating business profitability

Having started own business for cakes, at first you should keep prices quite low in order to attract as many customers as possible. You need to increase the cost of products as the number of orders increases and your own skills develop. As a rule, the income from a simple confectionery product is 25% of the cost, and cakes with a unique design and abundance of decoration can bring up to 50% of the profit.

In this area of ​​business, sweets are sold based on the weight of the treats, not the quantity. In addition, decorative elements, complexity of work and ingredients used are additionally taken into account. The average price of 1 kg of cake is 1-2 thousand rubles, while 2-4 kg are usually ordered for a celebration. If you carry out calculations taking into account a 50% profit and approximately 15 orders per month, then the net income will reach 60,000 rubles.

Your own business, based on your favorite pastime, can bring not only great profit, but also pleasure. If desired, a small home production of cakes can be expanded into a confectionery by increasing the range of sweets and hiring several workers. It is important to remember that any activity can become a “gold mine” if you organize the work process correctly and have the desire to develop.

Order a business plan

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Today, many people are interested in the question of how to start a business with minimal investment and risks. One option to organize your own business is to make cakes at home. To do this, you need to know what materials and equipment will be required, how to set the correct price for the finished cake, and how to officially register your business when you finally understand that you want to make money by baking custom-made confectionery products.

The relevance of a business idea for baking cakes at home

Home cooking is always popular among customers. Everyone knows that mother’s or grandmother’s pies are many times tastier than store-bought ones, not only because they are made with soul and love, but also made from more natural and high-quality products. In addition, when there are many identical factory-made cakes for every day on store shelves, people want to somehow highlight a special event (wedding, birthday, anniversary or anniversary) with the help of an unusual and unique cake that will be remembered by the guests of the celebration for a long time. Therefore, today, when you can find a great variety of options for holding a themed holiday, the relevance of such a business will be greater than ever. You will never find a cake with your favorite cartoon characters, with a special inscription, in the shape of a guitar or a camera in the store, but for a housewife who knows how to cook well, it will not be difficult to bake such a work of art especially for you.

Modern cakes are real works of culinary art, distinguished by their unique appearance and exquisite taste

Assortment development and portfolio preparation

In order for first-time customers to turn into permanent ones, it is very important to give them the opportunity to choose. In other words, the cook must know exactly what kind of cakes, when and for what money he can prepare. It is very important to properly design your culinary portfolio. Don't skimp on a professional food photographer and high-quality photo printing. Portfolios can be posted both online and offline. In addition, a portfolio in video format may also be useful to you. Of course, you can’t do this on your own and you will have to involve video filming and video editing professionals. But several beautifully and well-made videos will last a very long time and will definitely attract new customers to you.

Photo gallery: cakes from the CoolnwsFoods culinary studio

“Baba Yaga” cake costing 3,000 rubles per 1 kg “Bear with a Pyramid” cake costing 3,000 rubles per 1 kg “Emergency Service Worker” cake costing 3,500 rubles per 1 kg Cake with berries and a baby costing 2,000 rubles per 1 kg

Be sure to think about the categories by which you will structure your portfolio. Depending on your needs target audience You can divide your cakes, for example, like this:

• children's with characters from your favorite cartoons;
• wedding;
• themed (New Year, birthday, etc.);
• candy cakes;
• fruit cakes;
• classic products “according to grandma’s recipe”.

Video: how handmade cakes are made

How to attract clients: planning advertising and marketing

The main channels for attracting customers for this type of business include “ word of mouth"and social networks. As with most home-based businesses, your first customers will be relatives, friends and acquaintances. It is quite possible that you will not make any money at the start. big money, but you will gain valuable experience that will help you fine-tune business processes and better understand the business you are doing. Tell people in your inner circle about your idea, treat them to a culinary masterpiece, or give an exclusive homemade cake for a holiday. If people like your creation, they will remember it and be happy to talk about it. Make sure that, along with a piece of cake, each guest receives a business card with your contact information.

Which social networks to use

To decide where it makes sense to promote your cakes, you need to analyze the current market situation and answer several questions:

1. What social networks are in demand in your region? Thus, according to official statistics, in the European part of Russia the VKontakte network is traditionally more popular, while beyond the Urals and to the Far East Russians prefer to spend their free time on Odnoklassniki. Facebook is popular in capital cities - Moscow and St. Petersburg - and among a rather narrow audience.
2. Who is your target audience, and what social networks do these people spend their time on?
3. What social networks are your competitors present on? How successful are they doing?
4. What kind of content are you willing to provide on a regular basis? If you have a lot beautiful photos, Instagram is suitable, for a large number of videos it is better to create an account on YouTube, people like to read interesting texts on Facebook and blogs.

