Wednesday, October 7, 2015

The Goodness Of a Bake Sale

One of the best and fun charity works anyone can do is a bake show. It fits to any charity along with honing home bakers skills and expanding repertoires . Another plus is sampling other home bakers wares and getting ideas for future projects.

Of course the first step is having a cause. Most sales are for schools or for certain conditions or diseases. However you could start or ask your church or food pantry if you could arrange a bake sale for the needy in the community.They may be able to set up a tent at the any one of the street fests that take place in the fall.You could also help at an organization's cake sale, which gives more time to devote to creating goodies Adding drinks is a great way to increase sales. People love to have tea or coffee to wash down a muffin or cookie. Sometimes a passerby just wants a hot beverage to keep warm (and conversely have iced drinks during spring and summer bake sales). Napkins and forks are a must as are containers and bags for those who want their goods to go.Of course having a cash box and plenty of paper and coin change are other musts.One of the most important things to do is having labels listing ALL the ingredients. So many kids have a variety allergies that it's necessary for parents to know what's exactly in that cake pop or brownie. All lists should state  that the items have gluten,were made in a kitchen where there was nuts and if any dairy was used in the baking or icing.

What to make for  a bake sale?Stick with what you know best. You can use a scratch recipe or mixes. Plain brownies are always popular so have a few batches of those on hand. For large quantities use mixes.They make prep and bake time that much easier. You can add extras such as chocolate chips, coconuts , and nuts to give them oomph. Blondies are another hot seller  as are fruit bars.Kids love cake pops and these are easy to make ,especially if you have the molds. Have help when it comes to decorating though, because that's a bit labor intensive.. Cupcakes are classic and they sell - well- like hot cakes. Have fun with the decoration and icing. Chocolate and vanilla are your best bets for flavors and a classic buttercream frosting is always the crowd favorite.You could set up a decorations bar for a dollar extra  and have a  table set up with  sprinkles, nuts cherries  M&M and chocolate chips.Small pies or galettes will do better than whole pies - too messy to eat a cut slice. Think small too when it comes to cakes. A large one may be too much for a person to  carry. Looking for something different/ Then think cinnamon rolls and sticky buns.They're easy to make an can be made in large quantities.

Bakes sales are a great way of giving back to the community. They're also fun , letting passerbys enjoy sweet treats. Think about organizing one to help out those less fortunate.

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