A group of Edinburgh cake warriors are calling for more bakers after the first two cakes have been delivered aboard the Ukrainian refugee cruiseliner in Leith.
Edinburgh’s Free Cakes for Kids initiative has been asked to provide birthday cakes for the 385 refugee children aboard the MS Victoria in Leith, and local organisers need more bakers to keep up with demand.
“We have about 30 active volunteers at the moment, and we ask them to make at least one cake a month. Now that we’re providing more for the Ukrainian families , we want to increase our volunteers to handle all the requests,” said Leslie, Edinburgh’s Free Cakes for Kids organiser and volunteer.
“We’ve never not produced a cake we’ve agreed to make, and I don’t want us to start getting snowed under now.”
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Leslie organised Edinburgh’s Free Cakes for Kids group in 2013, and since then the team has made more than 2,000 home baked and decorated cakes for deserving children throughout the city.
Leslie said a birthday cake is such a fundamental part of celebrating birthdays and childhood that she loves being able to provide cakes for kids who would otherwise go without.
“Everybody seems to enjoy doing it, but sometimes you don't get much feedback or recognition. But it's the kids who will benefit, so that's the main thing,” Leslie said.
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Worthy cake recipients are referred to the group by organisations, such as drug and alcohol charities, social workers, and schools.
When Leslie receives a cake request, she puts a call out to her volunteers and one of the bakers gets to work. Each cake is unique, and each is decorated with the child’s favourite theme.
“You don’t need to be a professional baker and decorator to join us,” Leslie said.
“We have bakers with all different kinds of abilities. Seeing the amazing work and talent from some of our bakers on Facebook might be off putting for some, but the main goal is to provide a nice cake that tastes good.”
Free Cakes for Kids recently partnered with Ukrainian clubs, Volunteer Edinburgh and people at the MS Victoria to provide cakes to the young Ukrainians on board throughout the year.
There are more than 1,300 Ukrainian refugees living aboard the MS Victoria in Leith Harbour, and approximately 385 of the residents are children under 17. Without access to baking facilities and home comforts, she is excited to provide cakes to the displaced children.
However, to keep up with the new demand, Leslie said she needs more local bakers to help.
It is something you can do at home, and you can pick and choose what you want to do. But you have to be confident enough to decorate the cake and make sure that it does look like what has been requested,” Leslie said.
She added that having your own transportation is helpful because transporting cakes across the city by public transport is not always easy or possible.
To learn more about volunteering, visit the Free Cakes for Kids website or Facebook page.
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