diff --git a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/base.py b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/base.py
index 10942532..27eca32a 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/base.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/base.py
@@ -1,10 +1,10 @@
 from typing import List
 
 from apache_beam.pipeline import Pipeline, PipelineOptions
-from traitlets import TraitError
+from traitlets import HasTraits, TraitError
 from traitlets.config import LoggingConfigurable
 
-from ..commands.bake import Bake, ExecutionMetadata
+from .execution_metadata import ExecutionMetadata
 
 
 class Bakery(LoggingConfigurable):
@@ -40,12 +40,12 @@ def bake(self, pipeline: Pipeline, meta: ExecutionMetadata) -> None:
         result = pipeline.run()
         job_id = result.job_id()
         self.log.info(
-            f"Submitted job {meta.job_id} for recipe {meta.name}",
+            f"Submitted job {meta.job_id} for recipe {meta.recipe_name}",
             extra=meta.to_dict() | {"job_id": job_id, "status": "submitted"},
         )
 
     @classmethod
-    def validate_bake_command(cls, bake_command: Bake) -> List[TraitError]:
+    def validate_bake_command(cls, bake_command: HasTraits) -> List[TraitError]:
         """
         Validates the given bake_command and collects any validation errors.
 
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/execution_metadata.py b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/execution_metadata.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..0a59d36f
--- /dev/null
+++ b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/execution_metadata.py
@@ -0,0 +1,18 @@
+from dataclasses import asdict, dataclass
+
+
+@dataclass
+class ExecutionMetadata:
+    """
+    Holds metadata for an execution instance, including recipe and job names.
+
+    Attributes:
+        recipe_name (str): Name of the recipe being executed.
+        job_name (str): Unique name for the job execution.
+    """
+
+    recipe_name: str
+    job_name: str
+
+    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
+        return asdict(self)
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/flink.py b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/flink.py
index d5b4906a..d695f3ae 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/flink.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/flink.py
@@ -13,10 +13,10 @@
 
 import escapism
 from apache_beam.pipeline import Pipeline, PipelineOptions
-from traitlets import Bool, Dict, Integer, TraitError, Unicode
+from traitlets import Bool, Dict, HasTraits, Integer, TraitError, Unicode
 
-from ..commands.bake import Bake, ExecutionMetadata
 from .base import Bakery
+from .execution_metadata import ExecutionMetadata
 
 
 # Copied from https://github.com/jupyterhub/kubespawner/blob/7d6d82c2be469dd76f770d6f6ed0d1dade6b24a7/kubespawner/utils.py#L8
@@ -380,15 +380,15 @@ def bake(self, pipeline: Pipeline, meta: ExecutionMetadata) -> None:
         meta (ExecutionMetadata): An instance of BakeMetadata containing metadata about the bake process.
         """
         self.log.info(
-            f"Running flink job for recipe {meta.name}\n",
+            f"Running flink job for recipe {meta.recipe_name}\n",
             extra=meta.to_dict() | {"status": "running"},
         )
         pipeline.run()
 
     @classmethod
-    def validate_bake_command(cls, bake_command: Bake) -> List[TraitError]:
+    def validate_bake_command(cls, bake_command: HasTraits) -> List[TraitError]:
         errors = []
-        if not bake_command.container_image:
+        if not bake_command._trait_values["container_image"]:
             errors.append(
                 TraitError(
                     "'container_image' is required when using the 'FlinkOperatorBakery' "
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/local.py b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/local.py
index 922d6d31..762e6d74 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/local.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_runner/bakery/local.py
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 from apache_beam.pipeline import Pipeline, PipelineOptions
 from traitlets import Integer
 
-from ..commands.bake import ExecutionMetadata
 from .base import Bakery
+from .execution_metadata import ExecutionMetadata
 
 
 class LocalDirectBakery(Bakery):
@@ -54,7 +54,7 @@ def bake(self, pipeline: Pipeline, meta: ExecutionMetadata) -> None:
         meta (ExecutionMetadata): An instance of BakeMetadata containing metadata about the bake process.
         """
         self.log.info(
-            f"Running local job for recipe {meta.name}\n",
+            f"Running local job for recipe {meta.recipe_name}\n",
             extra=meta.to_dict() | {"status": "running"},
         )
         pipeline.run()
diff --git a/pangeo_forge_runner/commands/bake.py b/pangeo_forge_runner/commands/bake.py
index 9c2a9146..8ed8900e 100644
--- a/pangeo_forge_runner/commands/bake.py
+++ b/pangeo_forge_runner/commands/bake.py
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@
 import re
 import string
 import time
-from dataclasses import asdict, dataclass
 from importlib.metadata import distributions
 from pathlib import Path
 
