How to start a cake business from home in the UK (2026 guide)

Short answer: yes, you can sell cakes from home in the UK. To start a cake business from home you must register with your local council at least 28 days before you sell (it's free). You also need a written food safety plan, basic hygiene training, allergen information for every cake, and to tell HMRC once you earn over £1,000 a year. Then set your prices properly and take orders in one place.

This guide covers the legal requirements for selling cakes from home first. Then it walks through pricing in £, deposits, and how to take orders without losing track in your DMs. It's written for UK home bakers, cake decorators and cupcake sellers in 2026.

Can you sell cakes from home in the UK?

Yes. The UK has no special "cottage food" law, so home bakers follow the same food law as a high-street bakery. The FSA says anyone who supplies food "on a regular and organised basis" is a food business. That's true even if baking is a side hustle and you have another job.

Baking the odd cake for a school fair or a charity coffee morning usually isn't a business. Selling birthday cakes every weekend is. If you're not sure where you sit, ask your council.

Legal requirements for selling cakes from home: the checklist

Each step is explained below.

Step 1: Check you're allowed to run a business from home

Before you spend money, check three things.

1. Your mortgage lender or landlord. Some tenancy agreements and mortgages say you can't run a business from the property. Ask in writing.
2. Your council. Gov.uk says you may need council permission if you expect lots of customers or deliveries, or want signs outside your home. A few collections a week rarely needs planning permission, but a steady queue on the doorstep might.
3. Business rates. You don't usually pay business rates for using a small part of your home. Rates can apply if you make changes to your home for the business, employ people there, or sell to people who visit. If so, small business rate relief may cut the bill to nothing.

Step 2: Register your cake business with the council

Register online through the gov.uk food business registration service. Use your home postcode as the premises address.

• It's free and can't be refused. Registration is not a licence, and nobody "approves" you.
• Register at least 28 days before you start. Don't do it months early. The FSA advises registering around 28 days before you're ready.
• Already selling? Register straight away. Trading without registering is an offence.

After you register, a council officer will arrange to inspect your kitchen. For home businesses, visits are usually booked in advance. You'll then get a food hygiene rating (more on that below).

Step 3: Write your food safety plan

Every food business needs a written food safety management system based on HACCP principles. For a home baker, that sounds harder than it is.

The FSA's free Safer Food, Better Business (SFBB) pack has fill-in pages for cleaning, cross-contamination, chilling and cooking. In Scotland, councils usually point bakers to CookSafe from Food Standards Scotland. In Northern Ireland, the equivalent is Safe Catering.

Focus your plan on the risks that matter in cakes:

• Fresh cream, custard, cream cheese frosting and cheesecake. These are high-risk. Keep them chilled and set a clear "use by".
• Raw or lightly cooked egg. Think meringue buttercream, mousse and some icings. Use British Lion (or Laid in Britain) hen eggs or pasteurised egg. NHS advice is that other hen eggs should only be eaten well cooked by pregnant women.
• Cooling. Cool cakes quickly and cover them. Don't leave filled cakes out overnight.
• Allergen cross-contact. Nuts and gluten get everywhere in a home kitchen. Plan how you'll keep a nut-free order nut-free.

Fill in the daily diary. Inspectors will ask to see it.

Step 4: Get food hygiene training

There's no legal requirement to hold a certificate. But you must show you've been trained in food hygiene to a level that suits what you do. In practice, a Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering course is what councils expect from home bakers. Many councils recommend Level 3 if you supervise staff.

The FSA also runs free online allergen training. It's worth doing, because most complaints about home-made cakes involve allergens.

Step 5: Set up your kitchen for business

You don't need a commercial kitchen. Your home kitchen must let you prepare food safely, and the inspector will judge it on that. What they usually look for:

• Clean, smooth surfaces that are easy to wipe and disinfect. Chipped worktops and wooden boards are a common note.
• Hand washing. You need a way to wash your hands properly while you bake, with hot water, soap and paper towels. Ask your council's food safety team what set-up they'll accept in your kitchen.
• Pets kept out of the kitchen while you bake, and pet bowls and beds moved elsewhere.
• Separate storage. A dedicated cupboard or shelf and fridge space for business ingredients.
• A fridge thermometer. Chilled food must be kept at 8°C or below by law in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (it's recommended in Scotland). The FSA advises setting your fridge at 5°C or below.
• No laundry or other jobs in the kitchen while you're baking.
• Pest control and waste. Bins with lids, and no gaps where pests can get in.

Aim for a 5. Ratings run from 0 to 5, and the FSA says every business should be able to reach 5. In Wales and Northern Ireland you must display your rating. In England it's voluntary but customers notice it. Scotland uses a Pass / Improvement Required scheme instead.

