Birthday cakes - to feed 25 kids - advice needed please

[tiredandgrumpy]

It's ds's 4th birthday soon and I need a cake for about 25 kids. Do I buy one ready made (and if so, can anyone recommend one), or attempt to make one myself? If you recommend making one, what is an idiot-proof cake that's going to look great? We've seen some pretty impressive home-made party cakes this year, so I wouldn't like to let my son down!

I don't do cakes (well not nice ones!) so I ordered online the Noddy one from Waitrose which easily catered for 30 & was lovely.

Last year we bought a 'photo cake' from a supermarket and it was blank white icing, so instead of a photo (left it too late) I decorated it myself. Very big and edible

If your feeding that many, why don't you make individual cup cakes and present them on a big cup cake stand. You shold be able to hire a stand from somewhere and if you give me a minute, I'll show you my/Stealthsquiggles cupcakes - ideal and fun for a little boy!

Fingers crossed you can see them!

Agree, photocakes are lovely and you'll get 25 small pieces. Or you could light the candles on one cake, but have another you've bought/made already cut up and wrapped before the party. 25 is a lot to do when you're busy with other things.
Alternatively, if you, or anyone you know, has a Costco card, their large cakes are lovely too and massive. I don't really like the decorations they offer - although the football pitch is ok. I just got them to ice "happy birthday Lilo's DS/DD" then provided my own decorations (a my little pony and some dolly mixtures on DDs - horrid I know but it's what she was into at the time; and for DS a mini cooper and some kind of sweets. (quite a while ago now so have forgotten exactly!)

you can't see the details of the cakes, but you'll get an idea of the size from here

fantastic! competitive birthday cakes lol!

Costco do lovely cakes as one of the other posters has said.

I made a sponge for ds2's 4th birthday that fed about 30 in total. I used this recipe but made 2 cakes in 9" square tins and then sandwiched them together and then iced it.

Buttermilk Birthday Cake

Recipe By :Nigella Lawson

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup buttermilk -- PLUS:
2 tablespoons buttermilk -- (or 1/3 cup plain yogurt
mixed with 1/2 cup low-fat milk.)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup soft butter -- unsalted
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs

1 9-inch square cake pan or 2 8- or 9-inch round cake pans, lined with parchment or wax paper and greased

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into a bowl and set aside. Pour the buttermilk (or yogurt and milk) into a measuring cup and stir in the vanilla. Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed if using the mixer and add the eggs one at a time, beating for 30 seconds between additions. Add alternating increments of the flour mixture and the vanilla-buttermilk, blending well after each addition; this should take 3-5 minutes. Pour into the prepared pan or pans, and bake for about 40 minutes (30 if using the layer cake pans) until the cake is beginning to shrink away from the sides and a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes before unmolding to let cool completely.

Source:
"How to Be a Domestic Goddess"

we did a lolly cake this year as theme was charlie and the chocolate factory. Double batch of Nigella's buttermilk cake, covered in chocolate icing and then covered it in lollies (DS did it) which was very easy and popular with kids!

Apart from the occasional costco cake as posted earlier, I have also made lots of birthday cakes. I find square/rectangular ones easier to cut up into small pieces than round ones. I use roasting tin for very big cakes/ If you do make a really big one you might need to cover with foil towards the end to prevent burning before cooked.
Sometimes the simplest are the best. Eg. I did one for my son just covered in green butter icing (with coconut mixed in for extra effect but not essential) then bought a cheap cowboy and indian set complete with tee-pee and placed them round the cake. When my DCs were in nursery, we had to send a cake into nursery as well. For those, I often made in roasting tin, covered in chocolate butter icing, put smarties round the outside as a border, then used smarties to make the number of their age.

Have a look on the M & S website, they do really fab personalised cakes, dinosaur & pirate ship are ab fab!

I vote for the Sainsbury's photo cake. They are fab and will easily do 25 kids.

Where are you tiredand grumpy, I'll make a cake for you if I'm close by.
If not try making two traybakes and sandwiching them together that's what I usually do.

ooh yes the costco cakes are delicious, i hadone for my birthday this year!