OKay so I just got a call from someone I met this weekend. Her son is graduating. She wants a cake for 60 people & maybe some cookies too. The high school mascot is a Shamrock (I don't get it either) and the colors are black, green, and white. I thought about doing some shamrock cookies - but she was thinking a variety of cookies maybe chocolate chip, sugar, etc - and I've never made sugar cookies w/out the pre-made dough! Augh! My choc. chip cookies are great though (whew!). So maybe I'll try those Antonia74 no fail cookies? I think that's what they're called.

Anyway, this woman said her budget is around $150 - $200 for desserts. Do you think I can do this for that budget? And how elaborate should I go on this? Would a sheetcake be best? I already told her I can't compete w/ Wal-mart on prices & we discussed the differences in taste vs. cost, etc. - but I don't know if a plain old sheetcake is best. She discussed flavors of white & chocolate - but said she was open to ideas.

So anyone that can offer advice -PLEASE DO! I need help!

If there is no fondant involved, you could probably make a sheet cake with a simple design and a few dozen of chocolate chips cookies for $200. But, I think you would need to charge more if you were to make a variety of cookies. And if you're decorating the cookies, the cost would definitely be higher. Hopefully others will read this and have more input. But definitely figure out a cake design and cake size, ask how many dozen of cookies she will want, etc.

i would make a 1/2 sheet (12x1 with a 1/4 on top (9x13) that should feed atleast 50 and do shamrocks on the top and simple border. i would charge $65-70(yes i know im cheap) for that. Then do a couple batches of chocoalte chip cookies ( i charge $5 a dozen). i would say do what is easy for you. Dont try anything crazy, simple but perfect would be great. i would platter the cookies really well that way she doesnt have to deal with presentation later (you could charge $10 more for this easily $20 depending o nt he amount you make). good luck

So do you all think it would be better just to offer chocolate chip cookies & not decorated? She was a little worried about icing on the cookies getting on kid's hands - I guess there will be a lot of kids there.... I'm just worried about not offering an assortment.... hmmm still thinking! Thanks for your help!

I wouldn't mind some more help! Especially with pricing cookies! And whether decorated or plain would be best.....

Oh and I found out the kid likes wrestling - any ideas how to incorporate that??

It would depend on what you are comfortable with doing. If you've never done decorated cookies and you have time, definitely practice to figure out if you want to offer some...it can be time consuming depending on the design and quantity. I'm not sure of her concern of icing from the cookies because cake has icing too (LOL). I think the cake, chocolate chip and sugar cookies are fine. I've read where some charge $1 per inch per cookie.

I don't think it's necessary to incorporate wrestling since this is a graduation party.

$1 per inch per cookie? whoa. Hmm maybe I'll just offer plain cookies then. I could at least make them in the shape of Shamrocks - at least I think I could - well the sugar cookies...... I don't think I can figure out how to cut chocolate chip cookies into shamrocks - of course I could bake a sheet of cookies & then cut them out - hmm just thinking out loud here.

She kinda asked for a couple "trays" of cookies - is there a standard number to that? I have no idea.

The icing thing was b/c she figured little kids would reach for cookies - they don't usually reach for a huge hunk of cake w/ their hands - at least you hope not!

Thanks!

I would go with a sheet cake or 2 and some cookies. I found a shamrock chocolate mold at ACMOORE at St. Pat's Day.... they probably don't have them now but that would have been perfect.... pm me if you are interested in it, maybe I can just mail it to you and you can use it mail it back Look in my photos and you will see some St. Pat's day Cupcakes with the shamrock chocolates on top.... show her that picture and maybe do some cupcakes with my mold

When you say wrestling--are you talking about the stuff on tv or maybe he was on the high school wrestling team? If he was on the team, what about an edible image of him from a tournament or team pic? My local grocery store will make an edible image and it is not too expensive but gives the cake a nice look!! As to the cookie trays, what about thumbprint butter cookies with some jam in the center? Mix them with the chocolate chip. Good luck!

The cookies are typically $1 per inch because they are a lot of work! The pricing also depends on your area and how much people will actually pay for these. I use the NFSC (No Fail Sugar Cookies) recipe from here. They hold a nice shape. The icing is not a problem because it dries hard. I use Antonia74's royal icing recipe. Royal icing dries hard (not break your teeth hard, but it will not come off the cookie). You need a few days for the cookies. Bake and put the base frosting on one day, details the next day and then a day to dry. In the articles there is a tutorial on how to decorate sugar cookies this way. Hope that helps!

