I am so new at this. My sister-in-law has given me the opportunity to get my 'name' out there by donating a cake for a silent auction for a huge women's event in town. Great opportunity. However, I'm a tad nervous... i really don't know what to do. Should I make a dummy cake and have on display or just use brochures? I have obviously never done this before. The idea is that whoever wins the bid would call me to arrange for a specialty cake. Should there be a price limit?

Also, I don't have a company logo, or any kind of paper gak to include. Where do i start???

I'd really appreciate any help or advice anyone has! The event is in May so I really have to get started on this!

Well, your cakes are much nicer than mine were, but when I was first starting, I did an auction for my church. I had just finished course 3, so I had very little experience. What I did, though, was to make several little cakes to show off some of the techniques I knew how to do. Those were at the actual auction, and then the bid sheet said that I would make them a custom cake. I put up two custom cakes.

I would definitely have some sort of brochure, or maybe just some pictures of things you're willing to do, because otherwise people will bid $20 and expect a $300 cake. That's what happened with the first auction cake. It was worth several times what she paid for it. II haven't done the second one yet. t would also clear up things the other way. A lot of people said they didn't bid very high on my cakes because they thought they would be tiny ones like the sample cakes I had.

It's funny, my custom cakes only sold for like $25, but my sample cakes sold that night for $10 each.

If I do it again, I will make absolutely clear the approximate size of the cake they will get. That way, they'll (hopefully) go for more money, and the discrepancy between what they pay and what they get won't be so huge. Definitely put a value on it, that way they'll know what they're getting.

You can see my sample cakes on my website under "baby cakes," and you can see the cake I ended up making for the winner as the bouquet cake under "sculpture cakes."

Good luck!

I just contributed to a silent auction. The teapot cake in my photos went for $130 and included with it was a basket containing 8 princess wands and tiaras.

Mine was a dummy cake....it had to sit out all day during the auction and would have melted otherwise.

I kept the dummy cake and the winner received the basket with wands, tiaras and a printed Gift Certificate for a custom cake created by myself with a value of $125 or less.

There was no way I was going to end up with some yahoo demanding I bake them a full blown wedding cake or something just because they won.

I only bake as a hobby (auction was for my kid's Tball team) so I obviously didn't advertise at all....in fact only the winner found out who was going to make the cake for them.

In the end a mom bid on my cake for her lil girl. The lil girl has been ill all her life and this is the first time she is well enough to have a party so since her kid wanted my cake, she was willing to pay whatever she needed to buy it. I am making a much larger cake for her (my decision) as they are having a very large party and I want the cake to be very memorable for the lil girl.