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- Ideal for cake lovers with creativity and artistic ability, attention to detail, and a steady hand
- With experience, option to start your own business or teach cake design
- Busiest working periods will be Christmas, Easter, and during the wedding season (April to September)
You can work for yourself as a cake decorator or for an independent bakery or shop.
DAY-TO-DAY DUTIES
- Talk with clients about cake design ideas
- Create designs and decorations and draw sketches to show clients
- Bake cakes to order
- Write messages on cakes using icing
- Set up, clear away and clean baking equipment
- Check stock levels and buy ingredients
- Promote the business
- Keep accounts (if you're self-employed)
- If you work for a large bakery or supermarket, you'll be part of a team of decorators, putting pre-baked cakes together, and adding pre-made decorations, icing and models.
If you're displaying your work online, make sure you put a watermark on your online images to deter someone from copying them and check copyright terms if you're using popular characters or logos in your designs.
DAY-TO-DAY ENVIRONMENT
If you're self-employed, your earnings will depend on the amount of work you can get and what you can charge.
You'll usually work in a cool room to stop the icing from melting. You'll also usually wear a uniform including a hat. If you're self-employed your hours will vary depending on how much work you have. You'll usually be busiest before Christmas, Easter and during the wedding season (April to September).
You may work from your own shop or unit, or from home.
You'll need
This role could be ideal for those with creativity and artistic ability, attention to detail, and a steady hand.
There are no set requirements, but you'll usually need experience in baking, pastry or cake decorating.
This could be unpaid experience gained from decorating cakes for friends and family or as an assistant in a bakery or patisserie doing training on the job.
Employers may ask for evidence of your ability in techniques like icing, modelling, cake sculpting, and cake decorating.
You can take a course at your local college for a Level 2 Certificate in Professional Cake Decoration or Level 2 Certificate in Sugarcraft. Some colleges and adult learning centres run hobby courses in cake decorating, where you can pick up useful skills and techniques. You may also find it helpful to get a food hygiene certificate.
CAREER PROSPECTS
With experience, you could start your own business. You could also work in quality control in a bakery, or teach cake design in adult education centres or at college.