Desserts to Feed a Crowd

Celebrate with these delicious desserts to feed a crowd. Whether you are celebrating at a party or all the festivities in between, these desserts are a great way to celebrate new beginnings.

Bite Size Desserts for a Crowd

First, bite size desserts are the perfect addition to any kind of celebration. Furthermore, baking individual desserts makes the dessert planning process simple! Here are several bite size desserts that are great for any host or guest to share on any occasion.

Bars – Bars are the perfect treat for your guests. Best yet, the perfect potluck needs delicious desserts like bars that melt in your mouth. Also, you can add chocolate peanut butter bars or cheesecake bars to the dessert table. There are many ways to enjoy cheesecake bars, including strawberry, peanut butter, and lemon. Plus, you can save time with no-bake cheesecake bar recipes!

Cookies – This is a perfect option for parties. First, cookies take between 7 to 12 minutes to bake. In an hour you could bake 100 cookies! Cookies are perfect for feeding a crowd. Second, you can make different kinds of cookies like peanut butter, sugar cookies, and more!

Second, you can make different kinds of cookies like peanut butter, sugar cookies, and more!

Ultimately, these bite size desserts have several benefits. These desserts are easy to transport. Also, you don’t have to worry about slicing a cake or adding last minute decorations.

Layer cakes are beautiful, but unfortunately it just takes one slip for your beautiful creation to break into pieces on the ground. Avoid the headache by making these easy bite size treats!

Sheet Cakes for Parties

Sheet Cakes – Sheet cakes are the easiest cakes to make. Plus, they’re instant crowd pleasers! Also, it leaves you with enough desserts to feed at least 20 people. With smaller servings you can serve even more guests. Sheet cakes are one of the best desserts to feed a crowd. Decorating is super simple. If you have a 9 x 13 pan in your kitchen this solution is perfect for you. Pick a box cake flavor of your choice. Follow the directions on the box, then bake. Using a box cake mix is a super beneficial baking shortcut because it gives you more time to decorate. However, if you enjoy baking from scratch pick a good cake recipe. Learn how to find the best cake recipes and the secrets to baking moist cakes.

While the cake is baking you can make homemade frosting. Store bought frosting doesn’t compare to the delicious taste of homemade chocolate buttercream or even Swiss meringue buttercream! Usually, with store bought frosting the additives that give the frosting a longer shelf life can cause an unpleasant after taste and can negatively impact the flavor. There are several options for making frosting at home: Buttercream frosting, whipped cream frosting, and more! Once your sheet cake has cooled, frost the cake and transfer it to a dessert platter or cake carrier to make traveling with your cake easy.

Also, a sheet cake is the dessert of choice for graduations, birthday parties, and all the celebrations in between! Sheet cake sizes can be a little tricky. These measurements will help you decide what fits your needs.

Sheet Cake Measurements

Now, you might be wondering what is the difference between a quarter sheet, half sheet, or full sheet cake? Don’t worry! Here is the breakdown of sheet cake measurements. Cake is one of the most popular desserts. It’s one of the easiest desserts to feed a crowd because it’s a sweet treat. Plus, sheet cakes are fun to make!

Sheet cake sizes can be a little tricky. These measurements will help you decide what fits your needs.

Quarter Sheet Cake – First, for a quarter sheet cake use a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Half Sheet Cake – Second, a half sheet cake is made in a 12×18″ or 12x18x2″ sheet cake pan.

Full Sheet Cake – Finally, a full sheet cake pan is made in a 18×26″ baking pan. This size can feed 50 to 70 people depending on the serving size.

Party Gift Bag Ideas

Next, is the most exciting part! Everyone loves Gift bags. Especially, gift bags with desserts inside. Gift bags are a super fun addition to any party. Also, it gives you the opportunity to be creative. You can put your own spin on them to make them stand out!

Moreover, if you happen to have a vacuum sealer you can use it to seal cookies inside to keep them fresh. Then you can buy stickers that fit the theme of your party and place them on your sealed cookies. What’s more, you can even print out stickers at home. Furthermore, some ideas for decorative stickers are balloons, ribbons, flowers, and more!

Cupcakes – In addition, individual cupcake containers work perfectly for giving cupcakes to your guests as a party favor.

Gift Bag Themes

There are so many designs to choose from. Gold, colorful, and polka dots are a few popular styles.

