Friday 12th to Friday 19th May 2023 is GSPCA Cupcake Week here in Guernsey
Can you make/bake & sell cupcakes to raise money for the GSPCA? By doing so you would be helping many injured and abandoned animals like the seals, turtles, many cats and Pongo the diabetic cat, not to mention the many hedgehogs and baby birds.
Why not get baking, organise a cupcake sale or coffee morning, or if you're a business maybe sell some on the day and make a percentage to go the GSPCA.
About GSPCA
The Guernsey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (GSPCA) is a non-profit, community based charity who actively works to prevent cruelty to all animals as well as promoting animal care and protection. As the GSPCA is not a States funded agency, it relies on the continuous generosity of the Guernsey public help by the following,
How to get involved
The annual Cupcake Week is by far the easiest way for everyone to be involved in one way or another. The official dates are between the 12th and 19th May 2023 but don't worry, if you’re unable to participate on this specific day you can still organise a special day for you and your friends anytime in May.
Once you have your day planned, register online by emailing [email protected] pop in or call 01481 257261 and we can include your event on our web page. This page you can use to help communicate your event and also to enable those supporting your event to donate on line. If you email us information and updates we can include your target, posting messages and photos. If you prefer to do your fundraising offline, that’s ok just let us know.
Once you have registered let everyone know that you’re raising funds for the GSPCA. The website page http://www.gspca.org.gg/page/gspca-cupcake-week also contains ideas and tips on how to organise and help you have a successful day.
Registered to Take part
When you register we will place your details here if you would like.
Don’t forget your pooch!
Your dog can be involved as well; if you’re a business that wants to get involved for please get in touch.
If you’re making cupcakes for humans, you might as well make some for their dogs to help raise funds too.
GSPCA Cupcake Week 2023
Bakers! Shakers! & Cupcake Makers!
Mark it in your calendars – The sweetest week of 2023 will fall between the 12th to 29th May. So start thinking and planning out your creations and let’s make this the biggest year for animals in the care of the GSPCA.
Grab your favourite recipe, dust off your chef’s hat and get your mixer ready for the sweetest event of the year, Cupcake Week for the GSPCA. Between Friday 12th and Friday 19th May, registered GSPCA Cupcake Cooks across Guernsey will descend on their schools, workplaces and social groups with batches of truly scrumptious homemade cupcakes that will be exchanged for donations to the GSPCA!
Whether you register as a GSPCA Cupcake Cook or go into training as a GSPCA Cupcake eater – you will be supporting the thousands of animals that the GSPCA cares for every year.
To get involved…
1. Register & Send us your details of your event so we can include it on our fundraising page
2. Send the fundraising page to all your friends and family
3. Download resources
4. Bake up a storm
5. Add donations through the fundraising page
6. Choose a winner in your own cupcake competition
Choose Wisely
Eggs – Choose Wisely on Cupcake Week!
When baking cupcakes for GSPCA Cupcake Week it’s important to use eggs that have come from free range or cage-free farming systems. Cupcake Week raises funds to help the GSPCA fight animal cruelty – so by baking cupcakes using cage-free eggs you’re not only raising much needed funds for the GSPCA but helping get hens out of cages at the same time.
There is overwhelming scientific evidence to support the GSPCA’s view that hens do not belong in cages. Frustrated from an inability to express natural behaviours as simple as scratching in the dirt, caged hens suffer chronically throughout their short lives, millions around the world exist in less space than an A4 piece of paper!
Steps to remember when choosing eggs for your cupcakes
Step 1 Avoid buying cage eggs all together. If it doesn’t specify the production system then it’s safe to assume the eggs were produced by hens in cages.
Step 2 Look at the label. What you’re looking for are certified barn-laid, free range or organic. Certification means that the standards to which eggs were produced are publicly available and you can then decide whether you find the hen’s living conditions acceptable or not.
Step 3 Be discerning. If in doubt, ask your store manager where the eggs have come from and how the hens have been housed.
Remember, you have the power to help get hens out of cages! Thanks for supporting Cupcake Week for the GSPCA and thanks for Choosing Wisely.
The GSPCA would also like to encourage you to use Fairtrade goods where possible.
By changing to Fairtrade, you can change the lives of farmers and producers across the developing world. If more people change to Fairtrade, it demonstrates our support for producers and expresses our dissatisfaction with the unfair trade rules that currently keep millions of people in poverty. A simple action like buying Fairtrade can trigger a positive change in peoples’ lives in developing countries as well as sending a message to our own leaders that we want change in global trade rules.
Planning your Cupcake Party
Planning Your Cupcake Party in 5 easy steps!
Step 1 – Mark your calendar
Cupcake Week for the GSPCA is officially held between Friday 12th and Friday 19th May. If you’re unable to be involved on this week you can hold your Cupcake Party anytime in May. Once you’ve worked out the date, time and location of your Cupcake Party, mark it on your calendar and start brainstorming some ideas for fabulous, creative cupcakes!
Step 2 – Register online
Register online by emailing [email protected] or contact the Shelter. We can then include your event on our Cupcake Week web page
Step 3 – ‘Tell them to eat cupcake’
You can easily invite people to your Cupcake Party via our online fundraising page, there are options available to tell people about your party via Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. For more traditional means, we also have some handy downloadable resources in the sections below, including an editable PDF poster that you can add your details to by clicking on the poster and typing in your party information!
Step 4 – Bake up storm and Choose Wisely!
When baking cupcakes for Cupcake Week for the GSPCA it’s important to use eggs that have come from cage-free farming systems. Cupcake Week raises funds to help the GSPCA fight animal cruelty – so by baking cupcakes using cage-free eggs you’re not only raising much needed funds for the GSPCA but helping get hens out of cages at the same time. For our vegan and vegetarian supporters there are many great recipes online. We would also like to encourage you to use Fairtrade goods as the GSPCA believes in.
