If You Are A One Person Show, How Many Cakes Per Week?
Business By krissy_kze Updated 20 Oct 2005 , 6:54pm by kakbiz
I'm thinking about starting an in-home business and I'm trying to figure out how much time and expense I can expect to put into it.
On average how many cakes a week do you do by yourself?
What is the most you've done in a week by yourself?
Thanks for helping me get a clue 
-Krissy
I've just started getting cake orders this past couple months. I did 4 cakes in one week and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown!!! It was nothing but baking, decorating, dishes, and messes for over a week!!! So I've limited myself to 2 per week.
But I also work Parttime and have an almost 2 yr old son. He is only in daycare for 4 hrs...so it's hard for me to do much w/him running wild around the house. So I limit my time w/cake decorating to 2-4 hours every couple days or after 8pm when my son goes to bed.
If I weren't working and could still put my son in daycare for more than 4 hrs....I'd probably be able to do more than that.
I work full time. So i only do the cakes part time. I usually don't like to do more then one wedding cake a week. And no more then 2 party cakes, but have done up to 5 (party) on any given weekend.
As i said i work full time so doing that many cakes eats up alot of time. My children are older so they don't need as much attention as a toddler.
I can relate with peg818.
I work full time and do cakes on the side. We have five children in the home ranging from 2 to 15. The older kids don't need too much of my attention anymore, other than a really hard math problem here and there.
I have only done 3 cakes in a one week period. But I am hoping to get better and faster as I gain experience.
I am a stay at home cake mom also! I have 4 children 7, 5, 3, and 2! The 2 oldest go to school so that helps! I have done 4-5 cakes a week before. But most of them had the same pick up day. Most of my cakes are picked up on friday eve. or sat. morning since they ususaly pick the weekends for their bday parties here. So i have to start baking wed night after the kids are inbed or at nap time. then the icing is made on thursday and some deco on thursday and the rest on friday! just in time for them to pick up on sat!! I can attest to the dishes all week long on this one. ifyou get a plan togheter of how it works for you, your family, and your kitchen it will work out fine. IT just takes time to figure it all out!
i do 1-4 cakes a week plus i do cookies and chocolates thru the week as well.. this week is crazy i have 6 cakes a bunch of cookies.and chocolate baskets. most of this is going to help raise money for new o.
plus, you never know if you'll always have x amount of cakes per week. at first you dont have many at all because people dont know that you do cakes. it takes awhile to get the word out so that people call you. plus your friends dont have that many birthdays per year, ya know...so it takes a while to get clients built up. i wouldnt quit a job or anything until you got steady orders coming in. now, if you had a liscence, you could advertise and it would be a lot quicker....but it takes a while to get a liscence.
good luck!
melody
Hey krissy_kze!
Where in central PA are you? I live in Pennsylvania, too, about 40 miles northeast of Pittsburgh. I'm in the middle of becoming "legal" - waiting on my food handling exam score so that I can apply for a license from the PDA. Do you have any idea what the home inspection involves? I have the contact number for the inspector for my region, but I haven't called him yet.
I work full-time in Pittsburgh so I'm just doing the cake and cookie thing on the side for now. But once I'm legal, I'm going to start selling at farmer's markets and marketing my "bakery" (and still work full-time, being a single mom I really need the steady income and the insurance!). I was fairly busy over the summer with a few birthdays and weddings, but I hope that being able to advertise will bring in more business and more money. 
mj, it is my understanding that you can sell at farmers markets and craft fairs with out a liscence. you ought to check it out...because you could start selling your baked goods now.
good luck
melody
I work full time and I limit myself to two or three cakes a week now. I've done 6 in one week and I'm pretty much a wreck the whole week and my husband hides from me. For Thanksgiving last year I made 6 cakes and 26 pies. NEVER AGAIN! A friend came over the Saturday before and I looked like you could have made a whole pie out of the ingredients on my clothes. Will you be doing this full time or part time?
Natalie
Hi Melody!
In Pennsylvania we need to have a food safety handling certificate and a license from the department of agriculture even for farmer's markets and craft shows. 
I had planned on working at several in my area this summer, but the director's of all of them required the certificate and the license - without those, they wouldn't even let me on the premises! We can sell flowers and veggies without the paperwork (which I also plan to sell, along with free-range organic eggs) but not baked goods. Also, any baked item must be from scratch - the markets promote PA agriculture so they don't want you selling Betty Crocker muffins or Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies. They require an ingredient list on each and every item. The one good thing about the delay is that it's given me time to make up labels and work on a cake/cookie/specialty dessert menu. I know it will be worth it in the end.....I've been hearing it from everyone since I was a teenager that I should really sell my stuff for profit, not just for a few extra bucks here and there. So here I go!
