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Custom Cake Order Intake Checklist

Every detail to collect and confirm before you accept a custom cake order, from the event date to the deposit and the written confirmation.

Download the checklist (.txt)

Reviewed for 2026, updated September 8, 2026.

Most custom cake mistakes are not baking mistakes. They are intake mistakes: a spelling that was never checked, an allergen nobody asked about, a pickup time that lived only in a message thread. This checklist walks through every question a complete order needs answered, in roughly the order a customer can answer them, so nothing gets left for a panicked text the night before.

Print it and keep it next to your order book, or use it to audit your current form. If your form already asks all of this, you are in good shape. If it skips half of it, the gaps are where your remakes and refunds come from. Work through it once per order until the habit sticks, then compare your intake time with our intake time calculator at /tools/cake-order-intake-time-calculator/ to see what the discipline is worth.

  • Customer name, phone number and the contact method they actually check
  • Event date, and whether the cake needs to be ready the day before
  • Pickup or delivery, with the full address and a one-hour window
  • Number of servings, and whether they mean party slices or wedding slices
  • Cake shape, number of tiers and rough size, or a note that sizing is left to you
  • Flavor for each tier, written per tier rather than for the whole cake
  • Filling for each tier, including none if that is the answer
  • Frosting type: buttercream, fondant, ganache or a combination
  • Allergens for the guest of honor and the guests, asked explicitly, with none recorded as a real answer
  • Dietary needs such as gluten free, dairy free or vegan, and whether it must be strict or is a preference
  • Your kitchen limitations restated to the customer, such as shared equipment or nuts on the premises
  • Design description in the customer's own words, not your paraphrase
  • At least one reference photo attached, with a note on what to copy and what to change
  • Colors captured as a photo, swatch or hex code rather than a color name
  • Exact inscription text, spelling and capitalization checked letter by letter
  • Toppers, figures, fresh flowers or other non-edible items, and who is supplying each one
  • Occasion, theme and age of the guest of honor, so the design reads right
  • Budget range, optional, so you can steer the design instead of surprising the customer
  • Lead time checked against your minimum notice, with the rush fee applied if it applies
  • Calendar checked for the pickup date and the two days before it, not just the pickup day
  • Quote sent from your written price structure, with a date the quote expires
  • Deposit amount, payment method and due date agreed and recorded
  • Written confirmation sent that restates every detail above in one place
  • Customer reply received confirming the confirmation is correct
  • Order added to the production calendar with the hands-on hours blocked off
Free to use and sharehttps://cakeintakr.com/templates/custom-cake-order-intake-checklist/

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