AHello, I am beginning the process of getting licensed and I am overwhelmed with trying to reconfigure my recipes and flavor combos offered. Does anyone have any input on what recipes are allowed? What is everyone offering as far as flavor combos and filling and frosting? Help????

Thaks in advance,

confused home baker :/

ATake some of your existing recipes to your local health department, and they can either approve them, or send you to a lab that can test them.

AEvery county has been different in what they okay. The only thing I really changed was some recipe ratios that coincided with recipes on the Texas CFO page. I did not give the county every single cake or filling flavor. What I did was provide my base flavors and then wrote up a separate section of flavorings/add-ins, etc. that would change up the cake/filling flavor, and they were okay with that. I did list everything that I could think of. I also asked about new flavors added at a later date, and what my county told me was that, as long as I wasn't adding new items to my menu, I didnt have to submit new flavors for review.

The whole task in creating the sample labels def took awhile. I used a weight conversion chart to help list ingredients in descending order. I think I am fortunate in my county...I haven't heard others having the same ease in dealing with their counties.

Look for the "creating your California cottage food operation" group in Facebook...helpful stuff there.

Good luck!

When I applied in Orange County I only had to provide my recipes, which included IMBC. I didn't even get any questions about them. 

AYikes. Old thread. I hope I can still get a reply. Is there anyone using buttercream/frosting/filling recipes with either eggs/egg whites or cream (or even cream cheese!) who'd be willing to compare recipes/ratios or tell me who they went about it with their county? I'm still in the process of finalizing my offerings before submitting my business license and CFO paperwork. It's kind of hard for me because so many fillings require cream or something similar and I don't want to have to either scrape some of my cakes or fillings from my menu or be forced to use a gross substitute. I'm in Sacramento county if that helps. I've tried contacting the CFO specialists within my county and haven't heard from them yet. I know there are others in other counties using cream and egg whites and I want to know how they've done it.