Cakes for a good cause

Since my hot date tonight is of the water bottle and lemsip variety, I thought I'd use the opportunity to post a roundup of the cakes I've made so far since volunteering with Free Cakes for Kids.

They are a community based charity which provides free birthday cakes, baked and decorated by volunteers, to children and families that would otherwise be unlikely to have one.

Having a special birthday cake is undeniably one of the lovely simple pleasures of childhood. It's just so exciting - choosing the cake you want, dropping some stupendously unsubtle hints, and the final surprise of seeing what it looks like in all it's iced glory.

The sad fact is that there are a great many children in the UK whose birthdays won't be celebrated with cake, or indeed really celebrated at all. This could be for a whole host of reasons, including financial, health, housing or many other issues. That's where Free Cakes for Kids comes in. It works with local organisations all over the UK, and accepts referrals for cakes, which are then allocated to volunteered bakers to supply.

To each individual volunteer baker, the cost is small, the effort rewarding and collectively the organisation provides hundreds if not thousands of cakes to children all around the country each year.

I've been baking with my local branch for several months now, so I thought I'd post a few photos of my creations!

Monsters High

Music and Singing

Not a birthday but a good luck cake for a work placement abroad

Woodland fairy

Football

It's lovely to feel you are doing something that brings a burst of fun and excitement into the difficult lives that many children end up leading. So if you're looking for an excuse to get stuck in with the fondant and food colouring on a semi-regular basis, then I thoroughly recommend checking out your nearest group on the website and getting in touch.