Many marketers recommend creating accounts on several social networks at the same time so that your customers have more opportunities to find you. However, it is important not to overdo it here. It’s not enough to just create a page or community on a social network. You need to constantly engage in them, only then will they bring you profit. An abandoned account that is updated once a month with low-quality content will cause rejection rather than interest and trust. When creating accounts on social networks, be sure to keep in mind that they also need to be given time and attention.

It is important for a developing business to quickly gain a clientele: social networks are indispensable in this case

1. Regularly publish interesting and useful content for readers on your page or community. You can write posts yourself or use the work of hired copywriters or photographers.
2. Use the possibilities of targeted advertising on social networks. Settings advertising campaigns can also be carried out either on one’s own or with the assistance of hired specialists. It is important to understand that in the latter case, except advertising budgets, you will have to pay for the work of the targetologist.
3. Collaborate with other accounts: exchange advertising posts, come up with and carry out joint promotions, introduce a system of mutual discounts, and so on.

There are also “black” low-cost ways to promote on social networks, for example, mass adding users as friends and then inviting them to your community, sending spam messages, recruiting bots into subscribers and other quick and not so fast methods, but it is still not recommended to use these methods. Social media are determined to fight this kind of methods, you will be identified very quickly and blocked both on your personal page and on the community page. In addition, even if you “catch up” bots into your group for the sake of mass participation, it is unlikely that these bots will leave you positive feedback, increase page traffic or place an order. In this case, quality is more important than quantity.

Other advertising on the Internet

A good way to promote your services on the Internet is to create a website. A professional website inspires confidence among potential customers. Today there are quite a lot of designers that will allow you to make a website yourself and with minimal costs(e.g. Wix, Mozello and others). However, just creating a website is not enough. Its promotion also needs to be done. You can also promote your site yourself or with the help of hired specialists. The cost of professional services varies from 10,000 rubles per month, depending on the number of search queries for which you want to advance, as well as the characteristics of the chosen niche (region of work, competition, and so on).

Another channel for advertising and promotion of services is advertising on thematic websites and forums. Register on culinary forums and portals, communicate with people and find your future clients in live communication, or order paid advertising from the owners of these thematic platforms. You need to spend some time experimenting so you can understand which method of work will be most effective.

Communication on thematic forums will help not only find new clients, but also improve your professional level

Offline advertising

Perhaps you will be able to find your clientele not only on the Internet. Try to get to know the candy stores, bakeries and cafeterias in your area or city. It is quite possible that one of them will want to sell your cakes as an intermediary. Of course, in this case, your earnings will be slightly less than if the client buys the cake directly, but with the right approach, you will be able to develop a certain client base and receive a series of stable orders. Perhaps you will find partners in the organizers of children's parties or anniversaries and weddings for adults.

Particular attention should be paid to packaging finished product. In addition to the fact that the cake box will be beautiful and unusual, it must contain your contact information so that satisfied guests know who to contact for a delicious and unusual cake.

An original cake box is a great advertisement for your business: especially if it has contact information on it

Business registration

If you are taking your first steps in your business and have not yet decided whether an activity like making cakes is suitable for you as a permanent business, you should not immediately register the enterprise. You can bake several test cakes for relatives, friends and acquaintances without officially registering a business. When you go through this initial stage and gain confidence that you are ready to earn a living by baking cakes, then you must undergo official business registration.

The most common forms of running a small business are individual entrepreneurs ( individual entrepreneur) and LLC (company with limited liability). However, you are free to choose another form. legal entity depending on your wishes and capabilities. The main difference between the above registration forms commercial activities is that an individual entrepreneur is liable for debts with all his property, and an LLC is only liable for the authorized capital of the company.

You can open an individual entrepreneur on your own in a few days. The registration fee in this case will be 800 rubles. To register an LLC, you will most likely have to use the services of lawyers. The state fee for registering an LLC is 4,000 rubles. Within four months after registration of a limited liability company, it is necessary to make authorized capital in the amount of at least 10,000 rubles. Both individual entrepreneurs and LLCs are registered within five working days.

When registering, you must select the appropriate OKVED code. In the case of cake production, this will be OKVED 15.82 “Production of food products”. To work with food products It is also necessary to have a health certificate.

It is also important to remember that if your business has taken off, you bake cakes not only for relatives and friends, you are going to register an individual entrepreneur and enter wider markets, you will no longer be able to continue working in your home kitchen. This will be illegal and will entail unwanted attention and sanctions from regulatory authorities. To legalize such production, you will have to acquire a specialized premises. You can equip the premises yourself, but it will be cheaper to rent a small workshop or kitchen in a cafe or restaurant.