@@ -17,6 +16,7 @@
 
 from .. import Feedstock
 from ..bakery.base import Bakery
+from ..bakery.execution_metadata import ExecutionMetadata
 from ..bakery.local import LocalDirectBakery
 from ..plugin import get_injections, get_injectionspecs_from_entrypoints
 from ..storage import InputCacheStorage, TargetStorage
@@ -24,23 +24,6 @@
 from .base import BaseCommand, common_aliases, common_flags
 
 
-@dataclass
-class ExecutionMetadata:
-    """
-    Holds metadata for an execution instance, including recipe and job names.
-
-    Attributes:
-        recipe_name (str): Name of the recipe being executed.
-        job_name (str): Unique name for the job execution.
-    """
-
-    recipe_name: str
-    job_name: str
-
-    def to_dict(self) -> dict:
-        return asdict(self)
-
-
 class Bake(BaseCommand):
     """
     Command to bake a pangeo forge recipe in a given bakery
@@ -138,8 +121,7 @@ def _validate_job_name(self, proposal):
             )
         return proposal.value
 
-    @validate("bakery_class")
-    def _bakery_impl_validation(self, proposal):
+    def bakery_impl_validation(self):
         """
         Validates the 'bakery_class' trait using class-specific validation logic.
 
@@ -150,8 +132,11 @@ def _bakery_impl_validation(self, proposal):
         Raises:
         - TraitError: If multiple validation errors are encountered, a single TraitError
         is raised containing a summary of all error messages.
+
+        Note: Traitlets has no convenient way to set initialization hooks (???) so we have
+        to run this manually.
         """
-        klass = proposal["value"]
+        klass = self.bakery_class
         if errors := klass.validate_bake_command(self):
             if len(errors) == 1:
                 raise errors[0]
@@ -202,6 +187,9 @@ def start(self):
         """
         Start the baking process
         """
+        # Validate bakery-specific requirements of this class. Yes, we have to do it here.
+        self.bakery_impl_validation()
+
         if not "pangeo-forge-recipes" in [d.metadata["Name"] for d in distributions()]:
             raise ValueError(
                 "To use the `bake` command, `pangeo-forge-recipes` must be installed."
diff --git a/tests/unit/test_bake.py b/tests/unit/test_bake.py
index 429d2974..21a8dbbf 100644
--- a/tests/unit/test_bake.py
+++ b/tests/unit/test_bake.py
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import pytest
 import xarray as xr
 from packaging.version import parse as parse_version
+from traitlets import TraitError
 
 from pangeo_forge_runner.commands.bake import Bake
 
@@ -72,12 +73,13 @@ def test_job_name_validation(job_name, raises):
     bake = Bake()
     if raises:
         with pytest.raises(
-            ValueError,
+            TraitError,
             match=re.escape(
                 f"job_name must match the regex ^[a-z][-_0-9a-z]{{0,62}}$, instead found {job_name}"
             ),
         ):
             bake.job_name = job_name
+            bake.bakery_impl_validation()
     else:
         bake.job_name = job_name
         assert bake.job_name == job_name
@@ -90,15 +92,16 @@ def test_job_name_validation(job_name, raises):
         ["apache/beam_python3.10_sdk:2.51.0", False],
     ),
 )
-def test_container_name_validation(container_image, raises):
+def test_container_image_validation(container_image, raises):
     bake = Bake()
     if raises:
         with pytest.raises(
-            ValueError,
-            match=r"^'container_name' is required.*",
+            TraitError,
+            match=r"^'container_image' is required.*",
         ):
             bake.bakery_class = "pangeo_forge_runner.bakery.flink.FlinkOperatorBakery"
             bake.container_image = container_image
+            bake.bakery_impl_validation()
     else:
         bake.bakery_class = "pangeo_forge_runner.bakery.flink.FlinkOperatorBakery"
         bake.container_image = container_image