How to Make a Cake Sale Work for your Fundraising

Sample recipes and a word of advice from an expert:

I found an article in the Irish Time Magazine and thought it would be great to share with you about how to make your Fundraising Cake Sale Work. Cake sales can be competitive affairs. Eunice Power has some winning recipes that might even make it to the staff room I would love to tell you that baking to fundraise is a mere “any humble effort will do” affair, but don’t be fooled – you are being judged.

Always think commerce and hard economics and make sure to factor in your time and cost for your ingredients. Eunice Power advices that you use traybakes that can be cut up and sold as individual pieces – so big earners. These recipes below can all be made the day before the sale:

COFFEE AND WALNUT TRAYBAKE
As homemade cakes go, nothing can quite compare to coffee and walnut cake, with buttery coffee icing topped with crunchy walnuts. I have experimented with various types of coffee over the years and have come to the conclusion that instant coffee works best here.
• 280g caster sugar
• 280g soft butter, it is really important that it is soft
• 335g self raising flour
• 5 large eggs
• 60g roughly chopped walnuts
• 3 heaped dessert spoons of coffee dissolved in three dessert spoons of boiling water

Line a 23cmx32cm tin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas 4. Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. For the best flavour, it needs to be very strong. Allow to cool. Sieve the self raising flour. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and pale in colour.Add the coffee, then add one egg, followed by one tablespoon of flour (to stop the mixture curdling). With each addition of egg, alternate adding flour. Fold in the walnuts. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 40 minutes. To check that the cake is cooked right through, pierce it with a skewer or knife, and it should come out without any sticky particles adhering to it. Allow the cake to cool in the tin, standing on a wire tray. When it has cooled spread the icing on the top and sprinkle with chopped walnuts.

COFFEE ICING
• 250g icing sugar
• 2 heaped tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp boiling water
• 90g butter
• 80g walnuts, roughly chopped

Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Take it off the heat and add the dissolved coffee and icing sugar. Stir well. Leave for a little while to cool until stiff enough to pour over the cake. Sprinkle chopped walnuts on top.

CHOCOLATE AND MINT FAIRY CAKES
I am utterly over cup cakes. Honestly, I think their race is run. Personally, I prefer the fairy cakes that featured at every celebration in my childhood. These little cakes are an example of how the simple fairy cake recipe of our youth can be adapted using a little imagination. I prefer to make these in mini muffin cases as I think they are best eaten whole. My sons say they are “unreal” – there is no higher praise.
• 125g soft butter
• 125g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 125g self raising flour
• 20g cocoa powder
• 1 tsp peppermint essence
• 2 tbsp milk

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees/gas 3. Put all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until blended. Spoon into bun cases – this mix will do 12 bun cases or 48 mini muffin cases. Bake in the oven until cooked – about 15-20 minutes for bun size and 10 minutes for mini muffin size.

PEPPERMINT ICING
• 250g icing sugar
• 125g butter, softened
• 1 tsp peppermint essence
• A drop or two of green food colouring

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and icing sugar together until light and creamy – sometimes I add a teaspoon or two of hot water to help this along. Add the peppermint essence and a drop of food colouring – now I mean a drop – use a cocktail stick and dip it into the bottle of colour. You want a gentle shade of green, not a patriotic one. Spoon icing on to the buns and decorate with some shards of chocolate flake.

LEMON AND RASPBERRY TRAY BAKE
It’s a universally acknowledged fact that teachers love lemon cake. This cake is a particularly delicious version as I have substituted yoghurt and oil for the butter and milk, giving the cake a wonderful moistness.
• 350g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 250g caster sugar
• Zest of 2 lemons
• 250ml natural yoghurt
• 5 large eggs
• 250ml sunflower oil
• 1 punnet of raspberries

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees/gas 3. Line a 23cmx32cm tin. Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre. In another bowl, whisk the sugar, oil, lemon zest, yoghurt and eggs. Pour this into the well in the flour mixture and stir. Pour the mixture into the lined tin, and dot the raspberries over the top. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 50 minutes, until golden brown. Turn out on to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before icing.

FOR THE LEMON DRIZZLE
• 200g icing sugar
• Juice of 2 lemons

Whisk together the drizzle ingredients and spread over the top of the cooled cake.

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