Cake bake ideas/experience

[83Eagle]

One of the ideas that came highly recommended to me from another CM was a cub scout cake bake. I am not sure I like all the parts of the event as they ran it, but rather than bore you with the details I'd like to find out how other packs have run this event, lessons learned, etc.

[CCbytrickery]

We have one every spring. We do it during our pack meeting for that month, and we hold it outside.

 

What we do is the boys have to make the cake with a parent (since Cubs can't use an oven, too short); the boys have to be involved in the making and decorating of the cakes. They get pretty creative with them. We've seen Hamburgers, Tie-Dyes, Spaghetti bowls, and the ever popular kitty litter cake.

 

They are "judged"--each boy gets a certificate for the best or most original or the most creative or whatever(whatever kind of cake it is). Then, they have to make a choice: eat, throw or take home.

 

They can choose to take home their cake (very few choose this--normally only the high-strung parents do this). They can eat (and share) their cake--the snack for that meeting.

 

Or they can throw it...at the Cubmaster or their DLs. If they choose the throwing option, they have to bring a canned food for the food bank.

 

Last year, one of the boys brought an ice cream "cake" that he had added sour cream to--so when it melted in the heat, it got really funky--guess whose husband got hit with that one? yeah, he stunk. But the boys love it, the food bank scores (usually, the parents bring more than one food item--the dad with that funky cake brought in a full case of soups), and it is a fun way to end the "official" year.

[Scoutfish]

If I am understanding your post correctly, this is just an event for scouts to bake sometyhing, and not a bake sale or fundraiser?

 

We do this , but have incorporatd it into our pack Christmas party.

 

WE actually call it a "Parent/Son bakeoff" as to not cause any issues with scouts who's dads are in the service overseas, divorced or who dads have died. Of course, there are also boys who's adult partners are grandparents, uncles, aunts, neighbors...but you get the point.

 

Scouts make a dessert with their partner and bring it to the aprty. Catagories are :

1) Most scoutlike

2) Most creative

3) Best tasting

 

 

There is 1st through 3rd in those catagories and 1 overall grand champion.

 

We had no idea what extremes that people would go through: aircraft carriers , football fields complete with grandstands and goal posts.

 

We had one father son team creat our council camp - pretzel stick log cabins, pretzel sticks standing upright with green frosting trees, cottoncandy fires inside mimi marshmellow rock firepits, blue jellow lake in the middle of the camp. grahm cracker dirt paths, green dyed coconut grass...

 

It was awesome....to look at!

 

Taste was another matter.

 

We weren't sure how receptive the parents and scouts would be.

 

Trust me, you think PWD competition is fierce? Start having creative dessert contests.

 

WE ask 3 members of the CO that do not have scouts as children to be fair and unpartial judges.

 

After the judging, you have the option of taking your dessert home, sharing it at the party or auctioning it off with all $$$ being added to to the next years family Christams fund ( our pack adopts 3 families each year at Christmas).

 

First year we had 7 entrys. The next year we had 19. Last year, we had 31 entrys.

[83Eagle]

Yes, I meant a bake-off, whatever it's called.

 

As the other Pack does it, people can buy tickets and put tickets in buckets in front of cakes they want to win. Then tickets are drawn. Money is a fundraiser, or something.

 

However since no family wins more than once, as more and more cakes are won, it takes longer to find a winner and sometimes there is no winner left in the bucket of a particular cake so it can get tedious, or so it seems to me.

 

So my thought is to have a fun judging component, and a fundraising component, somehow...

[Scoutfish]

The name itself isn't important. We just made ours what it was to represent that it wasn't a parent thing, it wasn't a scout thing, but a scout AND ( person here) thing.

 

We just auction ours starting at $5.00 a desert. Open bids by anybody who has money who is at the party. Either the ASM or myself acts as the auctioneer.

 

The scouts don't really care how much their item earns as long as it earns something.

 

It also dispells the whole "cooking is for women" stereotype.

 

Yeah, the boys cook while camping using DO's camp grills and such, but that's different!

[83Eagle]

What do you do about cakes that get no bids...very low bids...one cake gets $5 and the other $100? You say the scouts don't care, but...

 

This also sounds like a popular event for your Pack, given the growth in participation. Is there anything you would do differently though to get stronger participation the first year? New events can be a struggle.

[Scoutfish]

We have a few cakes that don't get bids at first, but usually somebody ( cough...cough ..mom or dad) will bid on it. We tell the scouts before hand that people may not bid on the cakes.

 

Not really sure what you can do the first year as far as participation goes. From our experience, I don't think participation has anything to do with taste or cooking ability as it does with people wanting to outdo or out create the others.

 

The first time, most of the cakes were "normal" desserts that people made. Now it's all about decoration and seeing who can create the most elaborate or different cakes.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if half were made up of sawdust or fertilizer!

 

But I don't know what would increase initial participation. We had small 4" tall trophies for first place in each catagory and a 18" tall grand champion trophy.

 

Maybe charge a $2.00 to $5.00 entry fee with a $25.00 or $50.00 gift card to the scout shop for 1st place or grand champion (or whatever your top baker is).