If you rent a small confectionery shop, you can significantly expand the range of products

What equipment and materials will be needed

Equipment and materials should be selected depending on what kind of cakes you plan to prepare. If you are planning production at home, you need to ensure that you have enough space to work, a suitable stove, oven, shallow household appliances(blender, mixer, etc.), specialized forms, constant access to water, gas, electricity.

Table: equipment needed for making cakes

There is no point in buying expensive specialized equipment when you are at the very beginning of your cake-making career. First, you need to make sure that you really can and want to bake cakes at home, get confirmation that customers like your creations and form at least a small base of regular customers. Keep in mind that people are not ready to buy exclusive cakes every day. Accordingly, in order to receive a stable income and the opportunity to invest in equipment, you need to have a sufficient number of customers.

To make cakes you will need ingredients such as flour, sugar, candied fruits, raisins, mastic, baking powder, dyes and other components. Some of them can be stored for a long time (for example, dried fruits, flour, sugar, and so on). It is more profitable to buy such products in bulk and store them at home, using them as needed. Products with short term shelf life (kefir, milk, sour cream, eggs, etc.) it is advisable to buy for a specific order.

Video: what tools help the pastry chef in his work

How to formulate a pricing policy

The issue of price is always a very relevant topic for craftsmen who sell handmade items or products. The result of manual labor cannot and should not cost as much as a similar factory-made product costs in a store. On the other hand, the product of manual labor is forced to compete with goods mass production. That is why it is important to maintain a balance and find a middle ground when setting prices for your products. You need to find a price so as not to offend yourself and not to scare away the consumer.

Forming pricing policy, consider the following factors:

• prices at which competitive products are sold (for example, cakes in the nearest pastry shop or store);
• prices at which competitors work;
• income and financial capabilities of your potential buyers;
• the cost of consumables for making a cake (food, as well as electricity, gas, water);
• time costs for making one or another type of cake.

Compare the answers to these questions, and you can understand what price level is acceptable specifically for your cakes, for your region and for your customers. Determine the minimum price below which you cannot go in any way in your work. Be prepared to make changes to your pricing policy depending on the market situation. So, during the seasonal downturn, prices may have to be lowered a little. During mass orders (for example, for national holidays such as Christmas and New Year, graduations in kindergartens and schools), you can afford a slight increase in prices.

Video: how to calculate the cost of your work

Calculating the profitability of a cake manufacturing business

Profitability assessment - important point in the development of any business. Before you start a business on a grand scale, you need to carefully calculate all the risks and opportunities and understand whether your business will be commercially profitable. In other words, is it possible that you spend more than you earn? It is necessary to understand the payback period of the business and the expected profit margins.

When calculating the profitability of a home-based cake baking business, include all overhead costs in the cost of products, but at the same time make sure that the price finished products did not turn into exorbitant. In other words, you also need to take into account the financial capabilities of your clients. If for residents of metropolitan regions an extra 100–200 rubles will not greatly affect the purchase decision, then in a small town where citizens with low incomes live, the issue of price is very acute.

When calculating profitability, it is important to take into account the seasonality of the business. Form the cost of the goods taking into account the fact that not every day there will be a queue of customers for you, and someday you yourself will not be ready to accept the order.

When calculating the return on business, take into account the costs of marketing and advertising, attracting customers, packaging of goods, delivery, as well as the costs of training and improving your qualifications. In addition, keep in mind that once you start making cakes at home, your costs for water, gas and electricity will also increase.

Table: cost of manufacturing a “Medovik” cake weighing 2–2.5 kg for St. Petersburg

Thus, the cost of ingredients for baking one cake is 1035 rubles. Let's add another 200 rubles to this amount for utility costs (water, gas, electricity) and we get the cost of the cake at 1,235 rubles. The cost of one kilogram of cake with mastic decoration in St. Petersburg can reach 1000 rubles, so you can sell such a cake for 2000–2500 rubles. Then the benefit from selling one such cake (excluding advertising and delivery costs) can range from 765 to 1265 rubles.

Using the above example, knowing the approximate range, prices of products in your city, as well as the cost of advertising that is effective for you, it is easy to estimate how profitable it will be for you to produce confectionery products at home.

Video: how much you can earn by baking cakes

Features of a home-based cake baking business

Like any business, the home-based cake baking business has its own characteristics. So, first of all, to engage in this business, you need to be able to cook well or find a person who will bake cakes according to the orders you found.

