Undercooked, Overcooked, Wombling Free...
A few years ago I was poised to send my usual £50 to Comic Relief. But being a newly keen baker I thought, what if I bought £50 worth of ingredients, sold the cakes I made, and then gave the proceeds to Comic Relief instead? I did it, I raised £200 and I had a great time, I tried out some longed for new recipes and, judging by the yummy noises, I made a lot of people's tummies happy and I became hooked on this charity baking lark.
Don't get me wrong, I hadn't always been a baker. I used to watch in awe as someone plonked the perfect cake in front of me and brushed off compliments as though it were nothing. There seemed to be some dark art to baking that completely eluded me, the very few times I did try to bake there always seemed to be something wrong with it, undercooked, overcooked, sunk, cracked, you name it I'd failed like it!
That all changed one Christmas when struggling for a present for my wonderful mother in law (no really she is wonderful), I struck on the idea of making her a recipe book. Borrowing the handwritten school exercise book filled with recipes of hers and her mother's (Granny Moore's baking is still family legend), I picked 20 bakes, scanned them, cooked them, photographed them, and made it into a hard backed photo book. During the course of this 5 week 20 bake-a-thon the penny dropped, I started to understand where I'd gone wrong before, became more confident and even started to enjoy baking!
After that you just couldn't stop me...Cake anyone?
Thank you
I'm nothing without the people who have generously responded to my pleas for cakes on behalf of charities, and of course my awesome friends who have baked and turned out to help, in some cases both! Jeanine 'Nini Vanilli' Bonventre, Sue 'The future Mrs Hollywood' Jefferies and 'Legal' Lyn Nichols queen of the urn, you are amazing! And thanks to the Allens and Raineys for all the eggs, keep em coming!
Thanks also to talented photographer Tim Lawrence from Lookphoto. He did wonders with the pictures of me baking!
T Shirts
If you are doing a cake stall and would like a T shirt with the Bake A Change logo, web address and 'Baking the world a better place one cake at a time' on the back, the wonderful people at South East Workwear will print you one, with your name on the front too, for just £14!
Follow Bake a Change on Facebook to find out about events in your area that need cakes.
