Ok...I want to start making cakes for people other than family and friends and I want to charge for them. I have no idea about how i could do this legally...I dont want to do this out of my home, my family owns a restaurant, could i rent from there and make my cakes when they arent open, would that work for health inspections and all the legal stuff, if someone could help me i would really appreciate it..I really would rather not get a license and just make them out of my home and what not but i dont wanna risk it lol...I am completely clueless about these thing.....thanx so much in advance!!!

Here in New Mexico, in order to legally sell baked goods for profit you have to have a license. You could "rent out" a kitchen and have a license and still be on the safe side. The main thing is the license and in order to get that you have to have an industrial kitchen either of you own or barrowed. That is what my problem is right now... we are in the same boat.

Savannah-

If your family owns a restaurant with an approved kitchen, that is an excellent start. You will need to get in contact with your local health department (or Dept or Agriculture depending on who governs bakeries in your state) and get your own permit. While you can use space from a licensed kitchen, most health departments require separate permits for each company occupying a space. The inspector will meet with you and make certain that all of your baking and decorating is done in the approved kitchen, you will hand him/her a check for a couple hundred bucks and be done with them until routine inspection time.

You will want to get your own liability insurance and a business license as well as a tax license (if they are different in your state). Assuming your family has appropriate facility insurance, you likely won't need to get any additional insurance for facility itself. You will also need to get a food handlers card, the tests usually cover the basics of handling food (time, temp, etc) and sanitizing practices.

After that you should be ready to go. (of course I am probably missing a few steps).

well that sounds like a lot of work, i think i am just going to make them out of my home, forget the license...I know a woman that does cakes and she live like 30 minutes away from me...she has been decorating cakes for over 20 years and i know for a fact she doens thave a permit or anything, she even advertises, and she hasnt gotten into any trouble, so i think im gonna take the risk lol...thanx yall!! <3