I have a customer that wants deserts for 130 people on Thursday night. cupcakes, cookies cheese cake, but what else? I don't have time to decorate cookies and my choc chip recipe isn't the best plus I heed a variety. Don't have many different recipes except Christmas cookies. Please help. Oh and what do I charge, do I charge extra for short notice she just called 25 minutes ago and I have to call her back in 5.

HELP

TIA,
Kat

cupcakes ?? with chocolate butterceam on top and fondant fall leaves - at least $ 1.50

Good Idea, but what else, she wants more than cup cakes?

Mini pecan pie/tarts. Pie crust in mini muffin cups w/a spoonfull of filling - can even cheat by using canned Gr choco frosting as filling.

Cake balls/truffles; simply finely crumble cake; if necessary add a bit of buttercream or other liquid until the cake holds together when rolled into balls. Dip in chocolate. Can sprinkle w/jimmies OR roll in coconut or colored sugar or roll in cocoa when dry.

Potatoe chips OR dried fruit OR vanilla wafers OR Oreos OR most anything you can think of dipped in chocolate

Peanut butter fingers; mix pb w/some powdered sugar & butter until thick; pat into pan; pour melted choco on top. Chill well; Cut into finger size bars.

Thanks so much, now what do I charge? I'm so unsure, I'm still new to the orders kinda.

Pecan tarts, where's the pecans? Can I use ready made crust and put pudding in them?

Thanks for all of the great idea's I really appreciate it.

How about brownes ?

Yes, those are on my list, is out of a box tacky though? I don't have a home made recipe

yea I would say go with a few mini tarts. Like a key lime with some meringue on top, mini pumpkin or apple pies, mini cheesecakes, fall themed cupcakes or petit fours, some brownies and some drop cookies. You can do all the mini stuff in cupcakes pans, just use a round cutter to cut out the pie crust. I've found some shortcuts over the years... Ghiradelli (sp?) makes a fantastic boxed brownie. Replace the water with coffee though. they bake up so moist and tender, they're perfect and as far as chocolate chip cookies, I use the recipe on the back of the nestle toll house bag and love it. I underbake them by just a tiny bit, maybe just a minute, not even. once they start to brown around the edges, it's too late so pull them out just before that. good luck. Sounds like a great project!
ps... cake balls too. Great Idea kakeladi! oh and what about chocolate bark? I made some last christmas, I took dried cranberries, raisins & walnuts I think and spread them out on a cookie sheet and then melted some chocolate and poured it over. Once it hardened, I broke into bitsize pieces. It was really good. I got the recipe off the food network, i remember it called for orange peels or zest but I omited that, I'm not a fan of orange and chocolate.

Thanks everyone, she decided on Cheese cakes (Whole). Mini pies and cup cakes. I like the idea of the cookie cutter for the pie crust but do you still use the paper cups? If not do you place them in afterwords?

Thanks,
Kat

Since your in a time crunch, I'd recommend sheets of things to cut up. Just about anything in a sheet will give you quantity for a little bit less work.

Take any favorite brownie, blondie, lemon bar, even cheesecake recipe and bake in a 10x15 jelly roll pan. Cut each item in a different shape - square, triangle, little bars, circles so each looks very unique. Use a nice stabilized whipped cream or mild flavored buttercream, then top with an appropriate fruit or decoration (white choc chips on a white chocolate bar - and so on). I've even baked very thin banana cake, sandwiched with banana cream filling, cut into squares and top with whip cream and banana chip.

I also LOVE to make tartlets. Blind bake your favorite pastry and fill with lemon, lime fruit curds. Fill with caramel, banana cream or coconut cream. These are a bit more time consuming though always a big hit.

Have fun...wish I could help you - I love making miniatures.

Pat

Wow Patty, I wish you lived close!! I need some help with Petite fours. This same lady who ordered in short notice has asked me to do the deserts for the prom in May. I have asked for a class in Petite fours at the shop where I take classes but I don't know if they'll do it. Great idea on the cheese cake (Jelly roll pan)I don't know why I didn't think of it. I'm just getting started trying to drum up business.
If you wouldn't mind sharing I sure could use some help.I don't want to do a bunch of stuff that I've never done before.

Thanks,
Kat

Ask away! Just PM with anything specific. Your kids cupcakes are adorable, so you'll have no problem adapting to "grown up" items. You can get away with cupcakes if they appear really different. Chocolate with choc frosting to start, then for those who don't like chocolate (insanity!), a pumpkin or spice fits the season with a nice cream cheese frosting swirl gives you two items off the bat.

Again - sheets are volume, less work. Variety of flavors, colors, shapes give visual interest. Most of these ideas I got from the Flo Braker Sweet Miniature book. She also gives tips on steps/ methods/ quantities etc. from a caterers perspective. If you don't have time now, keep it in mind for the prom in May.

Good luck!

for the mini pies/tartlets. I don't use cupcake liners. I have scalloped edge round cutters. I use one that's a little bigger than they cupcake hole, cut out the circle and smush it into the pan and have the crust come up the sides a little. If you're afraid they might stick, you could probably do a really light spray of pam with flour or whatever "grease" you use for your cake pans but I've never needed it.

Dipping half of the choc chip cookie in dark or white choc makes it look special and is easy.

Patty --- You're advice is wonderful! And your pictures look so good! Thanks for sharing!

PattyT...why do you want to make me salivate at the computer like this?!! That presentation looks SO GOOD! Great advice. BTW...I love Flo Braker. She is one of the 1st bakers that I started watching when the Food Network just started on the show Baker's Dozen.

Thanks for all of the great idea's everyone. I was able to by the tartlet pie shells at GFS. Had to save as much time as possible, she ordered 60 more 190 in total. Ended up with Pumpkin, dutch apple and banana tarlets, cheesecake and cupcakes.

Thanks again everyone you've been a big help.

Kat

That sounds yummy! I've never seen tartlet pie shells? That would save a ton of time around the holidays. Where did you get them from? I'm not familiar with GFS?

Sorry Stephaniecakenj for the wait. GFS is Gordon Food Service, they are in Michigan not sure if they are anywhere else. They supply a lot of restaurants, they carry everything in bulk. I would check any restaurant supply place if you don't have GFS. The tartlets are pretty good and save a heck of a lot of time. I wished they carried the smaller ones too. They also carrie the pastry puffs, haven't tried them yet but will probably around the Holiday's.

Good Luck

Kat

thanks Kat, I'm going to look for them

This is a little off, but I was wondering, do you charge per piece or per person? If so, how many pieces per person do you estimate?

Sorry double post