 

Might go in the hole the first year, but I'm telling yah, the "I can do better than that" bug will bite fast!

 

Once it gets going, it will keep itself going each year.

[ScoutNut]

We have never used a cake bake as a fundraising tool, just fun, and food.

 

We use the cakes as snack/dessert at the Pack meeting. The cakes are supposed to follow the theme of the meeting (birthday, space, Native American, etc). We have done both Parent/Scout, and Scout/Favorite Guy. Both ways were well received.

 

We do a participation ribbon and certificate (best in theme, biggest, smallest, grossest, etc) for every entry. We also have a covered, decorated, shoe box, with a slot in the cover in front of each cake. Everyone at the meeting gets one ticket that they can place in the cake box of their choice during the meeting. We have also done just one ticket box with each cake having a posted number, and everyone writing the number of their favorite cake on their ticket. I think I like the single box way better.

 

At the end of the meeting the tickets are counted. The cake with the most tickets gets it's bakers disposable chef's hats which state Pack 123, Cake Bake 20XX, First Place.

 

83Eagle, your fundraiser sounds more like a raffle to me, and raffles(gambling) are not allowed by BSA. If you want to use your cake bake as a fundraiser, your better off doing an auction (silent, or out loud). Parents are usually the biggest bidders on their Scout's cakes from what I have seen in other Packs.

(This message has been edited by Scoutnut)

[ntrog8r]

Well, the best I've seen was the Parent/Cub Bake Off for the annual Blue and Gold. Each team could enter a single cake for judging. The cakes were judged by members of the CO and the guest speaker - a person outside of the Pack.

 

Lots of prizes - most creative, best Scout themed, best decorated, most colors, etc - were given out. The cakes were auctioned and the money raised donated to the World Friendship Fund. Any cakes NOT auctioned off were served as dessert at the Blue and Gold on the spot.

 

This Pack did a silent auction with the bids in an envelope in front of the cake. So if you wanted to bid you pulled out the paper, wrote your bid, put it back in the envelope, and placed in front of the cake. No one except the Cubmaster and CC knew what the bids were (or what they weren't).

 

The CM told me he got this idea from a trainer at Pow Wow.

[83Eagle]

The other packs method does sound like a raffle. I'm not fond of it for several reasons.

 

But I'd like to do this event near thanksgiving and somehow have it tie in with support for the local food pantry. I'm not sure if that would mean bringining in canned goods, or actually raising funds to donate thru an auction or whatever. I'd have to check if we even could do that given the BSA rules against fundraising for another org; i.e. Salvation army red kettle.

 

So goal number one is to find a way to make this event fun and interesting in its first year. Looking for ideas on that.

 

Goal number two is to support the food pantry if possible.

[Tampa Turtle]

We do a Dad and Lad bake-off. Also allow cookies, etc as well as cakes. About 1/3 enter. Not as bad as PWD. We use Boy Scouts as judges. Always invite extra people to eat it all up.

[kari_cardi]

We totally switched it around last year. We had each den design and decorate a cake, then we had judges pick the top cake. Then we cut them up and ate them. Tons of compliments from parents on the revamped format as compared to the auctions and sales of previous years.

 

83Eagle, you said, 'As the other Pack does it, people can buy tickets and put tickets in buckets in front of cakes they want to win. Then tickets are drawn. Money is a fundraiser, or something.'

 

The other pack is promoting a form of gambling, which is against BSA rules. From the Leader's Guide: 'The plan must be free of gambling, in harmony with local laws, and consistent with the ideals of Scouting. Units should never raise funds through the sale of raffle tickets or chances for door prizes or other items.' Something to keep in mind as you design your own event.

 

[Stosh]

Many years ago...

 

Cake Walks were really popular. Everyone brings a decorated cake. X number of boys place their cakes on a table around which they all stand. Music starts like musical chairs and the boys keep walking around the table until the music stops. Each boy has the option to take the cake by them or stay in the game. For each boy that opts to take the cake, they are replaced by another boy and his cake in the circle. Keeps going until all the cakes are gone. A little luck is involved in getting the cake you might want, strategy of taking what's there or trying again, etc. No competition, no judging (except each boy decides if the cake by them looks good enough to take home) and when it gets down to the last 5-ish boys, they need to take what's in front of them the last time the music stops. Prizes? Hey, the boys all get to take home a cake and if they are really lucky, they even might get a chance at taking their own home.

 

Of course the parents get a chance to cheer their boys on to the "nice" cakes and then give "recommendations" on strategy to take the cake or try again.

 

Stosh

[ScoutNut]

If you are looking for ideas on how to help your local food pantry, and want to do it around Thanksgiving, why not a Haunted House?

 

If your have the room at your Charter Org, doing a Pack Haunted House and charging donations for the food pantry is great fun for both the Pack and the community!

 

 

[pchadbo]

As I have said before on this board in other discussions, we do this at our blue & gold and tie it in to the theme of the B & G. This year was our summer camp theme of Scouting the High Seas. Lots of boats and pirates! Lots of fun for the boys and we kill two birds with one stone and auction the cakes and the proceeds go to Friends of Scouting. FOS coordinator happy, boys had fun, cake to eat, win-win