Work bake sale raises £124!

I've been pretty lame at updating my blog recently but the reason is that for the last few days I've been baking like crazy! Firstly two commissions for friends, lemon raspberry muffins and Oreo cupcakes at the weekend and then for a big work bake sale. I was up until the small hours the last two nights baking and icing. In total I think I made about 100 cakes and cookies - Oreo, vanilla, raspberry & elderflower (gluten-free and low-ish fat/calories as they're made with courgette and ground almonds), brownies with nuts, brownies without nuts AND Smarties cookies. It went well anyway, I put a box on each floor at work and left an evelope for donations and in total raised £124. I'm chuffed with that boost to my proceeds, which takes me up to £693 now, and a milestone 25% towards my target!

Here are some pics of my desk pre-sale....please ignore the massive stack of papers and just look at the cake!!!

All quiet on the fundraising front

I'm feeling a bit guilty for not having managed to update the blog recently. It would be good to say that's because I've been busy planning my next events, which is partly true, but largely it's because I've had a long stint of drunken nights out followed by extreme, debilitating tiredness the next day!

Anyway, I've been sober for a few days so have finally managed to do something productive with my time. I've booked an Ethiopian dinner for Thursday 29th March in London, drummed up some interest for my Cupcakes & Cosmo's event and started pestering people for raffle prize donations for my next Madras for Cash on Saturday 31st March at Sizzler restaurant, Leighton Buzzard. I'm still working out the details but will, of course, post them soon on here and Facey/Twitter for info as well as emailing to my contacts. If you want to register your interest in the meantime you can message me via the blog or on Facebook/emcupcakes or Twitter @emcupcakes.

I've also had a couple of baking commissions recently, the latest being lemon & raspberry muffins which I got up at 6am to make for my gorgeous & lovely friend Emma to take to a Hen Do. She's been very supportive of all my efforts so far so I didn't mind getting out of bed so early (for me at least)! It was difficult to resists the temptation to eat one on my way to work this morning though!

I'm also really chuffed that in the last week I've managed to work out how to put a Paypal button on my blog so that people can make donations directly to me (which I will then pay into Justgiving) and also book places on my events, cutting out the need for me to act as banker/accounts ledger etc., particularly helpful when drunk & disorderly and trying to run an event! This whole charity challenge/blogging thing is such a great learning curve!

Amnesty & MixTogether campaigns against forced marriage

For the last year I’ve been involved with another organisation called MixTogether. It runs a forum for people in mixed race relationships who are experiencing discrimination at the hands of their family or community and need emotional support. This is an issue very close to my heart as I experienced it myself with my former partner whose family couldn’t accept that I was culturally different to them. I have seen decent people almost destroyed by the stress and anxiety caused by this kind of discrimination and I read every day on the MixTogether forum about good, kind, open minded people who are suffering the same fate, just for loving people of a different colour, culture or religion.

I think there’s a big difference between arranged marriage, where both parties consent of their own free will (most definitely not after coercion and pressure) and forced marriage. I’m not a cultural imperialist and I recognise that some people are perfectly happy to have an arranged marriage and I believe that people should be free to act in accordance with their religion or culture, so long as it doesn’t cause harm. What I object to is where families use emotional blackmail to induce pressure upon a son or daughter to go along with a marriage through a family introduction when they don’t want to, or conversely where they use emotional blackmail to prevent a marriage to someone outside of the culture. Amnesty International highlights this issue and works to end the practice in countries where forced marriage is still commonplace under the banner of it’s End Violence Against Women campaign. I’m sad to say that it still seems to be rife amongst some communities in Britain and is another reason I’m determined to raise money so Amnesty can continue to campaign on this issue.

The Home Office recently announced proposals to criminalise breach of a Forced Marriage Protection Order (FMPO). FMPOs offer some protection to those whose families are attempting to force them into a marriage but there are limitations and enforcement is difficult. Criminalising breach of an Order would help to address this but it may also deter victims from coming forward due to the cultural sensitivities and mixed emotions they may have towards family members involved. I’ve just drafted a consultation response on these proposals on behalf of the MT forum and I would encourage others to respond here http://tinyurl.com/cap3m62 or pass on the message to anyone affected by this issue and point them towards MixTogether www.mixtogether.org and the other organisations with specific knowledge and experience of this issue which are listed on the MT Links page.

