If the children have seen you baking busily for the Children In Need cake sale at work and they’ve maybe sneaked a not-quite-so perfect cupcake, then this weekend might be the perfect time to get them into the kitchen.
Inspire them with the thought of creating their very own Pudsey biscuits or cakes and encourage them to do a good deed by selling their creations to friends and relatives to help raise money for Children In Need.
Baking is a great way to get the kids interested in cooking. You can choose simple, quick to bake recipes and so much of the fun is in the decoration.
And the Pudsey theme leaves so much to the imagination. He’s a bear with a round face that’s just a gift to cupcake makers and his simple white bandage over one eye is easy to replicate with some white icing and either a little food colouring for those dots or even a little chocolate in a candy shell.
You can make biscuits, cupcakes, sponge cakes or even the most tempting cake pops in Pudsey form. Buy a Pudsey-shaped cake mould or add a marzipan Pudsey-shaped figure to the top of your cake – did the clever people at Children In Need make Pudsey a marzipan colour deliberately?
However you choose to create your Children In Need bake with the children they’ll love getting stuck in to the kitchen and then selling their bakes to raise their own donation to charity. And you could even combine another BBC favourite if you’ve got two or more children and have a Children In Need Bake Off!
We love making Pudsey biscuits as they really are simple to make and decorate for young hands but still have a real wow factor!
If you’ve got a Pudsey bear cookie cutter that’s great but if not you can either use a gingerbread man cookie cutter but then add on some Pudsey ears with a little spare dough or draw a Pudsey shape on a piece of paper and then place it on the cookie dough and carefully cut around it (this would mean you the adult using a sharp knife to cut out the shape).
Our favourite Pudsey bear cookie recipe can be found here.
Ingredients:
225g butter
225g golden caster sugar
500g plain white flour
2 eggs
Vanilla extract
1tsp baking powder
White sugar paste icing plus mixed colours of sugar paste for the dots on the bandage
Method:
1. Sieve together the flour and baking powder and set that to one side.
2. In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until it is a pale colour and then add the vanilla extract. Now add the flour and baking powder gradually and mix to form a smooth dough.
3. Chill the dough in the fridge for an hour.
4. Roll out the dough until it is 5mm thick, cut the dough into Pudsey shapes and lay them on a baking sheet.
5. Bake in a 170°C oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
6. To decorate Pudsey roll out white icing and cut out a piece in the shape of his bandage, place it over his face and then add small coloured circles for the dots on his bandage. You can also use fine icing to draw the outline of the bear, his eye, nose and mouth.
Baking together is great fun for everyone and it’s all in a good cause too, so what are you waiting for?
About Neil Shaefer
Marketing & Communications Executive of SK Foods.
Your food. Our Passion.
