Help! I need to make 2 store shopping bag cakes for a party of 100 people. She wants one standing up and one laying down. Would any one know what size pans I need? Also, How do I keep one standing up without falling? If this does not work she will settle for one laying down and one leaning on the other cake. I have to start working on this because she wants them by next friday and I want to start working on them as soon as possible. Any advise would be appreciated.

She needs them tomorrow???
Well check out the How to make a purse cake.. You can make that and instead of carving it, leave the edges.. and ice it in buttercream.. I'm thinkin you can cover it in fondant and add fondant handles and fondant tissue comeing from the top.. Does this make sense?

the one that is sitting up could be done similar to the gift box cakes. you could stack your rectangular layers, cut a smaller rectangle about 2" down in to the top of the cake and insert fondant "tissue paper". then you could add the fondant straps. hope that helps!!! OF course, all this coming from someone who has never worked with fondant at all....

would love to see the finished product

She needs them by next friday. The cake is for 100 people.

you can search the forum posts here for charts/tables to tell you what cakes yield what servings. that information could also be on the wilton website.

check out the debbie brown website. she has a cartoonish cake that you could get ideas from...its in the book 50 easy party cakes, and it has a girl that is sitting beside her shopping bags, some flat, some standing. it looks like she took a 9x13 pan (looks like you'd probably need 4. i'd cut and stack two and trim slightly for the flat one -about a 8x12x4high and maybe cut the other 2 in halves and stack upward with the cardboard and dowels 6x8x12) , put cake boards in between every 2 layers like a stacked tiered cake- then dowel . then wrap around the bottoms in fondant, add a bottom fondant panel on the flat one. add crinkled fondant as tissue paper. use a cookie cutter to cut out the ovals for handles or add a twisted rope handle...customize by adding logos etc..i'd leave out the shopping girl like db's cake.

one cake mix can do 24 cupcakes or one 9x13 pan, so 4 mixes or 4 9x13 scratch recipes should work. if you wanted you could make an extra 1/4 sheet iced plain for the kitchen/ extra servings.

here it is

Here they are everyone. Thanks for all the advise that I received. Customer just loved it.

Very nice job. I love the look of your bags.

Those are great! Job well done!!