Omg What Have I Done!!!! (Super Long)
Decorating By OhMyGoodies Updated 8 Nov 2006 , 5:20pm by Sparklycake
Ok well the school news letter just came home and I'm reading it and Susie comes running down and says "Mommy I want to go to the Daddy Daughter Dance PLEASE" So I read about that and it says if you are interested in bringing in baked goods call this number.
So I'm sitting there thinking ok this will be a good way to get my name out there and participate in the school functions and stuff and make Susie happy all at the same time.
I call the woman and tell her I've just started a home based business of baking and decorating cakes and such and would she be interested in me baking a few (key word FEW) cakes for this function. She says "Yes Becky that'd be excellent!!!" so excited that I've gotten this "free" job with free advertising and such that I neglected to ask before offering... so I ask before hanging up "How many people are expected to attend this year or should I wait until you close the ticket sales and you can call me back with an exact number of paid guests?" Well she says "Last year we had about 200 daughters and 200 daddys so that's 400 people not including the other parents and people there helping out" So I'm thinking ok cake for 450 people sounds easy no problem! So I say "Ok no problem 400 + people I'll go ahead and start baking and freezing and then closer to the date I'll defrost and ice" She agrees that's a good idea and we hang up.
Ok so now I'm stressing!!!! I used someone's photo that I was refered to earlier when we were discussing the cake dividers.... I counted.. there are 35 slices of cake in my 11x15 sheet cakes. 35/400=11.4 cakes so I figured 12 cakes would do it. Maybe 13. That's a whole hell of a lot of cake and decorating to do by December 9th!!!!! So now I ask of you... am I in over my head with this? I also wanted to make the cakes for the Santa Party for the State Police Barrack... do you think I'll be able to manage these 13 cakes plus another 2-3 for that? Probably both falling around the same time....
Might I add I don't have much room to freeze these cakes.... We have an upright freezer but it's a block of ice and not much room to do anything with..... I know I can double/triple wrap them and freeze them for weeks at a time and then thaw them for a few days prior but I don't know if I can actually do this! Please someone tell me honestly am I in over my head? My husband is willing to help me and it's very basic, sheet cakes iced in white with pale blue trim and shimmer dust on them... they are doing a Winter Wonderland theme and these are the colors she gave me, white pale blue and silver so I figured be as basic as possible!
Anyone close to Easton MD wanna come help??? lol Ideas, suggestion, bishyness, anything is welcome here. If you think I'm in over my head let me know and I'll call her and tell her after thinking it over and figuring it up it's a little out of my league. BUT Also there may be someone else that wants to donate cake to this function I'll have to wait and find out but if I want this "job" I've got to start soon I'm sure.... Yall that have made lots of cakes for one order help me out here lol.
Thanks in advance!!!
Becky
EDIT: I guess I failed to realize I'm not going to be the only person bringing stuff to this dance.... maybe I'll only need like 5-7 cakes for this instead with all the other stuff being brought in I may not need the whole 12-13 cakes... what would yall do enough cake for everyone or enough cake for maybe half of everyone there....
The way I take it up, it sounds like they are looking for several bakers to donate, not just one person. Just a suggestion, but could you call her and say you are planning on making xx number of servings, so if she other bakers call she knows how many goodies she needs from those people. Then make a super looking display and still get your name out there, without stressing yourself out and that leaves the door open to still do the other job.
whoah! a dozen cakes, sounds like a ton of work. how much time does one cake take you to bake and decorate? i think that would help determine things. if its a couple of hours each, ok, bake early as you said, then defrost and decorate for a couple of days before. i'd definately ask about the servings- not everyone will eat cake if there is a ton of other stuff to eat. if its 5 or six, sounds easy enough, still a lot of work, but do- able. also, measure your freezer, and if you fill it up with cake, plan on not shopping down the freezer isles at the market for a month! determine what you will do with this before you voluteer for the other function. even if it works out time wise, thats a lot of money on supplies. go easy on yourself if youre just starting out.
you may also suggest smaller slices like wedding portions rather than party portions.
Wow I can't imagine that when they ask for volunteers to bring something they mean for all 400+ people, that seems like alot to "volunteer" for.
I think you could get it done, but only if you have the resources and the room to store them. That would be the scary part I think!
