A slightly delayed Monday treat!

by Naomi

Yes...I know....it's been a while. Unfortunately or fortunately the last few Mondays have been super busy and I haven't had the chance to post! But I am here at last!

So today I am posting about what Ecogoddess did on one of the aforementioned Mondays! In our neck of the woods, the first Bank Holiday Monday in May means one thing: Stilton Cheeserolling!

It's not the high adrenalin break-your-neck-and-legs event that those crazy Gloucester folk partake in. It does involve rolling cheese down a hill (well wood painted like cheese), but as what constitutes for a hill in these flat fens is what other people would look at as a gentle slope, it is much more..... laid back! It does however require fancy dress and is part of an all-round huge fete which the entire village and surrounding villages turn out for.

After a hugely successful trial run last year, raising money for the EJF, this year Lorna and I ran our second charity bake sale. This year, it was to raise much needed funds for The Mustard Seed Project, which works to empower the people of a slum community in Mombasa.

We spent the weekend baking and icing and by the time we had finished, we had 180ish cupcakes, three traybakes, one loaf cake, 8 jars of chutney and lots of vanilla cookies and shortbread! We also sold some jewellery made out in Africa.

The pics here were taken after we had sold most of our cakes, but you can get an idea! We dressed the stand in ribbon and kitsch patterned fabric and tablecloths, and put cupcakes on pretty plates and cake stands.

The sun was shining and the fete-goers were loving cake - we sold out by around 2.30pm (which meant we could go and enjoy a nice cider in the sunshine!) After deducting costs, we raised a wonderful £310!

If you are thinking of doing your own charity bake sale, here are a few of our top tips:

• Presentation is everything - there were plenty of other stands selling cake and cupcakes, but our extra effort in dressing the stand and decorating the cakes attracted a lot of customers.
• Mix it up a bit - flavours should offer the classic favourites, but also something a little unusual. We did classics like Maple & Pecan, Coffee & Walnut and Carrot Cupcake, but also Oreo Cupcakes with a cookie at the bottom, Chocolate & Banana Loaf Cake, Lemon Cheesecake with a lemon curd centre, and Strawberry Cream Cupcakes with a jam centre and cream cheese frosting. Make flavours they can't resist!
• Know your audience - we tailored the cakes to appeal to both children, teenagers and adults. Some of the cupcakes were smaller, and so more manageable for children. We also did a rainbow sponge cupcake with bright glitter icing to appeal to kids and big kids! Not everyone likes chocolate or a huge amount of buttercream icing, so we did more grown-up flavours like Mocha, Lemon Drizzle and Orange Drizzle.
• Price it right! We needed to make a good profit over our costs, and knew that visitors would have varying amounts of money to spend. We sold little cookies at 25p each, then smaller cupcakes and slices of traybake at £1, and large deluxe cupcakes at £1.50.

Overall it was a great success and something we hope to repeat. We would love to hear about your bake sale experiences and any fundraising ideas!

Facts: Bank Holiday bake sale for the Mustard Seed Project. Cakes and cupcakes made from organic, fairtrade and free range ingredients.