Baking-A-Difference Cupcakes

Once upon a time, there was a lady called Michaela, who when COVID-19 struck and we were all stuck at home, had a brainwave. And so she gathered together a group of bakers, some amazing admin ladies and some people who were prepared to give up their one outing a day to make deliveries, and set up Baking-A-Difference. And lo! Kind people nominated their friends, colleagues and family members and conducted towards ingredients online. And then delicious cupcakes were baked, iced and delivered to key workers in east Norfolk, Norwich and north Suffolk to say a big thank you for everything they are doing on the front line, whilst we all tuck ourselves away at home.

I was really pleased to get involved as I’d been feeling a bit pointless and this gave me a happy, positive, exciting reason to jump out of bed and crack on with my day! I started out doing Vegan & Dairy Free cupcakes for some nominations for people with intolerances. But then I got involved with baking the regular ones too. It was quite strange for me to be using self-raising flour instead of gluten free flour – I’d forgotten how much that stuff rises!

It’s involved a bit of an adventure with fondant icing too – not something I’ve used all that much before. But I’ve done plain and fancy and marbled and rainbow. And the Baking-A-Difference team got some special stampers for messages too, which made them look even smarter.

It’s been a really enjoyable, positive thing to do during a really unpleasant few months in world affairs. Brilliant for my mental health. And so uplifting to see smiles on faces when a surprise box of cup cakes is delivered to their place of work. And several of the bakers have gone on to develop their own little baking company. Positive stories all round.