I've been doing the cottage industry thing for probably about half a year now and I advertise via word of mouth and business cards. I'm still working on my brochure/flyer. So long as you label everything properly & follow the cottage industry rules, you're legal and should be able to advertise no problem. In Cuyahoga County you don't need to charge customers taxes because they're buying food to be consumed off the premises (just like you wouldn't pay tax on a cake at the grocery store). I figure it's the same down by you, but I'm not sure. Because I started selling cakes this year, I haven't yet had to pay taxes on any income. I know it gets lumped in with your personal income tax (i.e., added to any wages if you have a "regular" job). I recently incorporated so will need to report my income, but I figure any profit I've made is more than offset this year by business expenses, so I won't need to worry about it. That does remind me, though, I need to notify our accountant . . . My plan is to figure my profit per cake based on estimates of cost (I do very few cakes at this point). Hope all this rambling helps!
thanks for the info! i knew about the $600 limit..... i don't make anywhere near that on my cakes! not yet anyway. my biggest concern was advertising. wanted to make sure you didn't have to be licensed to hand out business cards. each time i do a cake my dh tells me to have a stack of business cards handy, but all this legal talk has freaked me out a bit, even though i know i'm following the cottage industry rules! i have a birthday cake to deliver to a friend in our bible study on sunday... maybe i'll actually take some cards or a few flyers to hand out with me. thanks again for the info! this site is great! 
Quote by @%username% on %date%
%body%