Cake pops are cake crumbled with frosting, rolled, and dipped in candy melts or chocolate, and in most cottage food laws they're fine, as long as the frosting doesn't need the fridge. Michigan allows baked goods and candy that don't need temperature control; Minnesota allows food that isn't potentially hazardous, with registration and training; North Dakota allows sales straight to the customer; California's list includes baked goods without cream fillings and chocolate-covered nonperishables. Cream cheese frosting as the binder is what takes them out. In the example below, a Minneapolis cake pop maker checks its menu.
The short version
- Cake pops with buttercream and a candy coating are generally cottage foods.
- Cream cheese frosting as the binder needs the fridge: not a cottage food.
- Michigan and North Dakota: allowed, direct to the customer.
- Minnesota: allowed with a yearly registration and approved training.
- California: baked goods without cream fillings, and chocolate-covered nonperishables.
- Label each pop or package as your state requires.
- TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot. More below.
Cake pops, state by state
| Product | Michigan | Minnesota | North Dakota | California |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vanilla cake pops, buttercream binder, candy coating | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Chocolate cake pops dipped in chocolate | Yes | Yes, registered | Yes | Yes, on the list |
| Red velvet pops with cream cheese frosting | No: needs temperature control | No: potentially hazardous | Frozen, with labels | No: not on the list |
Pricing a pop is in how to price cake pops, and a cake pop maker's year in cake pop business plan.
The rules
| State | Rule |
|---|---|
| Michigan | Food that isn't time/temperature control for safety, including jams, candy, dried fruit, granola, dry mixes, vinegar, dried herbs and baked goods; not meat or poultry, milk products, beverages, salsa, or canned foods other than standardized jams (MCL 289.1105(k)); prepackaged, labeled with the home kitchen statement, sold straight to the consumer (MCL 289.4102) |
| Minnesota | Food that isn't potentially hazardous, and home-canned pickles, vegetables or fruits at pH 4.6 or lower or water activity 0.85 or less; registration every year and approved food safety training (Minn. Stat. 28A.152) |
| North Dakota | No state license for cottage food sold directly to an informed end consumer; foods that need refrigeration labeled with safe handling instructions and as transported and maintained frozen; no uninspected meat, poultry only from the seller's own birds (N.D.C.C. 23-09.5-02) |
| California | Cottage foods are nonpotentially hazardous foods on the approved list, among them baked goods without cream, custard or meat fillings, candy, chocolate-covered nonperishables, dried fruit, dried pasta, granola, herb blends, honey, standardized jams, nut butters, popcorn, vinegar and mustard, roasted coffee and dried tea (HSC 114365.5); Class A sells directly, Class B also through shops and restaurants (HSC 113758) |
This is general information, not legal advice.
An example: a Minneapolis menu
North Loop Cake Pops, a made-up home cake pop maker in Minneapolis, Minnesota, registered as a cottage food producer and took the approved training. Vanilla and chocolate pops, bound with buttercream and dipped in candy coating, go on the menu; red velvet with cream cheese frosting was switched to a buttercream binder, because cream cheese frosting needs the fridge. Each order is bagged and labeled with what Minnesota's law asks for. The state's rules in full are in minnesota cottage food law.
Get the checker
Download the home cake pop checker. Two sheets: your products, whether each needs refrigeration, is meat or poultry, a milk product, a canned food other than jam, or a drink, and whether it's on California's list; how Michigan's, Minnesota's, North Dakota's and California's cottage food laws treat it fill in; and each state's rules as read for this article. It's an ordinary Excel file with no macros, and it works in Google Sheets, LibreOffice and Numbers.
Where this stops working
The rules decide what can be sold. Custom orders for birthdays and weddings, each a different color, are where an order goes out with the wrong design, or a batch can't be told from another.
How TaroStack does it
TaroStack keeps each customer's order and each batch's lot, and what each pop costs.
Orders. Each customer's order goes in for its pickup or market day, with a picking list.
Each batch a lot. A batch of pops is a batch from its recipe, with its date and lot, and the lot goes on each order it fills.
True cost. Each pop is costed from its recipe and the batch, at what the ingredients actually cost.
| The job | Paper | In TaroStack |
|---|---|---|
| Who gets what on market day | Order sheets | Orders by day |
| Which batch went to which customer | Not recorded | Lots on each order |
| What a pop costs | A guess | True cost from the recipe and batch |
Orders, recipes and batches are on every plan, from $49 a month. The first 30 days are free, with no credit card. If you'd like a hand setting up, ask, and we'll do it with you.