I've offered to bring a cake for work on wednesday, but I will be home late on Tuesday, so am planning a cake that is quite simple, both in baking and decorating.

I'm having trouble coming up with anything but a chocolate sheetcake with some kind of filling, but am a little lost for ideas on how to decorate it, and that got me thinking; if you were asked to bring a "quick" cake somewhere (work, church, party) what kind would you make and how would you decorate it?

For me it would be a doctored box mix if I am in a hurry and probably the WASC. It hasn't failed me yet when I need something quick and don't have time to fuss with it.

What about a nice decorative bundt pan? I have a bunch of Nordic Ware pans that are just beautiful with very little work.
Or, If you are in a huge hurry use one of those big tooth combs and cover it in buttercream.

I know whatever you make they will enjoy it

My quick cake is a strawberry poke cake, the kind that you don't turn out of the pan. Bake a strawberry cake mix in a 9x13, let it cool, then poke holes all over it with a wooden skewer. Puree a box of frozen strawberries and syrup (thawed of course) until smooth and pour over the cake. Cover with whipped cream or make frosting from one thawed tub cool whip, one box instant vanilla pudding, and one cup milk, whisked together. Keep in the fridge until served.

That's my quick cake for family events, because they've already seen my fancy stuff. If I were taking a cake to a non-family group I'd feel like I had to do a bit more.

Here in the caribbean it's a pineapple up side down cake.
Delicious and no decoration needed after it's baked.

Yes! A pineapple upside down cake gets my vote too. I always put cherries in each pineapple after it's out of the pan. Looks beautiful without alot of fuss.

Have they seen your fancy stuff before? IMHO cause I would think if its for work I would try to make a cake with something really cool about it. That way you could get them as future clients. If they know your abilities then you're sure to get them as future clients.

You could bake tonight when you come home from work and freeze it possibly even to the stage of dirty icing it (crumb coating).

If you dont want to go through the trouble yep the above posts sound yummy. You could do a variation on the WASC....I'll hunt down that link that Macsmom did - way too many cool quick stuff there.

As far as decoration...where do you work? Or just say what profession it is (medical, construction, etc)? Can you incorporate a logo or theme. Its about to be Valentines Day do a quick theme around that.....

For some reason I can never do a "quick" cake. I always think that this one will be easy and quick (when it comes to the stacking and decorating) and it never is. I must be doing something wrong.

what I do for a quick cake is I decorate it with fruit. I bake a square or round cake with bake even strips (this way I don't even have to level it). Then I do a quick frost, shell border or whatever. Then I top it with lots of fruit. Canned peaches, pineapple, fruit cocktail, strawberries, and grapes. It looks great and takes a fraction of the time. It takes way longer to bake and cool the cake then to decorate it.

Love the white cake w/strawberry jello & fresh strawberries and I also love doing just a regular yellow cake with chocolate frosting. No decoratioin needed on either!

Have you thought of doing a Valentine's theme barrel cake (pink & red M & M's and a pretty ribbon)? Very quick to do but looks great! Dressing up your cake board is also quick but impressive too.

My go-to fav for a quick cake is a lemon bundt, with a heavy lemon glaze on top. It's beautiful, simple yet elegant and oh so yummy!!! My husband's coworkers request it often!

If you don't have ANY time, definitely go for a bundt cake! No one expects fancy decor on one of those and you can make just a little glaze and not worry over a batch of buttercream and cleaning tips.

I am not a fruit and cake girl AT ALL, but if someone brought a chocolate cake to my office.....I'd devour it!

(chocolate bundt with chocolate chips and a mocha glaze. Yum!)

My quick goto is chocolate WASC with choco bc, comb on the sides (so no smoothing) simple shell border on top and bottom with fresh strawberries on the top of the cake. If you want more on it, use choco sprinkles on the top and sides after you comb it.

I too was going to say pineapple upside down cake. If i have a lil extra time I make 2 of them then turn them with pineapple sides meeting .

Then make a creamcheese,walnut and crush pineapple filling (yummy)

And there you have it

In my family a quick cake is a Texas Sheet. It's a thin cake baked and left in the pan, with icing poured over it when it comes out of the oven! Let it cool, write on message and a couple of flowers and it's good to go! It's really heavenly!

If I need a quick yet delicious cake I just make a cake, cream cheese filling, and stabilized whipped cream for frosting. Normally I just take everything to work in containers and assemble it right at work in less than a half hour. Easy and delicious