Hello all
I am very passionate about cake decorating for family and friends and I believe I have a real apptitude. I have charged for a few cakes along the way including one wedding, but I don't like taking the chances of not being legal. I have a decent full time office job and I have to contribute to the family budget. My family is very supportive and wants me to pursue my dream of cake decorating full time. Where do you start? I would love to open my own shop some day but first I have to get my foot in the door and learn the ropes. I want to take the Wilton Master Course in Feb. (which will be the end of my full time job if I go). Any one been in my shoes? Do I come back from the course and start pounding the pavement for any bakery that will have me? If you are a shop owner, would a newbie with talent and determination but no pro experience have a shot with you? What can I expect to earn in the beginning? (Dallas, TX) I know it will be very hard work but I am ready to stop dreaming and start doing! Any input appreciated.

I'm by no means a pro and I just got licensed Tuesday. Give it a shot and go for your dreams. Just be persistante (s/p?) and be a hard worker and you'll make it more than likely. With a supportive family behind you, you are already ahead of the game. Good Luck

mkolmar!!


Congrats on your new status!!

AWWW! Thanks risque, now if only I can get as half as talented as you and the other here on CC and everything will be OK.

Good thread, here's a bump for you as I have no clue either!

I am not sure I could help you much but one suggestion would be to start taking very good pics of any cakes you do so that you have something to show a prospective employer or customer...you could have the certificates etc..but pics are good.

If your family is behind you, what an opportunity to go for it!!!

Thanks for the words of encouragement! I think I will get a couple of different styles of dummies and just go to town. I can take good quality pics, and it will be a lot of fun too. I have also thought about becoming a WMI to supplement, but from what I read on the forums you are pretty much just breaking even with that (except for the discount!). I would love to hear about anyone's experience with teaching the classes. Thanks again to everyone.

Great thread!! I am still very new to this, but I love it and really would like to do it as a career. Cannot do a home-based biz (in CA), cannot afford to lease a shop, and don't know much about decorating positions...how much do they make? What experience is necessary? And about teaching the Wilton classes...how much do they pay? I am also eager to hear back on these things!!!

I'll tell you the fastest way to get good. Go to your local grocery store and apply for a cake decorating job. Tell them your skills and try to get hired. If they think you are to inexperienced tell them you take a 90 day paycut and prove yourself in the first 90 days. You will learn speed and consistancy there. When you get enough confidence and skill start apply at the bigger bakeries in town. You will get alot of different experiences there and better pay the more you learn. Before you go on your own and open a bakery I would seriously work for someone else at least 3 years minimum. I know a lady who was a home baker who opened a bakery two years ago with no experience and she's now losing everything because she had no clue what to do and how to it. If you can really get good and establish a good reputation the sky is the limit. This is how I did it and i'm doing awesome with my own bakery. Andrea

Thanks Andrea, that's sounds like a logical way to go about it...if only I can find someone to hire PT around my kids' school schedule!!
So, you opened your own shop?? That must be so exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time! What type? Wholesale, coffee shop and sweets, weddings? I would love to pick your brain for info!!!

I am new to decorating but like many others I dream of my own business. My problem is the pay cut from my current office job to get the bakery experience that I could really use. I am working on my skills and paying off bills - so money won't be such a big issue. Has anyone taken the master classes at Wilton? Definately getting a photo book would be a plus I would think...maybe a website with pictures too.

andrea 7 is right....you have to work at a bakery.

i earned a living as a professional artist for 16 years....

i changed midstream too...

i took a couple wilton courses....and got hired as a decorator...

the pros do not use the "wilton method"...its just too time consuming....for the first 6 weeks all i did was ice cakes...i was PAINFULLY slow at first...but soon you pick up speed...i really hated those "bootcamp" weeks....but i wouldn't take anything for it now...i can ice a cake lickkity split!..(if i may say so myself)...

to make a profit in the real world you gotta be fast...and the only way to pick up speed is to work at a bakery....i worked at 5 different ones.....the most i made was 10.75 an hour.

i have my own place now...but i could have never handled the work load without the experiance i had at the bakeries.

i must say some bakeries i worked at made some butt ugly cakes....but i was reading books and practicing my skills on my own....so i could make them as cute as i wanted when i got on my own.

good luck...it really rox to be your own boss!

littlecake....How long did you work at the 5 bakeries? I would love to got to work at a bakery to pick up my speed but like I posted earlier - I'm not quite financially able for the pay cut yet. Do you think you can work parttime or on weekends at some bakeries? Did any of the stores you worked at do something like that?

I also feel like ValM - ready to stop dreaming and start doing. But at the same time - I want to do it right so that it works out in the long term.

i worked at some for a few months...and some a couple of years...

they are swamped on saturday and sunday, so they would actually prefer you working weekends....i bet you could part time.

i wouldn't advise telling them your plans to go out on your own...they feel like you are an "investment"...since they are training you....i always felt like a spy...ha!

most places are desperate for decorators...every time i went in i was hired on the spot.

Thanks for the advise and insight. I know what you mean about feeling like a spy. lol But at the same time you are helping them when they need someone too.

Wow I had to look at the poster's name to make sure I didn't write this! Sounds just like me!!! I have an office job that I HATE!!!! It gives me plenty of time to be on CC as I have NOTHING to do and the computers NEVER work - but there's no sense of satisfaction - no true purpose to the work I do - it's just an exasperating job......

