Terms and conditions for a cake maker

A cake business needs terms that deal with the things that actually cause arguments: the deposit taken a year before the wedding, the design that changes three times, the allergen question asked by text message, and the tier that slid on a marquee table an hour after you left. I draft customer terms around how your orders are taken, made and delivered, for a fixed fee of £995, delivered in five working days.

Who this is for

Wedding and celebration cake makers, home bakers trading under the registration scheme, cake studios and small bakeries in England and Wales. Most of your customers are consumers, ordering by email, Instagram message or at a consultation, and many of you also supply venues, restaurants and corporate clients on account. One set of terms can cover both if it is drafted to do so.

What matters in a cake maker's terms

The design, the sketch and the reference photograph

Almost every complaint about a wedding cake is about appearance rather than taste. Your terms should record that the finished cake is handmade, that colours vary between batches and between screens, that sugar flowers and figures are an interpretation rather than a copy of a photograph the customer found online, and that natural light in a barn is not the light in your kitchen. Set a date after which the design is locked, say that later changes are quoted separately, and keep the agreed specification in writing rather than in a message thread.

Deposits, balances and cancellation of the date

You are holding a date and turning other work away, so a booking fee and a balance due before delivery are entirely reasonable. Under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 a term that lets you keep a consumer's prepayment without any matching obligation on you is on the list of terms likely to be treated as unfair, so blanket forfeiture is a risk. The answer is a graduated cancellation scale that reflects what you have actually lost and spent by that point, plus a clear postponement clause saying whether a new date is subject to availability and whether the price is held.

Online and consultation orders and the fourteen-day right

A cake agreed by email, telephone or at the customer's home falls within the Consumer Contracts (Information, Cancellation and Additional Charges) Regulations 2013, which normally give a consumer fourteen days to cancel. Cakes made to the customer's specification or clearly personalised are within the exceptions, as are goods that perish, but a boxed tasting set or a standard cupcake box may not be. If the cancellation information is never given, the period can extend by up to 12 months. Your order process and your terms have to line up on this.

Allergens, dietary requests and cross-contamination

This is the clause I spend longest on. Your terms should record how allergen information is given and updated, that a domestic or shared kitchen cannot be guaranteed free of a named allergen, and that the customer is responsible for passing your information to their guests. Information a consumer relies on is binding under the Consumer Rights Act 2015, so an assurance given casually in a message counts. Nothing in the terms can exclude liability for death or personal injury caused by negligence, and no drafting substitutes for your allergen records.

Delivery, set-up and the hours after you leave

Risk in goods sold to a consumer stays with you until they have them, so the terms need to say precisely when handover happens: on delivery to the venue, on set-up of the tiers, or on collection by the customer. Deal with the table the venue provides, ambient temperature, direct sunlight, storage before cutting, and the fact that once you have driven away the cake is in other people's hands. Collection by the customer should carry a clear warning about transport in a warm car, because that journey is the most common point of failure.

Stands, supports, photographs and trade accounts

Hired stands, separators and dowels need a return date, a condition standard and a proportionate charge if they come back broken or not at all, with dummy tiers and non-edible supports flagged so nobody serves a ribbon. Reserve the right to photograph the cake and use the images in your portfolio, and deal with who owns a bespoke design. For venues, restaurants and corporate customers, credit terms with interest and compensation under the Late Payment of Commercial Debts (Interest) Act 1998 gives you something to point at when an account runs late.

What it costs

Customer or supplier terms and conditions, £995. One set of terms, customer-facing or supplier-facing, drafted around your business. Five working days.

Review of your existing terms, £495. You already have terms and want to know how much of a problem they are. Returned marked up with my amendments and an explanation of the changes. Three working days.

Buying online forms the engagement on payment. The scope is what the terms and conditions drafting page describes, you accept the Terms of Service at checkout, and I email you within four working hours to get started. If you would rather ask something first, email me.

What you get

• A full set of terms drafted around your business, not a template with your name inserted
• A covering note in plain English explaining every commercial choice I made and why, so you can defend the terms in a negotiation without ringing me
• Liability, payment, termination and IP provisions set at a level that will survive a procurement review
• Consumer-facing wording drafted to be enforceable where you sell to consumers
• Guidance on how to incorporate the terms properly, which is where most businesses actually fail
• One round of amendments after you have read them

What is not included

• Negotiating your terms with individual customers
• Sector-specific regulatory compliance beyond the contract terms themselves
• Website privacy notice and cookie compliance, which I quote separately
• Terms governed by the law of another country

Questions I am often asked

Can I keep the booking fee if a wedding is called off?

You can retain an amount that genuinely reflects the date you held and the work and materials committed by then, which is why I draft a scale rather than a single figure. A term that keeps everything a consumer has paid, whenever they cancel and whatever you have done, is the kind of term a court is most likely to strike out.

The customer says the cake was the wrong shade of blush. Where do I stand?

That depends on what was agreed and recorded. If your terms set out the agreed specification, explain that handmade colouring varies and warn that screen images are unreliable, you are in a far better position than a business relying on a message thread. It also helps to price and document a sample tier or colour swatch before baking.

I sell to venues and restaurants as well as brides. Do I need two sets of terms?

One set will normally do the work, drafted with a section that applies only to consumers and a section covering trade accounts, credit, ordering and delivery windows. What fails is a consumer document handed to a venue, or a trade document handed to a couple, because the protections a consumer cannot sign away are missing.

Related guidance and services

• Terms and conditions drafting, £995, the service this page describes
• Contract review, £495
• Ask Caesar, £495 a month
• Terms and conditions for a wedding and events venue

This page is general guidance for businesses in England and Wales, not advice on your own circumstances. Last reviewed: September 2026. Email geoffrey@caesar.co.uk.