What are your top tips for the school cake sale? Tell Flora for the chance to win a £200 John Lewis voucher. NOW CLOSED

[AngelieMumsnet]

With school starting up again and cake sales coming up, Flora would love to hear about Mumsnetters' tips for the school cake sale.

Here's what Flora have to say: “We know that the school cake sale can sometimes be a battleground but Flora is here to offer a helping hand. Baking with Flora Buttery couldn’t be simpler- just 5 ingredients and 15 minutes is all it takes. All it takes is a bowl and spoon! You can even get the kids to help for easy peasy baking fun and tasty sell out cakes every time!”

So, what are your top tips for the school cake sale? Do you have any simple fail-safe cake recipes which you know will sell well? Do you like to bake with your DCs? Perhaps you prefer to buy cakes? Are there any cake sale favourites which have surprised you?

Do you have any tips for navigating cake stand politics? What are the pricing policies in place at your DCs' school? What tips do you have for getting as many parents involved as possible?

Whatever your top tips are, Flora would love to hear about it.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one winner will receive a £200 John Lewis voucher.

Please note your comments may be included on Flora's social media channels, and possibly elsewhere, so please only post if you're comfortable with this.

Thanks and good luck,
MNHQ

[KitCat26]

Do fairy cakes and bag them in groups of 4 for a quid.
If your decorating skills aren't great buy some rice paper wafers with Frozen characters on them to whack over the top of your icing.

Summer cake sale? Sell ice creams instead!

Lastly, if its anything like our cake sales sharpen your elbows before you go!

[ShatnersBassoon]

Over-decorated fairy cakes are always a winner. Children don't even notice if the butter icing is actually margarine icing, the lowbrow fools.

[TheHouseatWhoCorner]

Get kids involved in the making.
The brighter the colour of icing the better.
Children always go for the cakes with the most decorations.
We mix up the cakes and sell them in plates of 6 for £1. That way each plate has a mix of choc/plain/shop bought/fancy. And there's no argument on price.

[Glitterfairys]

The cakes that sell round here are the ones that have loads of sprinkles , icing and lots of sweets sprinkled on top. Also the more traditional favourites such as lemon drizzle go down well

[Maiyakat]

Simple fairy cakes with DD's artistic talents to decorate! Remember they will be sold very cheaply so don't go for expensive ingredients.
Don't expect to get the tin you send them in back, like the idea of a cereal box tray

[mumsbe]

I get my daughter to decorate already bought cakes if I dont have much time.
If we have time we have a go at making from scratch and just put loads of topping on and glitter
Rice crispy cakes with white chocolate and silver sparkles are always good for Christmas.
20p per cake serve with tea or coffee for 20p also get a stand in the middleof the hall

[AllSorted]

Make something very ssimple using cheap ingredients if you want to feel it was worth it

[AllSorted]

Make something very ssimple using cheap ingredients if you want to feel it was worth it

[FishWithABicycle]

Rookie error #1 - don't put effort into the school cake sale, it will be wasted. I love baking and I made some lovely cupcakes the first time there was a school cake sale. Never again though - my cupcakes were sold for the same price and at the same speed as tiny buns which had been shop-bought at £1 per dozen uniced and slap-dash-frosted. Now I make buns with as little cost and effort as possible - 'value'/'basics' ingredients (sorry Flora, I save the decent stuff for cakes I'm going to eat myself - but hopefully you're happy to know I consider your products to be in the 'decent stuff' category). As little bun-mix as possible per bun so that the school gets more money - they have a blanket single-price policy and everything sells. plenty of colour in the icing and sprinkles on top. don't forget the sprinkles. don't forget to name your tin so you get it back.

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

Grab some confident kids towards the end to go round selling the last cakes. People find it harder to say no when they are being chased down by kids with pleading eyes.

If you are happy to have a large cake sliced up then leave a knife on top so people know as people don't like to ask.