In addition, I use small treat bags for gifting macaroons and cookies. When shopping for treat bags, you can purchase bags with a Ziplock seal or bags that can be tied with ribbons. Get a good gift bag set that has enough bags for your guests.

Where Can I Find these Supplies?

Hobby Lobby, Michaels, and Amazon are great places to start shopping for gift bags and decorations. Usually, most craft or party stores sell these supplies.

Desserts for Special Occasions

Cupcakes are a great option for baking desserts to feed a crowd. Especially if one of your kids is having a bake sale or if you need to bring a dessert to a party. This baking shortcut is similar to the baking shortcut for sheet cakes. The best part is that cupcakes take half the time to bake. Typically, it takes between 20 to 23 minutes to bake a dozen cupcakes. This means that if you have 2 muffin pans you can bake 4 dozen cupcakes in an hour.

Use a box cake mix to make the batter for the cupcakes. Then place 2 standard muffin pans in the oven for the recommended bake time. Sometimes it’s best to bake cupcakes on the top rack to prevent them from over baking or burning. In the meantime, make the frosting while the cupcakes are baking. Once the cupcakes have cooled frost the cupcakes. Feel free to decorate them by adding edible pearls or topping them off with cookies. Moreover, cupcake toppers that match the theme of the party are a great addition. In short, spending time on these small details make these desserts look like you spent hours on them.

Bridal Parties – Macaroons and cookies are perfect for bridal parties. Monogrammed labels with the initials of the people getting married and the wedding date look very elegant.

Engagement Cupcakes – Engagement cupcakes are a nice way to celebrate engagement parties. Plus, you can pipe flowers and add wedding themed cupcake toppers. These little details make all the difference when it comes to celebrating the big day!

Birthday Parties – Likewise, cupcakes and cake pops are ideal for birthday party guests. Homemade cake pops are easy to make with just a few ingredients.

These desserts are crowd favorites. Impress your guests with these show-stopping desserts!

Options for Guests that Don’t Have a Sweet Tooth

Lastly, not everyone enjoys eating cake. Muffins are the perfect choice for people who don’t have a sweet tooth. Muffins don’t take long to bake. Plus, you can add your own toppings to increase the flavor. Use a box quick bread mix or muffin mix from your local grocery store. Blueberry, cranberry orange, and cinnamon are a few of the most popular muffin flavors. You can make your own homemade crumb topping and sprinkle it on top of the muffins before putting them into the oven.

These baking hacks are so easy because it allows you to spend less time in the kitchen. After the muffins have completely cooled you can finally move on to the next step. Now, you can make the glaze. The flavor of glaze will depend on the kind of muffins you decided to bake. Vanilla glaze goes with pretty much every muffin flavor and is super simple to make. On the other hand, you can add a dash of cinnamon or lemon to the glaze if the flavor is too sweet. All you need is 1 cup of powdered sugar, a few tablespoons of milk or heavy cream, then whisk. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins using a whisk or spoon. Your guest will be impressed with all the effort you put in.

How to Get your Desserts to the Party

Rectangular Cake Carrier – Most importantly, if you need to bring desserts to a party you will need a fool proof way to travel with your beautiful creations. Use a rectangular cake carrier to store the sheet cake. These cake carriers have a handle that makes it easy to carry. Also, it has snap locks that keep the cake fresh!

Cupcake Carrier – In addition, cupcake carriers have individual holders for each cupcake. This prevents the cupcakes from moving around and making a huge mess! Best yet, some stores sell cupcake carriers that can be used as a cake carrier as well.

Alternatives – So, we aren’t always going to have an amazing carrier to transport these desserts. Sometimes last-minute situations happen. If you are in a pinch, you can use a pan that is 9×13 inches or 18×26 inches. Just make sure that the dessert is tightly covered with a lid. These pans work for storing sheet cakes, bars, cupcakes, and muffins.

Where Can I find Dessert Carriers?

You can find cake or cupcake Carriers at stores like Target, HomeGoods, or HomeSense. Check the label for measurements. This will tell you more about the cake sizes that can fit into the carrier.

Do you need to restock your pantry? Learn all about the must have baking ingredients for baking desserts from scratch.

Now, you have all the tools to create amazing desserts to feed a crowd that are sure to impress your loved ones.