Good Luck, if I lived in MD I'd help you 
You mentioned using an 11x15 pan. Would it be worth investing in a 12x18? I get 48 servings out of mine (13 more servings per sheet) and they are still decent size servings, and it doesn't really take any more time to decorate than the 11x15. That would cut the number of cakes you need as well as your time.
Wow. That is a lot of cake. I am pretty sure other parents are going to want bring stuff. I would check with the woman in charge again and see if they are handing out a sign up sheet for parents to bring stuff. Then tell her you can make up the difference if not enough people sign up. I don't think they are expecting any one person to donate all the treats. That's too expensive not to mention a lot of strain on you. But I understand your excitment. I would be way excited too and ready to make however much they wanted. But we have to be careful not to take on to much. Good luck. 
I thought about that but I'm not sure where I can get the larger pan from. The local stores here don't have much to offer pan-wise. I'm going to go a few towns over to Michaels and see if they have the larger sheet cake pans and maybe get a few of them... I mean it's all for the business anyway lol.
I agree I'm sure other parents are going to want to bring stuff and I don't think she really meant "I need you to make cakes for 400 people" lol I think she just assumed I was only going to make 2-3 cakes. I do plan to do a few I don't want to just take one.
I'm going to call her tomorrow and let her know I can do 3-4 cakes and that way she can have other parents bring in whatever else she wants and if someone calls and says I wanna make a cake she can say well I have cakes already being made but you're welcome to bring in cupcakes or whatever lol....
I'm not sure on if I should plan to set up a small display since it is a school function and not really a place to draw in business but maybe just have my business cards in hand incase someone asks for one or asks who made the cakes lol.
I do appreciate everyones comments and support and help in this and thanks to yall I've decided under 5 cakes is best that way others can share in this fun event and I can still have room to do the other cakes for the other function. Yes lots of freebies but I figure if only one person becomes a customer I'll make back at least part of what I've spent in these freebies.
Thanks again gang! Such great support system here at CC I love yall! 
Hugs Becky
Hey, don't fret... you will probably not be the only person to make cakes or refreshments!!!! I live in Wilmington De... is that close to you???
oh no thats alot of cakes if you want to make for everyone. honestly i dont think you will be the only person taking something. You offered to bring something not something for everyone single person in the dance. I would do a few like you said and thats enough. They really cant expect someone to bring cakes to feed 400 people without paying something. i would make about 6 but thats even alot for 1 person. goodluck you do have alot on your plate.
Faith I'm about 30-45 minutes from Seaford Delaware... not sure about Wilmington. I'm meeting so many people on here from near by areas like Baltimore and some even closer! This is great!
Man gotta love ebay! I just bought TWO 12x18x2 Sheet Cake pans by Wilton for $29.99 plus shipping! Gotta love em! I checked the Wilton webbie first and they are $22.~ each so I said well lemme check ebay and I found this I'm so tickled! Thanks for the suggestion on the larger pans
Didn't read through all the comments so I hope I'm not repeating what has already been said.
I would definately call the coordinator and let her know how many cakes you can bring. It may be very embarrassing to bring enough cake for 450+ people when they were expecting you to bring a cake or 2.
That's an excellent idea Leana but out of my league lol. I'm not talented enough to do a CCC I haven't tried but I'm scared of it lol. The FBCT I've tried and it didn't work so that's one I think I'm going to need hands on training with. I'm great at sheet cakes, it's basically all I've been making. I feel they are easy to decorate when needing just basics and this calls for just basics.
I'm thinking of doing all white buttercream then doing pale blue borders and maybe dividers so it's cut properly so it lasts a little while and she said silver and snowflakes so I'm thinking maybe get some of that pretty shimmer glitter stuff and use that to dust it maybe with a shaker of some sort and maybe buy some snowflake cadies or something to put on each piece if I divide it up.... I dunno I'll have to think on decorating for a bit lol.
I'm going to call her back tomorrow mid-day and let her know I'm going to do about 5 cakes which would be 240 servings and that way it's cut in half and someone else can pick up the slack lol. I'm happy to do stuff or the kids and the school but it'd be better payoff if I actually got orders after functions like this. I took cakes in for the halloween party granted it was just me, hubby, and two other mothers and the teacher but I sent lollipops home with the kids and told the teacher it was alright to give out my name and number if any parents inquired for any reason weather to complain or compliment or order and no one has done anything.... but hopefully this one will pay off a little better lol.
