How to label homemade cakes
What a cottage food label for homemade cakes should show, an example made with our free label maker, allergen tips, and what each state’s official list says about cakes.
On every label: the name of the food, net weight, ingredients heaviest first, an allergen “Contains” line, your business name and address, and your state’s required statement.
Last checked against the official sources. Sources
What goes on a cakes label
- Name of the food, such as “Lemon Pound Cake” (21 CFR 101.3).
- Net weight in ounces and grams, in the bottom 30% of the package front: net weight guide.
- Ingredients in descending order by weight, with sub-ingredients of store-bought items: ingredient order guide.
- Allergens in a “Contains” line or in the ingredient list: allergen guide.
- Name and place of business (21 CFR 101.5), plus anything your state adds, such as a phone number, registration number or date.
- Your state’s statement, word for word: see your state page.
- Nutrition Facts: FDA has small business exemptions, and a nutrition claim can remove them: Nutrition Facts guide.
Text at least 1/16 inch tall: type size guide. Printing at home: Avery sheet guide. Before you print: printable checklist.
Example cakes label
Made with our label maker for the fictional “Sample Kitchen” in Florida. Every business detail is a placeholder; use your own recipe and details.
The tool’s ingredient and allergen lines for this example:
Ingredients: enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), butter (cream, salt), sugar, eggs, lemon juice, lemon zest, baking powder (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, cornstarch, monocalcium phosphate), salt.
Contains: Milk, Egg, Wheat.
Allergen tips for cakes
- Frosting and filling are ingredients too. List what goes in them (by weight), or list the frosting as one ingredient with its sub-ingredients in parentheses.
- Baking powder you buy has its own ingredients; copy them from the can, as in the example.
The tool suggests a “Contains” line from the ingredient names it recognizes; always check it against your recipe and the labels of what you buy. Details: the nine major allergens and how to declare them.
Can you sell cakes as a cottage food?
What each state’s official allowed-foods list says, word for word. Lists change, and your state agency has the final word.
| State | Official list says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | Arizona’s rules cover foods that do and do not need time or temperature control, with different conditions. Check your state page. | — |
| California | 1. Baked Goods Without Cream, Custard, or Meat Fillings Cake | CDPH Approved Cottage Foods List (PDF) |
| Florida | Cakes, pastries and cookies | FDACS: Cottage Foods |
| Georgia | Cakes Cottage food operators are permitted to make only food that is not potentially hazardous | Georgia Department of Agriculture: Cottage Food |
| Michigan | Cakes, including celebration cakes (birthday, anniversary, wedding, cupcakes) | MDARD: What can I make? (cottage food) |
| Ohio | (1) Non-potentially hazardous bakery products | Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-20-04 |
| Oregon | Baked goods Products must not be time/temperature controlled for safety | ODA: Cottage Food Exemption (PDF, March 2026) |
| Texas | Allowable foods now include any foods, except for the followingThe exceptions listed are meat and poultry, seafood, ice products (including ice cream and frozen custard), low-acid canned goods, products with CBD or THC, and raw milk. Texas also requires registration and a safe-handling label for time/temperature-controlled (TCS) foods. | Texas DSHS: Texas Cottage Food Production |
We checked the allowed-foods lists of these 8 states. For Illinois, Tennessee, Virginia and Washington, see their state pages. Other state? Our label maker has an “Other state” option where you paste your state’s statement, or we can make your labels.
Fillings and frostings
Two of the lists we checked spell this out:
- California:
1. Baked Goods Without Cream, Custard, or Meat Fillings
;5. Frostings, Icings, Fondants, and Gum Pastes that Do Not Contain Eggs†, Cream, or Cream Cheese
(CDPH Approved Cottage Foods List (PDF)) - Michigan:
No pies or cakes that require refrigeration to assure safety like banana cream, pumpkin, lemon meringue or custard pies; no cheesecake; no cakes with glaze or frosting that requires refrigeration (e.g., no cream cheese frosting)
(MDARD: What can I make? (cottage food))
For other states, check your state page and your state agency before you sell cakes with cream, custard, cheesecake or a frosting that needs refrigeration.
Make your cakes label
Open this example in the toolStart a blank label
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Sources
Last checked . Quotes in the state table are copied from these official sources.
- California: CDPH Approved Cottage Foods List (PDF)
- Florida: FDACS: Cottage Foods
- Georgia: Georgia Department of Agriculture: Cottage Food
- Michigan: MDARD: What can I make? (cottage food)
- Ohio: Ohio Adm.Code 901:3-20-04
- Oregon: ODA: Cottage Food Exemption (PDF, March 2026)
- Texas: Texas DSHS: Texas Cottage Food Production
- 21 CFR 101.3: statement of identity
- 21 CFR 101.5: name and place of business
Plain-English summary, not legal advice. Found something wrong? Contact us · How we verify