I'll try to keep this short.....My DD is graduating from pre-school in a few weeks. So I asked my husband if it would be crazy to make each kid a small cake and let them decorate it to have on graduation night. Well, came home the other day and my DD said "the preschool director thought it was a great idea!". Note to self - Never, ever bounce crazy ideas off my hubby with a kid in the backseat.

There are 20 kids in her class! I work full time and am just a hobby baker. How would I go about making and covering 20 cakes during a weeknight? Any tips? Would it be too disappointing to just do jumbo cupcakes and let them each decorate a few? My idea was to have them cut out fondant, do stamps, food writing markers, etc... But what would I do with cupcakes? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

It is doable, if you have space in your freezer. I'd make small cakes now, wrap well and freeze. 5-6 days beforehand prep cake boards and leave to dry (if covering with fondant), 2-3 days beforehand colour all the fondant the kids will need and make bc. 2 days before take out cakes and let thaw, night before, crumb coat and cover cakes. For me the biggest problem would be to transport that many small cakes. Enlist at least 2-3 other parents to help with kneading and rolling out, that's difficult with kids of that age, their hands are too small and most of all, have fun

Try and see whether you have a couple of small pans, round or otherwise, so that you can shove 5 into the oven at a time

I have been to a party just like this the mom did exactly what Ursula40 has suggested (freezing the cakes) I personally don't think this would work terribly well with this age group. Perhaps your daughter is able but not all kids are at the same ability level. Not to mention the expense of all the supplies the cake boards & boxes for all the kids to bring home their cakes. If you don't mind my suggesting what about icing cookies in white RI letting them dry and brining some edible markers for the kids to decorate them, you could freeze the cookies just the same not too messy and all you need is a Ziploc for them to print them home. If you really want to do cakes why not just cupcakes with an assortment of sprinkles they will then be able to eat it and you won't have to worry about the packaging for them to bring it home.

Thanks for the advice. My daughter helps all the time - but she is on the older end of the age range (5 1/2). You both gave me some good things to think about - and a good plan should I decide to go with the full on cakes. Maybe I will just do cookies or cupcakes. That would still make her excited, without making me sleep deprived.

For pre-school age, I would bake cupcakes. Bring buttercream and some plastic knives so they can ice their own. Then provide plenty of different kinds of sprinkles, and maybe some tubes of various colors of icing from Wilton. I think 6" cakes are too much for that age group.

I just watched masterchef Australia and the cooks in the competition had to cater for a child's birthday party, 150 guests no less. One of the cooks made cupcakes. They had a big table set up with different coloured buttercream. They had nuts, chocolate, marshmallows, sprinkles. And the kids grabbed a cupcake and decorated it how ever they wished. They loved it. You could do muffins if you want a bigger cake for them. You could even have some edible glitter. I think fondant would be better for older kids like 9 or 10 year olds.

If you wanted something bigger than a cupcake, but that maybe you can bake a few at a time, they have these large cupcake pans at Walmart.

I use them to make graduation caps. That way it wont be as tiny as a cupcake but quicker then 20 individual cakes. )

Have you though on how they will take it home?

Do the cupcakes. The kids will not care one tiny bit. A few colors of icing in bags with a star tip and a few jars of assorted sprinkles- LOTS of wet wipes.

Thanks everyone. Cupcakes it is! I will probably make the big ones so it makes it a little more special.