I work fulltime and am a single mom with a 4 yr old. Two a week is my limit as they often take 2-3 nights each. More than that and I'd have no time for my daughter and am a basket case I would absolutely LOVE to make this my job, but based on what I've determined I can charge for cakes ..it's only going to be a hobby..can't quit my day job as a software manager
But as a hobby, it keeps me sane!
Thalia
Hey Krissy...good luck to you!!
My situation is a little different. I am stay at home housewife, with no children (just 3 dogs that think they are children!). On average, I do about 20-25 cakes a week and during the height of the summer, I was doing 35-40 cakes. About 95% of these were scratch cakes for restaurants and the other 5% were decorated occasions cakes for birthdays and such. Unless I invest in two more ovens, I think that is the maximum that I can do!
I do have to admit that I fell behind in everything......normal errands, cleaning, paperwork, yardwork etc. I might need to put a limit on things next summer!
I give all you mommies out there all the credit in the world for being able to do decorated cakes...you gals must all be great with time management! Keep up the good work and enjoy your hobby!
Holy cow, Mrs. Missy, I can't even begin to imagine the time and energy going into making that many cakes, kids or no kids!!! You must work from sun up to sun down every single day. You make me tired just thinking about it! Keep up the good work!!
Wow! I thought 4 cakes a week would be a lot. You are very encouraging! How many ovens do you have now? Do you have a large commercial mixer?
I also top out at about 4 cakes/week, I have just started awhile ago so the word is still getting out. But, if I start getting more than that I would really need to get some help with my two girls, one just turned two and the other is nine months. All of you are such an inpiration, just when I start thinking it would be easier to give up, you all keep me going!
I am a stay-at-home mom of a 4 yo and a 19 month old. I have done 5 cakes in a one week period, but I swore that I would never do that again unless I felt alot more comfortable than I do now. I have been decorating for about seven months. I had three cakes this past weekend. My 19 month old son somehow reached up onto the table where I had my undecorated cakes wrapped in foil, pushed the foil up one one side of one of them, and then stuck his little fat hand inside the side of my cake. That day I was ready to give up decorating cakes until he gets a little older, because it was very difficult with him running around and sitting in between my legs and the cabinet. Just when I have decided that I'm going to hang it up, I have one more person tell me how much they enjoyed the cake, and it makes me wait one more week. Sorry, didn't mean to ramble. Soon I will post pictures. I am computer illiterate, but my husband has promised to help. I like to identify people with the cakes they have made.
MrsMissey,
You bake and decorate all those cakes at home for the restaurant? (Virginia doesn't require you to have a separate kitchen?) Wow! And deliver too? Whoo makes me tired thinking about it too! Not to get too personal but does the restaurant pay you for the number of cakes you provide or do you share the profit of cakes sold? Can you give a little more information about the arrangements? This sounds like a good option for getting started in selling. At least this is one way to find out what sells and what doesn't. Thanks.
Elaine
Forgive me for asking but, because I to am interested in this subject, I must. This is my biggest problem to solve. Do you all have extra freezers or fridges? Were do you store your cakes? When I make A cake, I have to think before I over buy food that week and rearrange my entire fridge. IS your freezer a deep freeze or just regular? Hw much of a difference do that make?
Rose
MrsMissey,
You bake and decorate all those cakes at home for the restaurant? (Virginia doesn't require you to have a separate kitchen?) Wow! And deliver too? Whoo makes me tired thinking about it too! Not to get too personal but does the restaurant pay you for the number of cakes you provide or do you share the profit of cakes sold? Can you give a little more information about the arrangements? This sounds like a good option for getting started in selling. At least this is one way to find out what sells and what doesn't. Thanks.
Elaine
..yes, I do all those cakes from home and deliver. I have two price lists...a wholesale list for the restaurants and a retail list for everyone else.
Regarding the arrangements....it's pretty casual because we live in a very small town. I call the restaurants on Mondays and they place their orders and I deliver the cakes at the end of the week. If it's an order outside, my DH takes it to work and my customers pick it up there..his company is in the center of town, so it makes it real easy.
MrsMissey, thanks for the insight. This was very helpful! Elaine
The most I have done in a week is 6. That was pretty crazy but my goal is to do that many most of the time. I just have to get more organized. Hopefully when I get my cake kitchen built it will run more smoothly because everything I need will be right there and not used for anything else.
I've done as many as 3 for one weekend. Sometimes I have none. I work full time and my son plays soccer. I make cakes for fun and relaxation oh - unless you count the 23 centerpiece cakes and head table cake for one wedding - then 24 cakes for one day. I don't know what I was thinking!
Debbie
i will limit myself to 3 a week..... on average its 3-6 a month
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