There’s nothing quite like the smell of gooey puddle brownies baking in the oven. The warm and rich chocolatey smell wafting throughout your home is enough to send any chocolate lover insane.

Being able to bake delicious treats for your friends and family takes more than just whipping together a few ingredients, bungling them in the oven and hoping for the best.

Baking takes skill, patience, precision, love, and care. Have you ever thought about turning your baking hobby into a money-making enterprise? Many people all over the world offer their baking services for children’s birthday parties, adult get-togethers, or even as a gift for someone they love.

If you’re interested in making a little money from your glorious creations, take a look at everything you need to become a professional baker.

Recipes

This may sound a little obvious, but we mean your own recipes. Baking a cake from the BBC good food website isn’t going to win anybody over, so it’s important to take some time to experiment with different recipes to find the one that’s going to hit the spot. Get some friends or family over to test out your creations so that you’ve got a wide range of different opinions and always remember, your opinion too. No baker will ever be successful if they aren’t a fan of their own work!

Take the time to investigate which sweet treats go together well on cakes, and don’t be afraid to modify recipes that you already know are well-loved. Sometimes a little bit of flare can make all of the difference. Don’t forget to think about your presentation too, as that really does matter!

Equipment

If you’re going professional as a baker, you will need the right equipment for the job. Perhaps in the past you have used guess-work for your recipes but now more than ever, you will need to buck up and invest in some equipment. Here’s a list of the basics that you will need:

• Scales for weighing ingredients
• Hand mixer to make your life that little bit easier
• Baking mats
• Measuring spoons
• Flour sifter – yes, it really does matter!
• Rolling pins
• Cooling trays
• Chef’s aprons
• A multitude of baking pans and trays
• A plethora of spatulas
• Mixing bowls
• Oven with a timer or alternatively, an oven and a timer.

We could be here for hours listing the things that you will need, but those are the basics that will get you going. If you want to go all out, check out these other bakers equipment that you could be buying yourself.

Register as self-employed

Unfortunately, you can’t simply just sell your goods and be on your way with the extra cash that you’ve made. You must register as self-employed before you start trading any sort of goods so that you’re not caught out selling without being registered. Doing so could lead to large fines! It’s really simple to register as self-employed, as you can either do it online or on the phone and the whole process takes less than half an hour!

Being self-employed means that you will have to keep an eye on your taxes too, so make sure that you’re regularly checking whether or not you owe anything taxwise.

Get your kitchen up to scratch

Like every kitchen, you will need to keep yours in a clean and organised condition. This also means taking measures against pests and contamination too. You will need to be following the regulations set by the government as to how your kitchen must be. Check out this useful article about kitchen cleanliness and safety here.

Build up your reputation

Like all new business owners, it’s important to build up your reputation so that business comes to you just as much as you’re reaching out to new customers. A great way to do this in this day and age is by using social media and websites to your advantage. Building up your following on social media is important, and interacting with your fans will make all of the difference to whether they help you out as a business or not. Running competitions with baked goods as prizes will be sure to increase your fan base, so try to run a competition regularly to keep everybody interested.

A website is important too so that people can check out what you’ve got on offer, and even see pictures or tutorial videos of you at work. Remember to make sure that your contact page is easily found so that if and when people decide to use your service, they can easily get in touch.

Work out how you’re going to be different from the rest

It’s likely that there is some competition in your local area, and it’s important to work out how you’re going to differ from them and get the custom that you’re after. Perhaps you’ll offer a buy one, get your next cake half price discount. Or maybe you could offer to deliver the cakes to the party that they’re going to. Be creative and make it so that you stand out from the crowd!

Attend events with your goodies

A great way of getting your name around your local town is to attend events with all of your wonderful creations. School fete on? Speak to the head teacher and see if you’re able to set up a stall selling cakes for the children to devour. Or perhaps there’s an event on nearby, it would be worth investing in a stand so that you and your new business can gain some exposure. Don’t forget that it’s important to create a “look” for your business. This means logo design, banners, leaflets, and even a uniform for when you’re out and about!

Becoming a professional baker might seem daunting in the early days of your new business, but with a little hard work a persistence, you will soon find yourself baking for a living and wondering why you didn’t do it sooner!

This post has been contributed by Ryan Gatt, it may contain affiliate links.