Step 6: Allergens, labels and decorations

This is where home bakers most often get caught out.

The 14 allergens

You must tell customers if a cake contains any of the 14 allergens: celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, peanuts, sesame, soya, sulphur dioxide/sulphites and tree nuts. Most cakes contain at least gluten, egg and milk. Keep a recipe sheet for every bake. Our free allergen matrix maker builds the chart for you.

Selling online, by phone or on WhatsApp

For orders taken remotely, allergen information must be available before the customer buys and when the cake is handed over. Put it on your order page and on a card or label in the box. On a Menuthere ordering page you can tag the 14 allergens, calories and a halal mark on each cake, on every plan including Free, and customers see them when they open the item.

Natasha's Law (PPDS) labels

Full detail is in our Natasha's Law guide. If you pack cakes before a customer orders them, they are "prepacked for direct sale" (PPDS). Think boxed brownies at a market stall, wrapped slices in a cake shed, or cupcakes boxed in advance. Each pack needs:

• the name of the food
• a full ingredients list, in weight order
• the 14 allergens emphasised, for example in bold

A custom cake that you box after the customer orders it isn't PPDS. You still need to give allergen information, though.

Decorations

Allergen rules cover decorations too, such as marzipan, praline and sprinkles. Only use glitter and dust sold as edible, with an ingredients list, on parts people will eat. Keep anything marked only "non-toxic" or "for decoration only" off the parts people eat. Tell customers about wires, dowels, ribbons and toppers that must be removed before serving.

Step 7: Sort out tax

• The £1,000 trading allowance. If your total side-income from trading is £1,000 or less in a tax year, you don't need to tell HMRC.
• Over £1,000? Register for Self Assessment as a sole trader by 5 October after the end of the tax year you started. You can then claim expenses such as ingredients, boxes and a share of energy.
• Making Tax Digital. From April 2026, sole traders with income over £50,000 must keep digital records. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028.
• VAT. You only charge VAT once turnover goes over £90,000. Even then, most cakes sold to take away are zero-rated. See our VAT on takeaway food guide.

Step 8: Think about insurance

Insurance isn't required by food law. But home insurance often won't cover a business. Most home bakers take out public and product liability cover, and some markets and venues ask to see it. If you employ anyone, employers' liability insurance is a legal requirement. Get quotes from a few providers.

Step 9: Price your cakes so you actually make money

Most new home bakers undercharge. The usual mistake is forgetting their own time. A simple formula:

Price = ingredients + packaging + decorations + (hours × your hourly rate) + overheads + profit

Worked example: an 8-inch, two-layer birthday cake (typical estimate)

This adds 20% on top of cost (a markup). If you want profit to be 20% of the price (a margin), the price is £88.05, so round to £89. The cake price calculator lets you switch between the two. If £85 feels high for your area, look at your time first. Batch your sponges, simplify designs, or offer a smaller size. Don't just cut your hourly rate.

Try your own numbers with our cake price calculator. For cupcakes and traybakes sold at markets, the GP calculator shows your margin on each item.

Step 10: Organise orders and deposits

Custom cakes need details: date, size, flavour, message, allergens and collection or delivery. Taking all that through Instagram DMs, texts and Facebook messages is how orders get lost.

Set up a simple system:

• One order link for your bio, WhatsApp status and Facebook page.
• A clear lead time, such as "order at least 7 days ahead for celebration cakes".
• A deposit to secure the date. Many bakers take 25–50% up front and the rest on collection. Send a payment link for the deposit, and say in writing whether it's refundable.
• Written terms covering cancellations, changes and collection times.
• Confirmation messages so customers know the order is booked.

If you take some orders by phone or at a market, our free cake order form gives you a printable sheet with every detail to ask for.

Prefer WhatsApp? Read how home bakers take orders on WhatsApp and how to collect a deposit for a custom order. Automated WhatsApp order updates on your own number are part of Menuthere's Pro plan, via our WhatsApp ordering system.

Where to sell: cake business ideas that work from home

Supplying cafés and shops. Selling direct to the public needs registration only. Making food with meat, fish, eggs or dairy to sell to other businesses can need council approval instead, unless your wholesale trade is small and local. Whether you need approval depends on what you make and how much you supply, so ask your council before you sign a wholesale deal.

Rules in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Start-up costs for a home cake business

These are typical estimates, not sourced figures. Most home bakers start with the kit they already own.

Common mistakes to avoid

1. Selling before you register. It's free, so there's no reason to skip it.
2. No allergen info on decorations. Marzipan and praline are nut-based.
3. Pre-boxing cakes without a PPDS label.
4. Pricing without your time. £12.71 an hour is the floor, not a luxury.
5. No deposit on big orders. A cancelled wedding cake is a week of lost work.
6. Orders spread across five apps. Use one link and one list.