It's a Bake Sale!!

Last week was the Annual Valentine Bake Sale at work.  It is put on by the volunteer group at work as our big fund raiser.  This is really a H.U.G.E. project for us and provides the funds for all of our volunteer work for the next year. 


We sold hundreds of valentine cookies  and valentine cookie bouquets that are made by the volunteers.  I wrote about them over here. 

In addition to the cookies we also sold these cute Hershey Kiss Roses.

You can buy them arranged in valentine-themed coffee cups or

as lovely bouquets, ready to present to your dear heart.

Another really fun part of the bake sale are the Executive Bake Off and an Employee Bake Off.  The entrants are judged and awarded fun prizes and bragging rights.  There is also a People's Choice award. 

The most important part of the bake off is the money that is brought in.  Bid sheets are placed in front of the baked goods and employees bid on them throughout the day.  A prize is given for the baked good that brought in the most money.

This is what I made.  No prizes or awards here but I think it brought in $40-$45.  It was a Pear & Raspberry Heart Pie.  Sure hope whoever bought it thought it was good.  It was a recipe off of the Martha Stewart Living website and it's the first time I made it.

Here are photos of some of the entries that I thought were clever.

This is called "That's Amore".  Yes, those are spaghetti and meatballs.  Huh????'.  I'll bet squeezing the tube of icing for the spaghetti was fun.

Then you see this sitting on the table next to it and you get the valentine connection.

"You're a Reel Catch" - there is actually a fish in the bowl; you can't see it because my photography stinks.  The cake is baked in a porcelain baking pan, which goes with the cake to the successful bidder. 

That is partly what brings in big bucks on some of these baked goods.  The bidders will actually bid for the cake stand or beautiful platter.  Whoever bought mine got themselves a $45.00 Pyrex pie plate.  I must do better in the creativity department next year.

"Wild About U!" - Remember Mandy in my cookie post?  This was her cake.

"Chocolate Raspberry Layer Cake" - This won the "Most Likely to Appear on a Wolfgang Puck Menu" award.

"Hunt Wheels" - We have a large cycling club within our company.  This cake won "Best Company Theme".

This is another cake that contended for the "Company Theme" category depicting a frac job.  For those of you who are not in the oil and gas industry, a frac job, or fracture stimulation is a technique used by engineers to create a crack or fracture in the rock that contains oil or gas. This crack is then filled with sand or a artificial proppant (ceramic beads, sintered bauxite, or glass beads) to allow the freer flow of oil or gas from the rock to the wellbore.

Did I mention this was an educational site?

 “The Hunt Eagle Ford Peace of Mind”- This fondant covered cake won the judges' "Best Homemade" award in the Executive category as well as taking home the "Peoples' Choice" award.

I lusted after this platter but was out-bid.  Each set of 4 little cups contained Tiramisu, Mango Cheesecake, Carrot Cake and fresh berries and cheese.  Y.U.M.

"Buche de Valentine"

"Glaze'n Chocolate" - Look how shiny!  Think there are many calories in this?  this cake took home the "Best Homemade" in the employee category.

Too cute!  A salute to the company softball team.

"Take My Heart" - This beautiful cake won the "Best Procured" award in the Executive Category.  However, let me note that it was homemade by an employee and the executive paid her to make it.  So, I believe they were both winners!  I was fortunate to taste this.  A friend who paid $85.00 for it shared it at the office.  The cake tasted as good as it is beautiful!

Well, that was our humble bake sale this year.  I can hardly wait to see what people come up with next year!