Another day, another baking bonanza

Seems like all I do these days is bake and then post the photos on here! But it seems to be a winning fundraising formula so why stop? I've spent today making cupcakes that look like multi-coloured Mr Whippy ice creams, Smarties cookies, butternut squash puree, butternut squash & parmesan scones and frosting rose petals! I started getting a bit stir crazy around 4pm and decided to abandon the culinary pursuits and instead turn my attention to making the invitations for my sister's Mum To Be Tea (we hate that term 'baby shower'!).

I am pleased to report that after being unable to find pumpkins in the shops or canned pumpkin puree (apart from on mail order) the butternut squash puree I made to test out instead worked just as well. It cost me about £1.20 to buy one large squash, which I then chopped up, boiled until tender and pureed. I've now got three bags of the stuff sitting in the freezer for when I next need some and 10 squash & parmesan scones to eat for lunch this week with cheese & cornichons, and it's a damn sight cheaper than the £3 or so you pay for one can of puree which will render you one batch of scones!

I'm also really pleased with the ice cream cones - although I can think of better cake experiences than having to get past a wafer first, they look so effective and it was a lot of fun to decorate them in all different pastel ice cream shades! I went a bit mad with the Smarties cookies, I just fancied one and as I had a recipe and a supply of ingredients I decided to make them instead of popping down to the shops. I now have about 20 on my hands and trust me, although you can't tell from the pictures they are the size of my fist! I will probably end up giving them away at work tomorrow. It's getting a bit tricky as now every time I take baked goods into work people try and give me money. I know I shouldn't complain, but I don't want people to get annoyed with being constantly tapped up for cash, especially when I've just brought in a freebie.

Here are some piccies of the goodies!

Take action against contravention of LGBTI rights in Russia

I was pretty horrified to read last night that the authorities in St Petersburg, Russia are in the final stages of creating a Bill that severely restricts freedom of expression and assembly for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people in the city.

If passed the Bill will introduce fines for “public actions aimed at propaganda of sodomy, lesbianism, bisexuality, transgenderness amongst minors”.

This would contravene human rights laws around freedom of expression and freedom to assembly, as well as the right to non-discrimination and equality before the law, guaranteed by international human rights treaties to which Russia is a signatory.

The new law particularly impacts young people and groups. It will prevent young people from accessing or sharing LGBTI information vital to their health and wellbeing – including social groups, support networks, and sexual health information. It will restrict the activities and operations of LGBTI organisations in St Petersburg.

Discrimination against LGBTI people is already widespread in Russia. If this Bill is passed, it will legalise and promote discrimination against an already marginalised group of people.

If you're as horrified as I am please follow this link http://tinyurl.com/7q99vqg to email the authorities in St Petersburg, asking them not to roll back these basic human rights for LGBTI people in the city, and punish individuals for their sexual identity.

Valentine's goodies for sale

I've been putting my new cupcake decorating skills to use today making yet more red velvet cupcakes - well, what cupcake could be more appropriate for Valentines, when it comes with a heart-red middle?! I had so much fun decorating these earlier, and managed to get most of the glitter on the cakes themselves, despite having a cheeky few glasses of wine down the local beforehand!

I also finally made my promised chocolate truffles and enjoyed packaging them up. I'm hoping to sell as many sweet treats to my colleagues tomorrow as poss to top up the charity coffers.

Here are some photos of my handiwork. If you would like some or cakes/chocolates for another occasion please message me via the blog, facebook (facebook.com/emcupcakes) or Twitter @emcupcakes for info.

If you want to help me without the guilt of adding to your waistline please donate to http://www.justgiving.com/EmilyCharlotteJeffrey.

Thanks x

Cupcake decorating with Cookie Girl

I've been slacking off a bit this week due to one too many nights out with friends so I've been back on the fundraising wagon today with a cupcake decorating class that I plan to use to improve my bake sales and also possibly take a few classes of my own with friends who are more novice in the field than me!

My class was lead by Cookie Girl aka Xanthe Milton, the author of 'Eat Me'. I got a signed copy from her today and I can't wait to try out some of her very imaginative recipes.

It was loads of fun going a bit crazy with sprinkles and colours, and also trying to learn a few tricks of the trade. Xanthe was a great tutor and a lovely lady, and when I told her why I'd booked on the workshop she very kindly offered me a free cupcake decorating lesson RRP £55! I will raffle or auction it off at a later date.

Here are the fruits of my labour today - well most of them. Some of them got eaten already...

As you can see I liked practising 'roses'.