Catering for Birthdays at School

Whether it be daycare, kindy or school, all kids love to celebrate their birthdays with their class mates and friends.  For some parents, catering for up to sixty children can seem a momentous task – here’s how to get it right the first time, easily!

Check your School’s Birthday Cake Policy

First of all, check with your child’s teacher or the school office on their school birthday cake policy.  Most schools have them now.  They can be as simple as ‘No nuts’ or as extreme as ‘Please don’t’.  Unless you want your beautiful cake to end up in the bin, take the 30 seconds to check first.  It’s also a good idea to check for dairy, gluten or egg allergies too.  You don’t necessarily have to cater to every food sensitivity – but you could let the parent of the child know in advance so that they can bring something appropriate and join in the celebrations too.  A good rule of thumb is to provide the school with a list of ingredients.  Easy peasy!

What Sort of Cake?

A large iced slab of cake might be easy for you to whip up and transport – but think of the poor teachers.  Cupcakes are definitely the easy way to go.  You don’t have to worry about serving sizes, knives, plates or mess. For little kids get the really small cupcake wrappers – but even the older kids don’t need the huge ones – cupcakes tend to have a lot of icing to keep the servings small – and make a few extra ones so the teachers can enjoy them too!

If you’re not a fan of cupcakes, why not try Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes – super easy to make and instead of cupcake wrappers you use edible ice cream cones!

Then there is the cake flavour to consider.  For kids keep it nice and simple – chocolate or vanilla (butter cake) – perhaps even some of each.  As nice and as fancy as a cake like a Rainbow Cupcakes would be – steer clear of so much food colouring whilst in a learning environment – for everyone’s sakes!

Robust Cakes to Try

If you are short on time, using the good old packet mix certainly won’t hurt.  But it really doesn’t make much to make a cake from scratch – and it will taste delicious too.  All these recipes make terrific cakes or cupcakes no matter which way you decide to go.  Good robust cakes to try for school include:

• A Sand Cake (like a cross between a butter cake and a sponge cake)
• Chocolate Pound Cake
• Dairy Free Chocolate Cake
• Dairy and Egg Free Cake (both Chocolate and Vanilla versions)
• Jelly Cakes are a good idea as you don’t need to ice them!  Like fancy lamingtons!

Alternatives to Cake

If you are not a fan of the above suggestions – there are certainly alternatives to the more traditional birthday cake.

• Gingerbread Men
• Fruit Kebabs
• Cake Pops – smaller and easier to carry!
• Banana Pops (Frozen banana dipped in chocolate on a stick)
• Doughnuts (iced of course)
• Honey Joys or Chocolate Crackles
• Candied Popcorn (for older kids only)
• Frogs in a Pond (Freddo frog in green jelly)

How Old is Too Old to Supply a Cake?