A thriving underground economy of home bakers operating from garden sheds is raking in up to £1,000 a week, sources confirm, as regulators move to crack down on the unregulated boom. The cottage industry of ‘cake sheds’ has exploded during the cost-of-living crisis, with amateur bakers selling everything from Victoria sponges to elaborate celebration cakes via social media and word-of-mouth.
But now the Food Standards Agency, which has been slow to act, is finally waking up. Uncovered documents show the agency is drawing up new enforcement guidelines targeting home-based food businesses that operate without formal registration or hygiene inspections. These bakers, many of whom are mothers and pensioners supplementing their income, face being shut down if they cannot meet commercial kitchen standards.
“We’re not talking about organised crime, we’re talking about people trying to get by,” a former FSA inspector told me. “But the law is the law. If you’re selling food to the public, you need to be registered. The problem is, these cake shed people don’t know the rules, and the rules are a mess.”
One baker in Essex, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she earns £800 a week from her shed-based operation, baking birthday cakes for local families. “I’ve got three kids and a mortgage. This is how I keep afloat. I’m not a restaurant. I’m a mum with an oven.” Her shed is not registered with the local council. She has never had a hygiene inspection. And she is exactly the type of operator the FSA is now targeting.
The burgeoning trade has not gone unnoticed by local authorities, who are under pressure to enforce food safety laws after a string of high-profile food poisoning outbreaks linked to unregulated producers. But critics say the crackdown is disproportionate and will push these micro-businesses further underground. “The FSA should be focusing on the real crooks: the money launderers, the corporate fraudsters,” one council insider said. “Not a woman selling lemon drizzle cake from her garden.”
Meanwhile, the money is piling up. Sources estimate the UK’s home-baking economy is worth hundreds of millions of pounds, mostly off the radar. HMRC has taken note. Tax evasion is a serious crime, and the taxman has already begun cross-referencing social media posts with tax records. One baker in Yorkshire received a letter demanding back taxes on earnings she had never declared. “They calculated what I should have paid based on my Instagram followers,” she said. “This is getting scary.”
The regulation crackdown is expected to hit hardest in rural areas, where cake sheds have become a lifeline. In Cornwall, a network of bakers supplies tourists and locals alike, operating entirely outside the system. “We’re going to destroy a piece of British culture,” warned a local MP who has called for a new licensing category for micro-bakeries. “These people are the backbone of the rural economy.”
The FSA insists it is not trying to kill the dream. “We want to work with home bakers to bring them into the regulated fold,” a spokesperson said. “No one wants to stop people from earning an honest crust.” But with penalties including fines of up to £5,000 and even imprisonment for repeat offenders, the threat is real.
This is a developing story. We will continue to follow the money and the bodies, if they show up.