Hmm, a tray of cookies, maybe about a 1 - 1 1/2 dozen depending on size of tray and size of cookie. Then you could just charge the cookies by amount on tray instead of a price per cookie.

Another option, a fbct of a shamrock on the sugar cookies. You could pipe some icing in the size of shamrock and lay the fbct on top. This wouldn't be too messy for the kids.

First "HI IMARTSY!" Good to see another louivillian around here!

How about 12x15 sheet cake with 2 trays of chocolate chips shamrock cookies drizzled with chocolate maybe, green of course!
Or chocolate covered oreos and chocolate chip cookies too. Tray of each?

Ugh I have to get back to this woman and I've had NO TIME to look at designs & price! I bought Cake Boss last night but I haven't had time to do anything with it! I don't want to seem unprofessional - I just work full time and I've been having a nutty week......

So what I think would be a good idea is to offer a sheetcake or square shaped cake - half chocolate, half vanilla - or if I do a bottom & top layer - one layer chocolate, one vanilla. I'd like to go a little over & beyond just a regular sheetcake..... so I was thinking of maybe two stacked squares on top of each other. I LOVE the book cakes peole do - but I'm not sure how easy that will be to cut and serve - and I don't want to do fondant b/c I never know how people will react.

HOWEVER, I do think I may suggest some sugar cookie shamrocks w/ fondant icing - b/c then fondant icing won't be really sticky or messy, and it tastes great! I may use Satin Ice or I may make marshmellow fondant.... so I was thinking maybe 20 chocolate chip cookies & 20 sugar cookies w/ fondant icing.... she thought she may have 60 people, but if she has cake AND cookies, I figure cake for 60 and cookies for 40 would be good - does that sound like a good ratio? And if I charged $.75 a cookie for chocolate chip & $1.00 a cookie for the sugar cookies w/ fondant - that would come to $35 for 40 total cookies - does that sound like too little? Am I underpricing?

I really appreciate your help in this! I've never done such a large order - or a combined order of cookies & cake unless the cookies have kinda been a "surprise" special addition to the cake (like incorporated into the design).

Oh I have one other worry - if the party is outside - what can I do about the icing melting? I dont' want to use plain Crisco - or plain fondant - I usually use the Buttercream Dream recipe which does have some Crisco in it - but should I tell her to keep it inside or to only have it out when she's serving and then put it away b/c the icing will melt? What do you all think?

THANKS!

one more try - anyone have any other pricing/ ideas?

Well I think just a plain square cake half choc and half vanilla is a good idea but a fbct of the school logo would really look great however if you dont have time to do a fbct maybe frost it in the colors you mentioned above with the school name in the center. As for the cookies I would suggest some choc chip and maybe some oatmeal raisin if you dont have time to do the nfsc cookies as well as peanut butter which are always a hit with kids. This way you have at least 3 types and I personally would charge by the platter not the cookies for me as a customer it always sounds like a better deal when you say so much for a platter compared to so much per cookie. Now as for how much? Well I live in canada and in a large city so my price would be way different from yours you would have to evaluate how much your costs are and how much things around you cost. No two areas seem to be the same when it comes to pricing. Good luck with it all and I hope this helps a bit.

Hmm peanut butter cookies sound good - how many cookies are to a "platter"? If I charge by the platter.....

I guess it depends on how big a platter you have or buy. You can get many different sizes I would suggest if you want to do 3 platters with each say 3 doz cookies of 3 varieties which is approx what most recipes make that would give you 108 cookies now if you are 50 people say that would give approx 2 cookies per pers. then you calculate how much it costs to make them plus the cost of the platters themselves and the cost of living in your area and you have your answer. It would cost me approx $6. to make a batch of roughly 3 1/2 doz choc chip cookies plus if I buy my platter at the dollar store another $1. so that makes $7. I would probably charge about $15. for the platter since there is basically no decorating involved and they are fast to make. I know my dd loves peanut butter cookies with smarties candy in them and they look good. So you have to judge how much your ingredients cost you. Just my humble opinion hopefully someone who is a professional can help you out better than me. Good luck with it all

i agree. I would do by the platter with the flavors mentioned. I would charge $5 a dozen so 3 dozen on the platter would be about $15. If this sounds low i would say maybe $20 but since she is limited then its your call. goodluck