I need help coming up with a cake design. I've just been asked to make a cake to be auctioned at a fundraiser for Alzheimer's. Has anyone done this kind of thing before or know what kind of cakes are usually donated? I had in mind either a pretty cake with the organization's purple colors or I thought maybe something less traditional might be fun. What do y'all think? It's for Thursday so I don't have much time and I'm drawing a blank. Thanks!

I don't know if this applies or can be turned into cake. but my sister in law has a tattoo, for her father who has alz

its says "you may not remember, but I will never forget"

as for what kind of cakes are donated, i would go for something that you think would be very popular, that way it will get more bids. so maybe traditional might be the way to go.

I love cakes with words on it. What a great quote and it does fit perfectly. I guess I was thinking that the other cakes would most likely be traditional and it might be fun to throw in a shaped cake. A hamburger or a - nope that's all I've got. Lol

Love the quote idea though. Thanks!

ANo ideas but personally I think a cake that could be easily used for another purpose may be more popular. So using the organisations colours may be best. At the end of the day someone may want to pay more for a cake that they can then use as a friends bday cake for example

That's a lovely phrase in general, I agree.  But I would tend to go with something that everyone would want that they could share too.  I'm a big fan of the cake-disguised-as-other-food category:  pancake stack, hamburgers, french fries, hero sandwich - whenever I make that everyone seems to want it.  I have many in my gallery, And it could be a nice mood-lightener (hmm, is that a word?) for a serious event.  

Good luck!  And good for you for doing it!

Theresa

AI completely agree with theresaf. I made that mistake for an auction before. I made a big beautiful cake, I thought would fetch big bucks, and nobody wanted it! I didn't think that it would need to be bought by Someone who had use for it, lol, and that more than one person would need to have use for it for the price to go up.

I think a couple cakes, 7", 8" or 9" tops, rather than a tiered cake, because unless you're having 40 friends over this Friday, and haven't ordered a cake, you will not have any use for one. I agree that food shaped cake is always popular, but another one that goes great for auctions are decadent dessert cakes, where you can "see" what flavor it is. Like a cream cheese icing with red roses and red cake crumbs on the sides, for red velvet. Or a chocolate ganache cake with mint green shavings for creme de menthe... This is a German chocolate, and you just know by looking at it [IMG]http://cakecentral.com/content/type/61/id/3036143/width/200/height/400[/IMG]

A friend said she went to something similar the other day and all but her cake was store-bought! Thanks everyone for the great suggestions. Now I just need to decide and get baking! :-)