Free Cakes for Kids

What if I told you that there is a way you can bake as much cake as you like, and at the same time you can give a child in Manchester a birthday to remember?

Free Cakes for Kids is a national volunteer organisation which supplies birthday cakes for children whose families are unable to provide them.  Families often struggle to provide birthday cakes for all sorts of reasons, and at the moment it’s especially difficult for families who simply can’t afford it. We match volunteers who love baking to families in need of birthday cakes. The volunteers provide personalised birthday cakes to help make a child’s birthday that bit more special. Volunteers choose which cakes they can bake, so there’s no pressure.

The scheme started in Oxford in 2008, after word spread from similar schemes in the US. Since then it has grown into a national organisation, with more than 45 branches in the UK. The scheme receives no funding: volunteers pay for the ingredients and bake the cake, and we rely entirely on their time and energy.

So readers, this is a call to arms. A rallying cry to the cake-makers of Manchester. Raise your whisks, don your apron, and join us in our quest to provide birthday cakes to the kids of Manchester. No cake request will go unanswered, no child will be without celebratory baked goods.

I’m currently setting up a Didsbury branch of Free Cake for Kids, and I need your help. I’m looking for volunteers in the Didsbury or Withington area – you don’t have to be an expert baker, just a passion for baking and for helping kids! You’re free to bake as many or as few cakes as you like.

Volunteers simply let us know when they’re able to bake a cake, and once made, the baker arranges to meet the kid’s parent or carer in a public place to hand the cake over. Then you get to walk around with a shiny halo and a whole bunch of good karma. Hopefully we’ll also get sent a photo of the kid with their birthday cake, which, let’s face it, gives you a whole lot more satisfaction than watching your housemates wolf your cake down without even looking up from the latest episode of Top Gear.

If this sounds like your cup of tea, find us on Facebook (search Free Cake for Kids – Didsbury) or email us at [email protected] – we’d love to hear from you!