Jane Asher Snowman Recipe for Barnardo’s Kidsmas Fundraising Campaign
UNITED KINGDOM / AGILITYPR.NEWS / December 03, 2019 / Actress and baker Jane Asher has created a Kidsmas Snowman cake recipe for families to enjoy and help raise awareness of Barnardo’s new Kidsmas fundraising campaign.
It’s hoped the recipe for the cake in the shape of the colourful Kidsmas Snowman mascot will encourage families to spend precious time together.
Barnardo’s supporter Jane Asher said:
“I loved baking this jolly Kidsmas snowman cake for Barnardo’s – children always enjoy cooking, and baking as a family is always great fun and a lovely way to get together over Christmas. The cake is also perfect for people who don’t like traditional fruit cake.
“Kidsmas is all about children, so I’m thrilled to be supporting the fundraising campaign with this recipe and am running a little baking competition for children to add to the fun. I don’t mind what their results look like – it’s having a go that’s the point, and they’ll taste great in any case!”
The UK’s leading children’s charity is also asking people to get involved by creating an online ‘Build a Kidsmas Snowman’ fundraising page. Through the platform, fundraisers can ask people to donate by throwing a ‘snowball donation’. The more snowballs thrown, the bigger their snowman gets and the more money is raised to help change the lives of vulnerable children.
An alternative way to support the campaign is by hosting a ‘Kidsmas Party’ at home, school, work and with their local community groups. Anyone can sign up for a free Kidsmas Party pack which includes party games and fun festive fundraising ideas. It’s the perfect way to celebrate Christmas and do something meaningful this Kidsmas.
Jane added: “I hope that, as well as entering the competition, as many people as possible get in the Kidsmas spirit and perhaps build their own Snowman fundraising page or hold a Kidsmas party to raise money for such a worthwhile cause.”
Barnardo’s Chief Executive Javed Khan said:
“We are really grateful to Jane for supporting our new fundraising campaign, Kidsmas.
“For many children, Christmas is a time of joy, but for those struggling with mental health problems, abuse, or a history in care, it can feel like just another difficult day.
“I hope families enjoy baking Jane’s special cake together, and help raise vital funds for Barnardo’s, so we can make sure children are safe, supported and cared for - at Christmas and all year round.”
You can set up your own online Kidsmas Snowman fundraiser at http://www.barnardos.org.uk/joinkidsmas
To find out the details of Jane’s Kidsmas Snowman Cake Competition please visit http://www.janeasher.co.uk/blog/4-competition-time/
Jane Asher’s Kidsmas Snowman Cake
Ingredients:
All-in-one recipe:
● 175g softened butter
● 175g self-raising flour
● 1tsp baking powder
● 175g golden caster sugar
● 1tsp vanilla extract
● 3 medium eggs
● A little oil or butter for greasing
To decorate:
● 600-800g butter icing
● Edible glitter (optional)
● Black, blue, green, white, pink, red, black, orange roll out icing (or as few or many as you’d like to use! – or buy white only and colour it yourself by kneading in some food colour)
● Chocolate piping icing
● Black edible decorating pen
You will need:
● 2 x 7”-8” sandwich baking tins
● A 12” x 15” cake board or piece of card
● Paper and pen and ruler
● 1 cocktail stick
1. First, to make the brim of the hat, roll out a small piece of black icing thinly and cut out two moon-shaped pieces around 17cm across and 7 cm high. (These will need to dry for as long as possible – at least a few hours – to become firm enough to stand up, so you may decide to use cardboard or similar painted black instead. )
2. Roll and shape a carrot from the orange icing and insert a cocktail stick in the thicker end
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas mark 4. Lightly grease the baking tins and line the bottoms with circles of baking paper
4. Put the all-in-one ingredients into a bowl. With a handheld mixer or by hand, beat slowly for a minute or so, then beat hard until the mix comes together and has no lumps.
5. Divide the cakes between the two tins and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and firm to the touch and a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Allow to cool for a couple of minutes in the tins, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.
6. Once the cakes are cold, using a small plate or large saucer (I happened to have the base of a loose-base cake tin which was just the right size), cut one into a circle about 15cm in diameter to make the head. Keep back the leftover pieces of cake to use for the hat.
7. Cut a small slice off the edge of each cake and then stick them in place onto the cake board with a couple of dabs of butter icing.
8. Assemble the pieces of leftover cake into a hat shape, sticking them together with butter icing.
9. Spread butter icing all over the entire cake very thinly and leave to dry for a few minutes (this should help to stick down any loose crumbs and prevent them spoiling the ‘snow’). Then spread butter icing more thickly all over the cake and rough it up into ‘snow’. Sprinkle with a little edible glitter before it dries.
10. Roll out more black icing and cover the hat.
11. Spread butter icing all over the cake board. Then cut and add all the little details as per the picture (to make the long strips it’s easiest to roll out sausages and then flatten them with a rolling pin)
12. I used a large piping nozzle to cut the white circles for the scarf
13. Pipe on the eyes with chocolate icing or cut little black circles; add button details with the edible pen
14. Finally, stick the two shaped brims together with a tiny amount of butter icing, and push carefully into position at the base of the hat, adding a little butter icing underneath as necessary to keep it upright.
About Us
Last year around 300,000 children, young people, parents and carers were supported by Barnardo’s through more than 1,000 services across the UK, such as young carers, care leavers, foster carers and adoptive parents, training and skills or parenting classes.
We work to change the lives of vulnerable children in the UK and every year we help thousands of families to build a better future. But we cannot do it without you.
Visit www.barnardos.org.uk to find out how you can get involved. Registered charity No. 216250 and SC037605
Follow Barnardo’s media team on Twitter @BarnardosNews
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