I don't think canned frosting is going to hold up better than buttercream, the canned stuff never seems to really "set up" for me, it stays sticky.

I think cinnamon rolls are a great idea, but the cheesecakes would, I think, be too fragile in that they require the refrigeration.

Here the big sellers are brownies, cookies of all sorts, muffins, fruit pies and tarts. Tarts seem to be especially popular. I think scones would be nice too.

We also sell rice krispie treats, cut into stars or rounds or squares, whatever. Insert a stick, dip into melted chocolate and sprinkle with whatever suits you or is available.

Have fun and good luck!

Annie

Please sell half cakes and pies for those of us who can't (or shouldn't) consume a whole one. I like it when I can buy one item instead of a plate full. One slice of pie would be great.

Gosh, I haven't seen a volunteer bake sale in years. I miss them.

Thanks for the ideas Annie, and thanks for the suggestions, dedtired.

I'll make a list of what are the big sellers out your way, Annie, and hope other rings in with more ideas. We'll see who might want to sign up for those suggestions!

Y'know, last year, I don't recall seeing ANY pies at all ! I agree about selling slices of pie (and slices of cake or half a cake).

I haven't used canned frosting in years, so I thought with all the chemicals they have in there for shelf life, it would hold up.

Rice krispie treats and brownies are popular here, as well as fruit breads or muffins, banana or blueberry. I have made a lot of pecan pies for bake sales, they hold well and so do cookies. Our bake sales don't have refrigeration. What about loaves of baked bread or rolls?

Who will be purchasing your goodies? I ask that because two weeks ago after we finished the last of the dinner dishes, hubby mentioned there was going to be a bake sale at work the next day and did I have anything I'd like to send. I mumbled something about thanks for the heads-up and how the Baking Fairy liked a bit of notice.... He mumbled back there was always the "stuff" I stick in the freezer... ANYWAY... the proceeds were going to be used to purchase flour for the local food bank. The 150 or so plant workers are primarily male (many are single) and the sale was during brakes and lunch, so that helped determine what we would spend the next 2 hours making. I thought something they could easily consume during a brake or with lunch.

We made a giant batch of granola, and when hubby's administrative aid saw what he brought in she purchased all of it. The other giant batch thing we made was SPICY-SWEET PRETZEL MIX (recipe below) and it was gone the first 5-minutes.

Other things I've made that sold like crazy was good old Chex Party Mix and homemade caramel corn (I have a quick and easy recipe and can make a number of flavors). Those items were big sellers because we had walk-by traffic at a big craft fair and the folks munched their way around the craft booths.

One bake sale success I was involved in years ago was advertised as "COOKIE JAR FAVORITES" and was all cookies. For several months before the sale we accumulated any type of vessel that would work to hold cookies. We had hand decorated terra cotta flower pots by a well-known local artist and made decorated cookie "flowers", used real cookie jars, tins, toys (sand buckets, plastic dump trucks, tiny wagons and wheelbarrows....). This sale was a BIG money maker.

Another sale I was involved with close to Christmas was called "Snacks, Munchies, Nibbles and Noshes" and included a wide variety of cereal mixes, granola, Rice Krispie Treats, etc....

Another big seller are giant cookies - the pizza pan size. Just keep in mind they EACH use an entire recipe of cookie dough, so price them accordingly. We had a member who was a cake decorator, so she would decorate the cookies or write a name on these cookies on-the-spot like they do out at the mall.

Worked at a school where kids were raising money to help them go on a trip. Parents & teachers volunteered to provide goodies to sell. One time I made a big pan of "blondies"... shoulda made TWO... they disappeared pretty quickly. Same with Lemon Jello Bundt cake... POOF! Gone!

I'd probably avoid using icing/frosting!?! If items are precut/wrapped, it's just gonna come off with the wrapping.

In this area, fruit pies are the #1 seller at our bake sales, folowed by brownies, decorated cupcakes and cookies. Quick breads are popular, except for zucchini bread.

We usually cut cakes into halves or quarters and those sell faster than whole cakes. Chocolate cake with peanut butter icing and German chocolate cakes are always gone in the first few minutes.

Since the start of the cupcake fad, it seems as though everybody expects some decorations on their cupcakes instead of just plain ones.

If you want to use canned frosting and are concerned about it staying sticky, just beat some powdered sugar into it. I eyeball it and add sugar until I like the texture. You can spread on the cupcake or pipe it on with good results.

It will set up on the cupcakes and lose that wetness (for lack of a better term) that canned frosting has. It will also stand up to the heat better than buttercream.

Definitely won't taste as good as your buttercream frosting, but for this type of use it works well.

Lemon Bars are always a fast sell out here.
Also, Lime Bars.
(Same as Lemon Bars, but using Lime instead, obviously.)

Rusty

I agree with the suggestions posted as most of them sold well here. Individual slices of pie (don't forget plastic forks) are always a good option, but you also need whole pies. One that sells extremely quickly here is a good strawberry rhubarb. As for the cupcakes. Have a couple of iced, not for sale) on display, but have your decorating bag, or bags, full and in a cooler. Let people choose their own combination of cupcake flavor with icing flavor. Even if you decide to only do two flavors of each, you can top them when purchased - just seconds to do. Fruit breads, both in standard loaves and mini loaves are popular. People can munch as they walk along and may just have to come back for a second or third one. Brownies are always popular. Will you be allowed to have a beverage booth where the buyers could buy a little cup of iced tea or lemonade to wash goodies down?

