Baking for a Cause

By: Kealy Howard

Recently our office put together a bake sale to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. When I heard we were putting this on I immediately signed up…two of my favorite things rolled into one; spending time in the kitchen baking and volunteering. My passion for baking started in my Grandmother’s kitchen when I was just a few years old, dressed in my Fisher Price apron, standing on a step stool, covered in flour, digging my hands into whatever cookie dough or cake batter we were working on, and of course sneaking in a few bites of dough or batter whenever she wasn’t looking. As for volunteering it all started when I joined my local Girl Scout troop as a Brownie. I loved helping others, whether it was working at a local soup kitchen, helping children with their homework in an after-school program, or raising money for charities such as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Special Olympics, and St. Jude. There are so many reasons why some people volunteer, I have to be honest and say the reason I volunteer is rather selfish. I just love the feeling I get when I am able to put a smile on someone’s face or know what I’m doing, no matter how small, will help put a dent in the never ending race to find a cure. It’s a feeling you can’t get by just donating money, sometimes you have to get out there and get your hands dirty and this bake sale resulted in my hands being covered with cake batter, a lot of chocolate, and sprinkles all over my kitchen…

My creation…Cupcake Bites! A combination of chocolate cake crumbled up and mixed with a can of cream cheese frosting (Yes, you heard that right. I did not make homemade frosting this time), rolled into balls, and placed into the freezer until firm. Once they were ready, I dipped the bottoms into dark chocolate and white chocolate candy molds to give the bottoms the look of a Reese’s peanut butter cup. After a minute I popped them out of the molds and continued to dip them into more chocolate; this time I alternated covering the tops with purple and red chocolate. Before the chocolate had time to set, I quickly decorated the tops with a few sprinkles and one M&M. Overall, this whole process took almost four hours and I’m not counting the time it took to bake the cake and cleanup my enormous mess! Nevertheless I had a great time baking for a cause and getting my hands a little dirty.

Cupcake Bites recipe courtesy of Bakerella.com.

Special thanks and lots of love to my dear friend Kealy. She is practically a professional baker and everytime I indulge in one of her sweet treats, I hear the dessert eating angel choirs sing! I have been begging her for the past sevral months to share her expertise on my blog and I am so excited to finally be able to share this with you all! Maybe we can convince Kealy she needs to be a regular guest spreading peace, love and good food (more desserts, please!!) to all!