welcome to
The Cake Initiative
We are a community of voluntary bakers that share a passion for helping financially struggling families by providing a birthday cake for their child free of charge. Times are financially tough for many families at the moment. Whatever the reason, we are here to help.
Our cakes are lovingly handmade and will be handed over in a public place, to ensure the safety of both parties. We have volunteers based across the UK. Can we help to bring a smile to your child's face on their birthday?
Charitable
Partners
Refugee Kindness
52 Lives
Barnardos
Black Country Women's Aid (BCWA)
Trussell Trust Food Banks
Batten Disease Family Association
The Little Edi Foundation
My Shining Star
Birmingham Crisis Centre
Motherwell Cheshire
Chance Changing Lives
Welcare
JOIN OUR BAKING COMMUNITY
Do you love baking? Whether you are a professional baker or bake for fun, your cakes would mean the world to the child of a financially struggling family.
Please get in touch
Ready to join us?
Unlike some similar organisations, we do not require you to set up from scratch for your local area and coordinate handovers. We do this “heavy-lifting” centrally, so you can concentrate on the important bits – the baking and gifting.
Whilst we are here to support those children and their families that are in need, our priority is to keep our bakers safe and happy – as you are the magic in the mix. We will never ask you to do anything that you’re not comfortable with. All bakes are handed over in a public space and your personal details remain with us. You’ll also be entitled to some pretty snazzy discounts for brilliant baking products, thanks to the generosity of some amazing businesses. To help the handover process to go as smoothly as possible, you will be entitled to receive a Cake Initiative lanyard at the point of accepting your first request. Our social media communities on Instagram and Facebook provide a wealth of community knowledge and support.
You do not need to have a hygiene certificate, however we do expect you to follow good hygiene safety practice – Please see our Food Safety and Hygiene Advice document
Please read the Bakers Guidance for more details and feel free to reach out with any questions.
Thank you to our reward partners
Let us help!
Request a Birthday Cake
Are you struggling to make ends meet around your child’s birthday?
We accept requests via referral only. Therefore, reach out to:
⭐ One of our charity partners, or
⭐ Your child’s school or nursery
And ask them to fill in the ‘Request Now’ form on this page.
Charity partners:
☑️ Submit your request at least 2 weeks’ before the cake is required
☑️ Use an official email address
☑️ We are now able to support some allergy cake requests – please fill in the form and we will contact you to discuss further
We do not keep requester details for any longer than we have to. These will be deleted from our records once we have received confirmation that the cake has been handed over.
We are taking a break over the summer, but will be back again soon!
The team behind the scenes
Cake Initiative Team
Laura Stenton-Slater
From a pipe dream to our reality, The Cake Initiative is something pretty special and I am so proud to witness and be part of this mission. None of this would be possible, if it wasn’t for our beautiful team of voluntary bakers, stepping up and offering their support daily. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you all.
Emma Randall
The amount of people experiencing financial difficulty in the UK has increased dramatically since the coronavirus outbreak. We are now in a situation where 31 percent of children are living in poverty – this equates to an average of 9 in a class of 30.
Amy McCool
I have many fond memories of birthday cakes as a child and it breaks my heart to know some children miss out on this opportunity. We want to create a community where it’s ok to ask for help without fear of judgment.
Our Patron
LUCILLE L'QUEUR
Baker bees who stick together rise together
Hello, my darlings! I’m Lucille L’queur, a drag queen that just happens to love baking.
I am thrilled, flattered, and so very honoured to have been asked to be the patron of The Cake Initiative.
Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be asked to be a part of something so marvellous and to be trusted with something so special to a lot of people when I decided to embark on this new adventure in 2019. Now, to be surrounded by all these wonderfully talented and caring bakers. To know that I’m not the only one who wants to make the world a better place. So for that, I will always be eternally grateful.
The one thing that I was always taught growing up was the best medicine is laughter. So keep smiling, my darlings, and let’s spread the love together!
Help
Other sources of help
Food banks across the UK
Support for numerous issues, including legal advice
Housing support
Debt support
Debt support
Who can claim and how to claim benefits
Domestic abuse support
Gifted Bakes
Take a look at some of our selected gifted bakes below from our wonderful bakers, that are bringing a smile to children’s faces on their birthday throughout the country