Keep forgetting to mention... I'm a stay home mom..of a 7 1/2 year old lil girl who is in school full time 2nd grade lol.... I'm home all day by myself except for the occasional day off from school. So I can spend the few days before the function making the cakes and decorating them.... how can I store the ALREADY decorated cakes? I'd hate for them to get all wet from condensation and I wouldn't be able to wrap them due to decorations.... Would it be alright to go ahead and do them (the dance is on a saturday) up and decorate them friday and box them up and let them sit until the next day? I could spend that entire week baking and just wrap them and leave them at room temp right?
Hi, just my 2 cents, please don't think I'm crazy.... I would do a tiered cake, so that way you can impress people more and show your work in a better way (show off girl) as I believe first impressions is what really counts (taste as well, of course) Anyway, back to your concern, I would also do cake for 200 only, as you said, you will not be the only parent bringing baked goodies and as someone already said, not everybody eats cake and there will be tons of food too, I assume.
HTH and good luck! Oh and BTW, I would start baking and freeze my cakes ahead of time.
Man gotta love ebay! I just bought TWO 12x18x2 Sheet Cake pans by Wilton for $29.99 plus shipping!
Gotta love em! I checked the Wilton webbie first and they are $22.~ each so I said well lemme check ebay and I found this I'm so tickled! Thanks for the suggestion on the larger pans
Good for you! I find way too many toys on ebay. I was thrilled to get a fountain for $15 this week! One rental and that baby will be paid for!
As far as baking ahead, if I have a cake that someone wants to pick up let's just sat Sat am. I bake it Thurs night, cool slightly and wrap in saran wrap to lock in the moisture, then frost and decorate on Friday. Once the frosting is on it, that will seal in the moisture. Or for example if they want to pick it up in the afternoon , sometimes I will frost it that morning, but I have had family emergencies come up and have had to call a customer to see if I could drop it off at a later time. Now, I would rather have the cake done with plenty of time to spare. I also use a crusting buttercream and like to have it sit at least a few hours so it gets a little stiff before sending it out the door. Makes travel much less stressful if all that fresh icing isn't sliding off the cake as we go down the road. Been there! 
Hi, just my 2 cents, please don't think I'm crazy.... I would do a tiered cake, so that way you can impress people more and show your work in a better way (show off girl) as I believe first impressions is what really counts (taste as well, of course).
Ok number one I've never done tiered cakes I wouldn't know where to start... I do have the heart pan set to make a wedding cake but I wouldn't know where to start with that either lol.
Sorry it's taken so long to reply back I had to run out to the store. I appreciate all the comments and help with this you guys truely are great people!
You are as bad as I am. I volunteer for things and then think about it. My daughter volunteered me to bake for a Halloween Cake Walk at my Grandson's school. Of course I thought MINE was going to be the main cakes so I should bake a lot. I baked 6 and decorated them so cute. When I delivered them the whole library was filled. I am sure mine got lost in the suffle and all that worry was for nil. It is best to place a call and ask how many you should plan to serve and ask if anyone else is bringing cake. It would be too bad if you put all that work into them and had to bring half of them back home. I wish I was closer I would be glad to come on over and help bake. Remember baking is suppose to be fun!!!!!!
i got to thinking about this when you mentioned cutting the order down, i was going to suggest that you do less but take it up a notch with a real WOW factor like a stacked cake so you'd be sure to get more orders. when i saw that you are unfamiliar with doing tiered cakes...i agree that you shouldnt attempt it without practice for such a big commitment. so...may i suggest you really jaz it up with things not normally found on sheet cakes to make it look less common? have you ever made snowflakes with royal icing before? you could make them on parchment or wax paper, maybe tint some a faint blue, keep some white and dust them with super pearl luster dust or fine glitter while still wet. then attach at different angles(not flat on the cake surface) to add a 3-d effect. i am sure that there are a ton of fun things to do that wouldnt be extremely difficult that could get more notice for your cakes. However, do NOT overdo yourself. as long as there is quality in what ever you do, no matter how simple, it will get you notice. remember to enjoy it along the way.
Thanks gang! Love the ideas! I was going to print some pictures of snow flakes and attempt to make some royal icing and make a few ahead of time. How well do they keep? And how should I store them once dry? I've NEVER dealt with RI before so I appologize for all the questions.
I think that the best thing you could do is cut the number of cakes down to 3-4 and decorate each one differently in the colours they've asked for....
That way you get to send them co-ordinated cakes but with in a number of styles that will show off your decorating skills.
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