Hi everyone and thanks for the input and ideas, about the frosting, and thanks for the recipe for spicy sweet pretzel mix!

The bake sale will be in the courtyard right in front of the church's front doors. No beverages will be provided or sold. The parishioners who attend the Mass Saturday late afternoon, and the four Masses Sunday morning, and the last Mass on Sunday afternoon(slim pickins by then) are the buyers.

Much appreciated!

I'm coming in late, and it's been said before, but be sure to have smaller quantities of about everything. I am a regular at a local annual bake sale, and I'll get a whole bundt cake for Jim to take to his office, but I'll get smaller packages for us and for friends. They use small plates and stretch wrap. Two brownies, or two to four cookies, or a slice of cake or fruit breads, all for a buck or two, and they go thru a ton of those small items. Many people will balk at buying a large item, but the little things go like crazy.

Another plus may be to label "Freezes well" on some of the items. The sale I attend goes thru a ton of bundt cakes with assorted toppings/icings, even a rum cake.

A note of caution: the bake sale I attend does a good job of listing ingredients. Not a whole list, but "contains nuts" and other things are listed, like butter and eggs.

I'll bet you sell out before Sunday afternoon!

If it's going to be at mass times, muffins or coffee cakes to take home for Sunday breakfast should be popular.

I found out the painful way that the cupcakes that are lovingly baked and piped and decorated will sit there much longer than the 10 minute homemade rice krispy treats. :)

Here's a salted and browned butter version of rice krispy treats that are incredibly popular where I am:

Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats (Smitten Kitchen)
Makes 16 2-inch squares or 32 1- x 2-inch small bars

4 ounces (1/4 pound or 1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for the pan
1 10-ounce bag marshmallows
Heaping 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
6 cups Rice Krispies cereal (about half a 12-ounce box)

Butter (or coat with non-stick spray) an 8-inch square cake pan with 2-inch sides.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Don't take your eyes off the pot as while you may be impatient for it to start browning, the period between the time the butter begins to take on color and the point where it burns is often less than a minute.

As soon as the butter takes on a nutty color, turn the heat off and stir in the marshmallows. The residual heat from the melted butter should be enough to melt them, but if it is not, turn it back on low until the marshmallows are smooth.

Remove the pot from the stove and stir in the salt and cereal together. Quickly spread into prepared pan. I liked to use a piece of waxed or parchment paper that I've sprayed with oil to press it firmly and evenly into the edges and corners, though a silicon spatula works almost as well.

Let cool, cut into squares and get ready to make new friends.

Here is a link that might be useful: Smitten Kitchen Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats

I've found pound cakes to be very popular(smaller loaves especially). Especially lemon flavored ones. Also I second the suggestion for lemon bars. I make both for the swim team bake sales and they are hugely popular.

Alexa

I third the Lemon Bars suggestion. Very popular at bake sales around here.

Thanks, sushipup, ruthanna, chi83, Alexa and ci_lantro for your posts! I really appreciate the link and recipe for the special spin on rice krispie treats!

Thursday is the sign up day for the bake sale, so for the next few days, I'll be mulling over what I want to make for it. :O)

Smiles,
Sooz

Do you make your butter cream with all butter? If you make it half butter and half shortening, it will be more temperature stable but still have enough butter flavor. (I know it's a compromise - when I make cakes for home, I do all butter but I'll use part shortening when it has to survive with less climate control.) Of course, all shortening makes it even more stable - the Wilton class I took recommended doing that and adding their butter flavor - it also makes a whiter frosting instead of off white, but I like to keep at least half butter.

The other alternative is to skip buttercream and stick to cookies and such.

I'd make a cookie like biscotti, amaretti, hermits or ginger snaps because most bake sales or dessert pot lucks get overloaded with chocolate chip cookies and I like to bring something different than that. Lemon bars or lemon or lime anything are great too.

7 layer bars are good too and easy to make a large batch.

Cloud_swift, I do use all butter for my butter cream--thanks for the suggestion about trying it with shortening for more stability.

Today, I did a test run with DH, my favorite guinea pig, and he shared samples with one of his pals. I made "Kibble Snacks for People" and also made Grainlady's Spicy-Sweet Pretzel Mix. The winner was the pretzel mix (thanks, Grainlady!!!). Even though I did use a light hand for the powdered sugar in the Kibble Snacks, it was deemed too sweet.

I think for the bake sale, I'll be making Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats posted by Chi83 (recipe from Smitten Kitchen) and regular rice krispie treats and will probably do a batch of apple-cinnamon mini-muffins and maybe a batch of lemon-almond poppy seed mini muffins.

This Thursday's lunch is a pot luck, and I'll be bringing mini cream puffs filled with sweet cream and mixed berry jam (the jam is from a jar).

I was playing around with making "chocolate spoons" and did two of them for one of my friends who will be helping with the bake sale. If I have time, I might make some for the bake sale too. I just put them each in a little cello bag (from Michael's, using a 40% off coupon) and used the silver twisty-tie.

Here's a link to the recipe, some variations, and some nice packaging ideas (click on Photos).

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate Spoons

In our area oreo balls, rice crispy treats, cake balls, and cookies that are portion packed seems to sell the fastest. Cupcakes are generally not a good seller. Smaller chocolate cakes do pretty well though. Not sure why cupcakes aren't popular. They always sit around.