How to Start a Home Baking Business in 2026 (What You Actually Need to Know)

January brings that familiar new year, new me feeling. People start thinking about what they want more of and what they are fed up with. More flexibility, more enjoyment, less Sunday night dread. For a lot of bakers, that reflection lands right back in the kitchen. The place where you switch off, feel calm, and hear someone say, “You should sell these, you know.” Once that thought pops into your head, it is very hard to ignore.

So let’s talk about it properly.

Is starting a baking business still realistic?

Short answer. Yes.

Longer answer. Also yes, but not in the way Instagram sometimes makes it look. People buy baked goods differently now. Convenience matters. Supporting small businesses matters. Being able to order great bakes without leaving the house feels normal, not fancy.

We see bakers doing really well with local celebration cakes and boxes, postal brownies, blondies and traybakes, corporate orders for offices and events, and seasonal treat boxes that sell out faster than expected. The opportunity is still there. What makes the difference is not the bake, it is how clearly you show up and tell people what you sell.

What you actually need to start in the UK

This is usually the bit where people panic slightly and open seventeen tabs. Take a breath. It is simpler than you think.

To sell baked goods from home in the UK, you need to register as a food business with your local council, complete basic food hygiene training, have public liability insurance, and understand allergens. That is it.

No one expects you to be perfect. Environmental Health are not lurking outside your door. They want you to be safe, sensible, and legal. Most successful bakers you see online started exactly here, probably while Googling things late at night and doubting themselves.

What you absolutely do not need yet

This part is important, so read it twice.

You do not need a massive menu that stresses you out, a fancy logo before your first order, a website that costs more than your oven, the perfect kitchen setup, or ten thousand followers. You also do not need to wait until you feel ready. Ready is a moving target and it rarely turns up on time.

We see these all the time. And to be very clear, we have also made most of them ourselves.

One of the biggest is trying to sell everything to everyone. Brownies, cupcakes, cookies, cheesecakes, celebration cakes, boxes, postal, local, corporate. All at once. It usually comes from excitement, not strategy, but it quickly leads to overwhelm and very mixed messaging. When people cannot quickly understand what you sell, they usually scroll on.

Another common trap is copying what other bakers are doing because it looks like it is working for them. Same products, same captions, same pricing, sometimes even the same colours. The problem is that what works for someone else might not suit your life, your skills, or the time you actually have. Sustainable businesses are built around what fits you, not what looks good on someone else’s feed.

Pricing is a big one too. So many bakers undercharge because asking for money feels awkward, especially when it is something you enjoy doing. There is often a quiet voice saying, “Will people actually pay that?” The reality is, the right customers will. Underpricing does not build confidence or loyalty. It just builds resentment and burnout.

And then there is waiting for confidence. Waiting until you feel ready, experienced enough, or legitimate enough to put yourself out there. The frustrating truth is that confidence does not magically arrive first. It grows after you take action, get feedback, and realise you can actually do this.

These mistakes are not a sign you are doing it wrong. They are a sign you are new and learning. Every successful baker you admire has been through this stage. The ones who move forward are not the most confident. They are the ones who keep going anyway.

What to focus on in your first 30 days

If you are starting or starting again this January, keep things simple. Really simple.

Focus on one main product or product range, one way to sell such as local orders, postal, markets or corporate work, and one place to show up consistently. That might be Facebook, Instagram, or local word of mouth. You do not need all of them. You just need one done well.

Progress beats perfection every time. Every. Single. Time.

You might have seen Linda down the road offering cakes, cupcakes, brownies, cheesecakes, doing markets......and everything in-between! Do not compare. Don't try and keep up. I think that is the advice I wish I had heard when I started off. It will do you no good at all. Linda is probably burnt out, under charging and only showing you her highlight reel online!

If this sounds like you, you are not on your own

If you are reading this thinking “I love baking but I do not know where to start” or “I have started but it feels a bit all over the place”, you are exactly who we built our free baking community for. Even if you are someone who just feels like there's other blocks that could stop them getting started, I want to tell you that before I started my baking business, I didn't know how to bake. I would not have been able to tell you what ingredients went into a cake never mind how to decorate one (hence a few terrifying looking cakes ha ha!). But I just threw myself into it during one of the many COVID lockdowns and the rest is history; that's a story for another time.

Anyway - our community is full of bakers at all stages. Hobby bakers, business owners, and people asking questions they thought they should already know the answer to.

👉Join our free baking community on Facebook here:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/807561250983620

No judgement from us or anyone else in there - everyone is in the same boat just at different stages. No daft questions - there will be someone else wondering the same thing. The group is just full of proper support with a community feel from people who understand your baker mind!

If January has you thinking to yourself “maybe this could be the year”, trust that niggle!! You do not need to have everything figured out. You just need to start.

Charlotte

Baking Bosses