[Fluffyemenent]

Make up the icing sugar with lemon juice rather than water. Adds a lovely tang!

[3bunnies]

Agree with min effort and max decorations. Faces made out of sweets seems particularly popular here. I have heard that some people buy the trays of a dozen plain fairy cakes from the supermarket then apply your own icing and sweets - don't forget to make the icing not too perfect and to repackage them in an empty ice cream tub

[BrieAndChilli]

Cake pops.
Different, kids love them and easy to eat whilst walking around the fete.
Easy to theme and easy to make if using silicone cake pop mould

[heronsfly]

Buy a tray of chocolate crispy cake slab, bash it up a bit and place in your own tin

[missorinoco]

Bear in mind it is a school fair, and unless you are baking for an exclusive school the cakes will be priced affordably. Mini cupcakes/tarts are likely to be priced at under 50p. If that will make you wince at the cost of your ingredients compared with the profit, upsize. (If, unlike me, you do not overthink such matters, skip this point.)

I make a loaf cake or fairy cakes. If this is your first school fair be prepared for the seriously impressive decorating other people can do. Then come back, chuck sprinkles and maltesers all over your cake, chuck the cake at the stall and run. Or just make a loaf cake and be done with it.

Best tip - make two cakes and freeze one to eat yourself next week.

[Dolallytats]

Gingerbread men with smiley faces....or with Light Sabers and Emperor crackles, if my son gets his way!!

Also the classic vanilla fairy cake with butter icing and hundreds and thousands on top never fail.

[chickflick]

Don't spend too much money on your ingredients or too much time making things. They will sell for 20p or maybe 50p each.
Don't be offended if not all your cakes sell!
Cupcakes always sell well .

[sharond101]

Appearance is everything. Glitter, chocolate buttons, fancy paper cases etc. Make things too that are easy to eat, kids don't stop to savour the taste. Work out the cost of your ingredients before embarking on the challenge you believe will win you Best Mum status, some bakes cost much more than you would expect to put together.

[IsabellaRockerfeller]

What sells well? Simple sponge cakes or cupcakes with nice icing and decorations like sweets or cake toppers of whatever is popular.

Whole "loaf" cakes (lemon drizzle, banana loaf) sell well too, people can buy them and they last quite a while.

The cakes that don't sell seem to be the ones that look like they have been decorated by a 2 year old and cakes that have been bought from places like Aldi or Asda (I guess people have those cakes at home and want something a bit different/nicer?)

DS helps with the mixing/baking but not the icing- I want the cakes to look nice so people want to buy 'em!!

At DS's school, individual cakes range from £1 to 20p depending on how much people are likely to pay for them. One Mum is a pastry chef at a top restaurant and her cakes are definitely the £1 ones! The PTA allocate a parent to each stall and tell them what prices to charge.

Older kids go round with trays offering cakes at half price at the end of the day.

[lottietiger]

I am that mum up baking at 1am so I'm probably not the best for tips!! I'll have the best intentions to start the cakes early but then life will get in the way and I'll start cooking at 11pm decorating at 12.30am:(

I need to take some tips off the posts above ...

[CheeryCherry]

Buns with jelly tots or skittles on top of water icing for the children.
Chocolate butterfly buns with a dusting of icing sugar for parents.
Both quick and easy and look great!

[RhinosAreFatUnicorns]

Chocolate wins every time. I recently made some fudge brownie squares - looked horrific, tasted amazing and I didn't think they would sell, but the kids loved them. Sticky chocolate cake is always a hit :)

[bewleysisters]

Simple fairy cakes decorated with smarties or jelly tots or chocolate crispy cakes are top sellers here.

[MakeTeaNotWar]

Choc crispie cakes here too! Or lovely gooey brownies with lots of icing sugar sprinkled over the top - drool!

[AmpersandRea]

Provide cake boxes so that parents can fill with an assortment of fairy cakes, chocolate crispy cakes etc. Makes juggling cakes and money much easier.