So I would LOVE to own my own cake shop - not really a bakery b/c I don't want to do a ton of different baked goods.... I think a cupcake shop could be really fun though - just cupcakes and coffee...... they're supposed to be all the rage right now - cupcake cafes that is - I've read a bunch of articles on them.........

I'm trying to find a way to pay for pastry arts school..... of course my dream would be to go to the French Culinary Institute in New York but that's WAY out of budget.... my other problem is that i'm interested in graphic design and I think that would be an easier career that I could freelance or do from home when I have children...... but that schooling is expensive too.... and being 25 - it's hard to find scholarships....

Keep your chin up! I can't afford the paycut to bakery worker either - and I REALLY doubt that they pay anywhere near $10 an hour here..... probably around $6-8..... and the grocery stores have a union that you have to join and so that takes a big chunk of your paycheck too....

The only thing I can say is that I did apply and go to an interview for a cake decorating position at one store and the icing they were working with was the nastiest stuff...... and it was like mush - I don't know HOW you were supposed to make a rose out of that.... and it had big holes in it (you know, like when you've beat the icing too long)..... not smooth......I just didn't think I'd learn a lot looking at the quality of their cakes... I'd like to work for a REAL bakery that makes at least some decent cakes.... not the nasty mush cakes they had at the place I went to...

Sorry to write so long! I just totally understand as I feel I'm in the same situation! Good luck to you in figuring it all out!

i totaly understand too about wanting to own my own bakery. for me i have things i need to over come befor i can even think about making it happen. i am self tault like a lot of you on here. been learning things here and there sence i was a teenager. i got the love from it from my grandmother. Would love to take some classes for it but can't aford too. not working due to back problems that started wail i was in the army.(now dealing with the va) i don't regreat going in because it gave me a place to learn and practice make cakes (i was a cook). ill post a few pics of cake i did wail stationed in germany. there not the best but the best i was able to do wail i was doing them wail doing my job and last min request. I learned a few things like don't just anyone move the cake you just did because they can mess it up.o i just hope that one day i will beable to make my dream come true and thankful my husband supposrt me in doing and letting me practice and send the cake with him to work.

This is me, too!!! The problem here is that I am a single mom with a 5 year old and I actually do earn a decent salary as an accountant. I went to school for 5 years to do what I do now, but I am just not "into it". I sneak online to cc during the day even when I am swamped at work! My grandmother baked cakes in the home for many years & I picked up her business when she passed away. Just recently, I am really getting into more decorating (most of the cakes I've been doing aren't decorated cakes)....I could have a home business here, but I need the benefits that my job offers. And it's just too risky when I have the only source of income. Working in a bakery sounds great & I've thought of that before, but the only bakeries here would be either a grocery store or walmart. I doubt they would be able to pay me enough. There is a small cake shop here that recently was sold to another individual but I have been hearing a lot of negative things since it was sold. I have had several customers come to me because she would not do a certain cake for them. Anyway....I'm in the same boat and it drives me crazy!!

I may be a little more practical then some, but if your income is needed to help support your family, why would you give that up entirely. It takes a while to get good enough to pursue a shop and business. I agree with the part time decorator job at a grocery store. It won't take long for you to get fast. They don't care about the foo foo stuff, just fast and volume. The other thing is maybe check out some of the real bakeries and see if they could use some help, this would give you an in to the business and what it takes. Sometimes they could really use the help to get ready for the week-ends. There is enough material out there to teach yourself alot of the techniques, it takes time and practice. The Masters course is fine, but I say wait and take the course after you have got your foot in the door somewhere. You still have to master the techniques from the school, I hope you don't think that by taking it you will be a pro, it takes years to develop. There are plenty of places in Dallas to check out, take some pictures of your work with you. Once you get in, then maybe get rid of the first job, so you can devote more time decorating. I just believe that you should never have all your eggs in one basket. There is alot to starting a business, and the more hands on knowledge that you have the better off you will be. I know that when I started my business, I had many years of decorating, managed a bakery for 5 years, and owned a restaurant, and I still had things that came up that I had to learn. You will never know it all. Pursue your dream, but keep don't lose your focus on your priorities. Good Luck.

cupcake - think you advise is very good and what I think would work best with me. I feel the same - that there are lots of techniques that I need to perfect before I can do a business on my own. Right now just doing friends and family orders now and getting into a bakery parttime to work around my "paying" job. But I think I will wait until after the first of the year on the bakery just because I have promised so much to family and friends over the holidays. It's good to know others are thinking the same and feel the same too!

I think you should definitely go with it. If you feel like you need to take the courses, I would because you never know what you might learn. Some people can just teach themselves and come up with new techniques on their own but I would feel more comfortable taking the Wilton master course. I am also contemplating whether or not to stay in account (boo) or switch to cake decorating (yah!). Start looking at your state's rules for becoming licensed and go from there.

Thank you so much everyone for the input! I have decided I cannot leave my office job for now. Things are going to have to go much slower but that is OK. I have done well with self study so far, so I am going to keep practicing and trying new things. I think I will pursue the weekend/part time approach and stay with my Mon. - Fri. that comes with health insurance! The most important thing is just keep at it and things will work out, they always do.
Thanks again