Another feature of this business is that the start-up investment is minimal. You will only need to provide the production site itself and the necessary kitchen equipment. The ingredients for the production of each cake are paid for by the customer.

A cake business will allow you to devote as much time to work as you are willing to devote to it. This business is suitable for mothers on maternity leave, for people with disabilities and for those who for some reason cannot or do not want to devote themselves to office work. In addition, by making cakes, you can unleash your creative potential and get real pleasure, feeling like a creator!

However, there are also limitations. Since you work with food, you need to be very careful about the quality of the ingredients used, as well as compliance with all sanitary standards and safety requirements.

If you realize that your cake production is becoming cramped in your home kitchen, you can always rent a separate apartment specifically for confectionery production or rent a small professional workshop somewhere.

Be sure to think about how you will deliver:

• on one's own;
• using a courier delivery service;
• Pickup only.

You may find it convenient to use only one of the delivery methods or give the customer a choice of how exactly he wants to receive the ordered cake. In any case, ensure the safety of the cake during delivery; in other words, it is very important that the product retains its presentation.

Cooperation with a loyal and conscientious delivery service is an indispensable condition for the existence of a cake baking business.

Example of a cake production business plan

To summarize, we give small example business plan for making cakes at home. Let's assume that you already have your first satisfied clients among your friends and acquaintances, and you want to take your business to a more serious level.

Table: business plan for making cakes at home

It is important to understand that this business plan is approximate. The exact numbers and actions in your specific situation may vary. Perhaps the business plan will include hiring employees and paying them appropriate wages, renting specialized premises for production, updating equipment for work, and so on.

Anyone can go through the basic steps of creating a home-based cake making business. Even if this business does not require large initial investments, you will still have to make some efforts to bring it to a serious level. A novice entrepreneur needs to resolve issues of finding new clients, engage in advertising and marketing, interact with government agencies, control pricing, constantly analyze the market and their activities in order to understand whether the business is moving in the right direction. However, nothing is impossible. Start small, follow the recommendations, experiment and learn from your mistakes, and what you love will make you happy every day.

You can learn the skill of making cakes at home very quickly if you listen to the advice of already experienced chefs. Making homemade cakes can become a real hobby for any housewife, bringing not only good mood, but also family income.

First, it is important to understand what kind of cake you want to get. For beginners, it is best to start making cupcakes or simple pies. A little later you can start baking pastries and pies.
Having decided on the type of cake, you need to carefully study the information on its preparation. It is also important to understand the techniques and techniques that are used to create delicious treats. It also doesn’t hurt to pay attention to common mistakes made by chefs in order to avoid them when creating your own cake. For example, when baking dessert cakes, it is important to strictly observe the correct temperature. When the cake is baking in the oven, you do not need to open the door so that it does not fall.

Some cake layers need to be made with very cold butter in a cool room. Such subtleties for beginners will seem impossible at first glance, but when performing complex techniques, the cakes will become more beautiful, and the process of preparing them will be enjoyable;

Adviсe:

1. Beginners are advised to start creating with the simplest recipes. Try baking small cupcakes or a regular plain cupcake first. Then you can treat your family with chocolate or banana cake. If the previous sweets turned out great, you can try baking meringue, open fruit pie or apple charlotte;
2. Having mastered simple recipes, move on to baking more complex ones - fruit pies and cakes, multi-layer cakes, birthday cakes with different decorations. For example, you can treat your guests to a shortbread cake, a cupcake with candied fruits and almonds, a chocolate cake or a biscuit dessert;
3. If you have the opportunity to take a few baking lessons from a professional, take advantage of it. An experienced master will tell you about the techniques and tricks for baking cakes. Will help you bake your first cake, clearly demonstrating and prompting step by step actions execution. If your sister or grandmother is a good baker, ask them to teach you culinary masterpieces;
4. If possible, find out what people bake in different countries for different holidays. To do this, read culinary magazines, newspapers, online publications, or watch culinary TV shows.

Recommendations that are important for beginners to heed:

1. You need to learn to bake gradually. Don't be upset if the cake doesn't work out the first time. Next time it will be more even and soaked in better. Each professional also had failures at the beginning of his creative culinary journey;
2. Buy a real good book with recipes for various baked goods. Such publications describe many useful tips and explanations that will help solve any problem;
3. In addition to baking cakes and pastries, it is also important to understand the process of preparing icing, various creams, and caramel. Additionally, check out how you can decorate a cake so that the hero of the occasion likes it.

After some time, a beginner will be able to independently come up with his own variation of the cake and become a real professional. The main thing is not to rush! And if you fail, create again and again. And then any cake will definitely turn out great!

Newbie mistakes: