Always start with Cake PHP core as it is faster and more secure than Cake PHP. You can also use Cake PHP core if your project doesn’t need any additional functionality. Create a new application in Cake PHP core using PHP app/console and then you can use this application to create the database and add a few tables. Now you can use the Cake PHP core console to execute the Cake PHP code and test it. You can also execute Cake PHP core code from PHP CLI (command line interface).