Baking Challenge - The Big Bake
This challenge wasn't about baking a particular recipe, but rather me having a go at baking more things at once.
Recently, I was asked to bake enough cakes for a family celebration of up to 40 people. I made a plan, bought all the ingredients, and got to work.
The plan
The original baking plan was:
- Layered Honey Cake
- Albinita
- Sponge Jam Rolls
- Zserbo
- Griláž
- Linecké Rezy
- Štafetky
- Punčové Rezy
- Dobos Torte
- Chocolate and Banana cake as the main deal
In the end, I didn’t manage to make Dobos Torte or Štafetky, but I added Coconut Balls to the list — a great way to use up cake leftovers.
Photo of the cakes on a serving plate
The Bake
I tried to keep track of the ingredients I used, as well as their approximate prices. We have our own chickens, so I used our eggs, along with my homemade jam. I also received local honey for free, so I’m not including it in the calculation, as I don’t know its actual price. If I had to buy the eggs, honey, and jam, it would probably have cost about 150 lei (30 EUR) more.
The prices are here mostly as a reference for myself — and for anyone else curious about the cost of ingredients.
In total, it took me about 19 hours of work, spread across Friday and Saturday, with finishing touches on Sunday.
| Ingredient | Amount | Estimated Price (lei) | Estimated Price (EUR) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sugar | 3390 g | 14.88 | 2.98 |
| Powdered Sugar | 1200 g | 8.37 | 1.67 |
| Honey | 150 g | Free | Free |
| Vanilla | 7 g | 21.00 | 4.20 |
| Flour | 5140 g | 25.70 | 5.14 |
| Cocoa Powder | 700 g | 34.97 | 6.99 |
| Chocolate | 1000 g | 69.95 | 13.99 |
| Eggs | 41 pcs | Home Eggs | Home Eggs |
| Egg Yolks | 8 pcs | Home Eggs | Home Eggs |
| Butter | 1600 g | 95.94 | 19.19 |
| Milk | 700 ml | 3.49 | 0.70 |
| Kefir | 1250 ml | 7.49 | 1.50 |
| Whipping Cream | 1800 ml | 43.11 | 8.62 |
| Yogurt | 400 g | 8.00 | 1.60 |
| Mascarpone | 2000 g | 69.00 | 13.80 |
| Condensed Milk | 800 g | 23.38 | 4.68 |
| Ground Walnuts | 1000 g | 49.95 | 9.99 |
| Jam | 2700 g | Homemade | Homemade |
| ——————– | ——— | ———————— | ———————— |
| Total | 475.23 | 95.05 |
All the cakes in their boxes
All in all, I baked about 450 pieces of cake, plus another 56 slices of the primary cake and its decorated version. I think for the number of people at the event, it was a bit much — though it made packing leftovers to take home much easier.
The Primary Cake
For the main cake, I made a chocolate sponge cake filled with bananas and mascarpone cream, and decorated with chocolate.
I was worried I wouldn’t have enough of the nicely decorated version for all guests, so I made a pre-cut version of the same cake specifically for serving.
One of the boxes
The image at the top of the post is of the decorated version.
Final thoughts
Personally, I believe I learned a lot during this bake. I finally figured out the mistake I’d been making with sponge cakes — I was baking them at too high a temperature. With that sorted, I managed to make a really nice punch cake. It ended up being my favorite of the whole event, both in terms of look and taste.
The one area I still need to improve is cake cutting! I struggled to make consistently sized slices. While the cakes weren’t very uneven, they definitely could have been more uniform. It’s not something most people would notice, but it’s the kind of detail that adds a sense of professionalism.