Hi all.
I'm really interested to know how many years you spent learning cake decorating before you went professional? I'm talking either from home or a shop, but charging for cakes as a full or part time profession? How many courses did you do, plus how many years practice? Or if self taught, how many years did it take you to learn to a professional standard?
Thanks

For me it's not about not being skilled enough, it's about having the upstart money.

I'm just a real novice decorator, I could be totally awful longterm, but I think it would be a really neat job. Just being able to produce somethign like that and work around family (haha, I hear some of you laughing at that already) but I look at the websites and the tools are expensive (I'm in New Zealand, limited choice).

I'm just a real novice decorator, I could be totally awful longterm, but I think it would be a really neat job. Just being able to produce somethign like that and work around family (haha, I hear some of you laughing at that already) but I look at the websites and the tools are expensive (I'm in New Zealand, limited choice).

We can do it relatively easily here, I think, it's more about the health standards they have in place that we legally have to follow than any great cost, which makes it helpful.

I don't think there is any magic number or time or??? Cake decorating is an awesome, fun, stressful and sometimes cutthroat career!. The great thing is you get to do something very creative and rewarding, the bad is there is NO, nada zero room for error!!! and competition can be at times ugly! face it event cakes HAVE to be done on time and done right! You simply CANNOT screw up!! ( atleast I can't) A bride is not going to understand or care that you were deathly ill or your kid was in the ER last night so you didn't get her cake done! It HAS TO BE THERE!!! (ontime!) I would say that if you think you can produce a cake that you are sure your customers will love and be sure you have the time (I GIVE UP ALOT!!) then go for it!!! I've never had a client order a cake because I had 52classes under my belt or done it 200 years (seems like it) They order because they trust me and know I'll do what I said I would (and more!!)
I don't sweat the credentials! I know some well trained people that still only manage in their field. I don't know if this helps but it's a thought!
I would say for sure ... if someone wants a cake from you, and you feel qualified, do it and Charge them for it!!

MIKE

There's no way I could charge yet, but the study I'm doing is going to take, ugh, another five years. It's very, VERY tempting to sit down and do cakes for a year or two instead to try and get the required skills to charge for cakes, I just didn't know if this was long enough or if to do it pro, it takes yeaars

What are you studying for? It probably pays better than doing cakes, so if money is a consideration, you should keep on with your studies and do cakes on the side.

It's really regulated here, so you need at least 7 years study, good money though Haha, I'll have to think about the money. I never really thought of it as a 'for the love of it' kind of joy, the cake decorating I mean. But I imagine the cost of the materials for the bigger cakes would be quite a substantial chunk of what you are paid all up. I also think it would be awesome when you made someones day

I have been making and decorating cake as a hobby for 16years. I have been and done it as a full time job but due to illness I can no longer give the guarantee that i could work a perticular day I have had no formal training but am lucky that I have an artist based background too so one kind of sits with the other. But I am no where neer perfect and learning along the way.
As a hobby i still charge big money so the customers must be happy but just dont make as many cakes as my council consider a job (I am in UK)

why not work in a bakery after you get some basic skills down?

then while you are honing your skills at work, you could be saving up to open a place.

after you open a shop it's not all sunshine and roses tho.

Baking...20 years. It has always been my passion. Cake decorating.....self taught worked about 2 yrs before starting up a business. Good thing there are a massive amount of children in my homechurch family to practice on or it would have taken way longer They came up with some really challenging requests and that helped.

I pondered the bakery thing but thought it'd be a bit rude if I eventually wanted to be in business myself, or maybe that's just being too sensitive!
I might just have a big play in the holidays!

How is it rude to work for someone else and then later open your own business? Just so you know, in the food industry that is pretty much the standard of how things work. People come up through the ranks at one or more places and eventually, if they are lucky and are able to get the funding, open their own places.

I started my business three weeks after graduating from culinary school. Not a typo.

That's really cool 3 weeks

Yeah, I hadn't thought about that, the working up through places, I guess because there's only a couple of places here, owner operated, but I guess that is the way most things are done