What Cake Development Corporation does

Cake Development Corporation (CakeDC) is a private professional services firm founded in 2007 by Larry Masters, the creator of the open-source CakePHP framework. Headquartered in Las Vegas, Nevada with a secondary office in Chicago, the company operates an international remote team of 11 to 50 employees and functions as the commercial entity behind the CakePHP ecosystem. CakeDC sells a portfolio of framework-specific services—custom application development, technical consulting, code review, professional training, and version-upgrade migrations—targeting enterprises, educational institutions, and startups building on or migrating to CakePHP.

The company's technical foundation rests on founder-led framework expertise, complemented by proprietary development practices (the CakeDC Git Workflow and CakeDC Plugin Standard) and an open-source plugin catalog. This catalog—Users Plugin (923,525 downloads), Utils Plugin (660,953 downloads), Tags Plugin, Migrations Plugin, Search Plugin, Enum Plugin, and an Oracle Database driver—serves as both community goodwill and a demonstration of framework mastery. CakeDC has also begun integrating Claude AI via the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing CakePHP applications to expose functionality to AI agents, alongside integrations for OAuth (Google, Facebook, LinkedIn), Amazon S3, Cypress testing, and Telegram bots.

CakeDC operates a professional services revenue model with quote-based pricing that is not publicly disclosed; engagement typically begins with a free 15-minute consultation and progresses into project-based work. Marketing relies on thought leadership content (technical blog, Advent Calendar series), community events (annual CakeFest conference, monthly virtual meetups, sponsored training), and direct enterprise outreach. Named customers span multiple industries and include BMW, MIT, Hyundai, Express, Billabong, Sainsbury's, Calzedonia, Zumba, Blendtec, Newman's Own, TeamSpeak, the University of Ottawa's Telfer School of Management, and CQUniversity Australia.

Name

Cake Development Corporation

Legal name

Cake Development Corporation

Website

https://cakedc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2007

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Cake Development Corporation (CakeDC) is a Las Vegas-based private consultancy founded in 2007 by CakePHP creator Larry Masters, providing CakePHP development, consulting, code review, training, and upgrade services to enterprises, universities, and startups worldwide.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Las Vegas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Custom CakePHP Development: Full-service custom development building applications 12x faster than other developers. Includes architecture design, implementation, and delivery.
2. CakePHP Consulting: Expert guidance from project analysis to full version upgrades. Helps prepare codebases for solid growth regardless of project size.
3. CakePHP Code Review: Meticulous code review services guaranteeing safety and scalability of source code, conducted by CakePHP framework experts.
4. CakePHP Training: Professional 5-hour training courses teaching developers best practices for creating readable, sustainable and extendable code.
5. CakePHP Upgrade Service: Migration services from CakePHP 2/3/4 to CakePHP 5, offered at special rates for current application code compatibility.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

CakeDC provides professional CakePHP development services — custom application development, expert consulting, meticulous code review, professional developer training, and migration/upgrade services from CakePHP 2/3/4 to CakePHP 5. Complementing the services, the company maintains and distributes a portfolio of open-source CakePHP plugins (Users, Tags, Search, Migrations, Enum, Utils, Oracle Driver) that extend framework functionality for the broader developer community.

Product overview

Cake Development Corporation (CakeDC) is a services company founded in 2007 by Larry Masters, the creator of CakePHP. The company offers a portfolio of CakePHP development services (custom development, consulting, code review, training, and upgrade services) alongside an ecosystem of open-source CakePHP plugins. The plugin ecosystem includes the Users Plugin (user management with social login and RBAC), Tags Plugin (content tagging), Enum Plugin (type-safe enumerations), Oracle Driver Plugin (enterprise database support), Search Plugin (search functionality), Migrations Plugin (schema versioning), and Utils Plugin (utility functions). The company also provides access to the CakePHP framework and its official Book documentation. The services serve as the primary revenue driver while plugins support the CakePHP community and demonstrate framework expertise.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Custom CakePHP Development Custom CakePHP application development service for enterprises and startups, claiming up to 12x faster delivery than other developers. Covers architecture design, implementation, and delivery of bespoke applications built on the CakePHP framework.
• CakePHP Consulting Expert consulting engagements for CakePHP projects covering requirements analysis, code-base preparation for growth, and version upgrade planning. Provided by the framework's creators.
• CakePHP Code Review Meticulous code review of CakePHP source code by framework experts, guaranteeing safety and scalability of codebases regardless of original author.
• CakePHP Training Professional 5-hour training courses teaching developers best practices for creating readable, sustainable, and extendable CakePHP code, with monthly sponsored sessions.
• CakePHP Upgrade Service

Quantifiable outcome

• 12x faster development compared to other developers
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration8 records

AI capability4 records

Feature8 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Curotec: Curotec is a PHP and CakePHP-focused web development consultancy offering custom development, consulting, and enterprise application services comparable to CakeDC's core offering.
• ValueCoders: ValueCoders is an offshore PHP and CakePHP development outsourcing firm offering custom development, migration, and consulting services directly competitive with CakeDC.
• Iflexion: Iflexion is a custom software development company with deep PHP and CakePHP practice delivering enterprise web applications, code review, and consulting services comparable to CakeDC.
• Clarion Technologies: Clarion Technologies is a custom PHP and CakePHP development company providing dedicated developers and project services that compete for the same enterprise web development engagements.

Emerging players

• Toptal: Toptal is a global freelance talent marketplace that includes senior PHP/CakePHP developers available for hire, partially overlapping with CakeDC's premium developer positioning.
• Andela: Andela is a global engineering talent marketplace and outsourced development provider with enterprise PHP capabilities, competing for the same high-end developer staffing and consulting budgets.

Broad incumbents

• Hidden Brains: Hidden Brains is an enterprise software development company offering PHP web application development and consulting services at scale, overlapping with CakeDC's target market.
• BairesDev: BairesDev is a large nearshore software development company with extensive PHP/LAMP stack capabilities, serving enterprise clients with similar custom development and consulting engagements.
• Xicom Technologies: Xicom Technologies is a custom software development firm with significant PHP/CakePHP capabilities, providing web application development and consulting services comparable to CakeDC's enterprise offerings.
• Chetu: Chetu is a large full-service custom software development firm with strong PHP practice, offering enterprise web application development at scale that overlaps with CakeDC's market.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/CakeDC
• GitHubgithub.com/CakeDC
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/696869
• Facebookfacebook.com/cake.development.corporation
• Instagraminstagram.com/cakedc
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCfD2MTXcW6JtVg5e7dQ3QfA

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cake Development Corporation