What to bake and how to ship it!

August 14, 2007 11:20 AM

I'm looking to cook some desserts and mail them across the county but I've never mailed baked things before so I have a few questions.

I have a freezer filled with frozen berries and I want to bake them into things and mail them all over the US to a variety of friends.

What are the best things to bake for shipping? Cookies seem like a no brainer, but i can't figure out how raspberries would be involved. I was considering a chocolate cake with raspberry choclolate sauce mixed in and used for the icing, but i'm afraid that won't stand up well. What about a buckle?

Any hints or tips on packaging and making sure it gets there in one piece?

posted by nadawi to food & drink (13 comments total)

Amazingly, we've covered a few aspects of your question before here and here.

Good luck!
posted by mdonley at 11:26 AM on August 14, 2007

In my experience, muffins, scones & "breads" (like banana bread or zucchini bread) often mail well. You could make some amazing berry muffins or scones and send them out.

P.S. Send me some plz. ;-)
posted by tastybrains at 11:28 AM on August 14, 2007

Thanks tastybrains, a muffin didn't occur to me for some reason. Thanks as well to mdonley, even if you help came with a healthy spoonful of condescending tones.

Any one have specific information about buckles?
posted by nadawi at 11:51 AM on August 14, 2007

if you do the cake and icing, any way you could just ship the cake un-iced, with the icing included in a separate container, for the recipient to do? Otherwise, yeah, a cake shipped with icing on it tends to have problems.
posted by inigo2 at 12:07 PM on August 14, 2007

What's a buckle? Maybe i call it something different... since I've never heard of it. So i could have usefull info, and not even know it.
posted by Kololo at 12:53 PM on August 14, 2007

Yes, what's a buckle? Is it like a coffee or crumb cake?

Can you borrow a food saver - one of those gizmos that seals food into plastic bags? They're fantastic for shipping food; almost like a professional seal. I've sent cookies every which way shape and form and they always break, but I bought a food saver and sealed (and vacuum packed) a big batch of crumbly chocolate chip cookies, and for the first time ever they arrived at their destination uncrumbled and uncracked. So one vote for a food saver, they really do work. Other than that, sending things uniced and putting the frosting in a separate bag is a good idea.
posted by iconomy at 1:02 PM on August 14, 2007

I googled "Buckle recipe" to figure out what a buckle was...according to this, it is in fact like a coffee cake. Since it seems to be a fairly dense cake, I would think it would ship just as well as a bread or muffin, as long as you packaged it properly (air tight without a lot of room to move around or the ability to get smushed).
posted by tastybrains at 2:19 PM on August 14, 2007

I've mailed cupcakes before. I put them in ziplocks, and put them in a box with the icing separate. It worked out nicely.
posted by Many bubbles at 2:26 PM on August 14, 2007

Yes, a buckle is kind of like a coffee cake. they're delicious. thanks again, everyone.
posted by nadawi at 2:55 PM on August 14, 2007

Buckle is a great idea, but I would go with scones. They're so great to have around on hand and freeze so well that you will not only be giving your friends a delicious treat right away, but also the possibility of freezing some of the left overs and crackin' 'em out whenever a guest pops by for an afternoon.

I've also noticed that if you don't have a food saver (as iconomy suggested and really is completely dead-on with how awesome it is) you should seal the baked goods in double lock Ziplock style bags and then place the bag inside a sealed plastic container (like the disposable Glad ones) and then put it inside your shipping container. I have had lots of success with shipping baked goods this way. Lucky friends!
posted by banannafish at 3:21 PM on August 14, 2007

You could also try a strudel, a a pound cake with raspberries and almonds.

But muffins and buckle cake sound awesome!
posted by misha at 3:22 PM on August 14, 2007

Brownies ship really well. I'm not sure how you incorporate fruit into brownies, however everyone will like them anyway.

For large, flat, brownie-shaped baked goods, there is plastic-ware that's oven safe. Bake in it, let it cool, pop the lid on, and ship it. If you are really serious about it, you can put some plastic wrap and padding inside so there's no empty space between brownies and lid.
posted by anaelith at 9:28 PM on August 14, 2007

We've put cherries soaked in brandy in brownies before. Out of this world. I don't know about raspberries though -- they have a tendency to fall apart. That could get messy.
posted by Atom12 at 6:31 AM on August 15, 2007