Step 5 – Decorate your Cupcake Party & Choose A Winner
To make your Cupcake Party extra special why not decorate your venue with GSPCA posters, pictures of animals and don’t forget the purple theme. Also to add some fun why not judge which is the best cupcake.
Fundraising Tips
Pawsonalise the online fundraising page.
Send us photos and messages (photos of you, your furry loved one(s) or perhaps a team photo) and we’ll include them on the Cupcake Week web page. Let everyone know why you’re baking and raising funds for the GSPCA – your supporters are more likely to donate if they can understand your story and why Cupcake Week is important to you.
Set a fundraising goal – aim to be top dog!
Set a fundraising target for yourself and for those who will support you. For example, you could aim to raise £200 by Cupcake Week and this will motivate you and your supporters to reach this target.
Donate to your own online fundraising page
Throw the first cupcake! Pledge an amount to your page to show how much fundraising for the GSPCA means to you. It’s a great way to show people that you care and will inspire them to donate.
To download a GSPCA Sponsor form please or set up a Giving.gg page please go to https://giving.gg/donate/charity/2/Guernsey-Society-for-the-Prevention-of-Cruelty-to-Animals-(GSPCA) or for a sponsor form http://www.gspca.org.gg/sites/default/files/GSPCA%20Sponsor%20ship%20form.pdf
£ for £ matching
Are you having a Cupcake Day Party at work? Ask your employer to get involved and show their support by matching the funds you raise. To approach them, simply download our £ matching letter below and let them know that they are supporting an important cause.
Tell everyone you know!
Let everyone in your email address book know how much of an animal lover you are and that you’re baking and raising funds for Cupcake Week for the GSPCA. We’ve made doing this very easy to do – to download a poster for your event click below and encourage people to donate.
Update your social networking pages and email signature
Also, if you’ve set them up, don’t forget to post a link on your Facebook or Twitter pages to let your friends now about your Cupcake Party. You can also add information to your email e-signature and include a link to our online fundraising page http://www.gspca.org.gg/page/gspca-cupcake-week .
Let your supporters know where their money goes
Let your supporters know that all money raised during Cupcake Week for the GSPCA will go to the GSPCA and the animals in our care. Each year thousands of animals turn to the GSPCA for help. The cost of rescuing, treating, caring for and rehabilitating these animals is enormous. As a charity that is not a States department, we rely heavily on the generosity of the community to continue our vital work.
Also let your supporters know that our fundraising page is completely secure and all donations will be transferred directly to the GSPCA.
Round ‘em up!
Just before your Cupcake Party, email those supporters who haven’t donated and send them a gentle reminder to support your baking!
Thank you for online fundraising for the GSPCA and all creatures great and small!
Decorating Ideas
Here are some simple decorating ideas to finish your GSPCA Cupcake Critters.
Start with freshly baked and iced cupcakes. You may want to add some food colouring to the icing to get the right colour for fins, feathers, fur or fangs!
Things you can use to decorate…
Food colouring – Can be used to change the colour of icing and coconut – great for making realistic grass!
Tubes of icing for drawing on cakes – Can be found in the cake decorating section of your supermarket.
Desiccated coconut – Can be used for grass or fur and you can change its colour using food colourings.
Lollies – Everything from Smarties to Snakes to marshmallows to liquorice can be used for ears, tails, facial features and scales.
Hundreds and Thousands – These bouncing balls of design delight can be used for anything from butterfly wings to beetle droppings!
Edible glitter – You can get this at cake decorating stores. Turns a cupcake into a disco ball!
Marzipan or Fondant – Great for moulding animals
Here’s some we prepared earlier…
To make a dog
Start with an iced cupcake then use:
- chocolate chips to make eyes
- liquorice for the mouth and whiskers
- the head of a red lolly snake for the tongue
- Smartie cut in half for the ears
To make a cat
Start with an iced cupcake then use:
- Black icing pen for mouth
- Marshmallow for tip of nose
- Liquorice for whiskers
- Two yellow jubes cut into triangles for ears
To make a pig
Start with an iced cupcake then use:
- Marshmallows for ears and nose
- an icing pen to draw on eyes and a mouth
- two red Smarties for chubby cheeks
To make a spider in a web
Start with an iced cupcake then use:
- A white icing pen to draw on a cobweb
- Eight strips of liquorice for the legs
- A brown smartie for the head
- A chocolate button for the body
- A red icing pen to make a red spot on the spider’s back
Pupcake Recipe
Animals should not eat cupcakes unless they are specially made with safe, animal friendly ingredients. Chocolate is especially toxic to many animals!
Here’s a simple recipe for dog ‘pupcakes’ so your canine pal doesn’t feel left out!
Pupcakes
Here’s a dog-friendly pupcake recipe you can use on Cupcake Week. Remember, pupcakes are special treats and shouldn’t be fed to your dog regularly!
This recipe makes around 12-14 pupcakes.
Ingredients
2 ¾ cups water
¼ cup unsweetened apple sauce
¼ cup oats
4 cups wholemeal flour
1 cup dried apple pieces (you can also use a fresh apple)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 free range egg, beaten
4 tablespoons honey
Method
Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Spray muffin tins with cooking oil.
Mix all wet ingredients thoroughly. Combine dry ingredients in separate bowl. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients slowly and using a wooden spoon, mix ingredients well to make sure no dry mixture is left.
Pour into mixture into muffin tins and bake for 1 ¼ hours.
To check if ready, insert a kebab stick into the centre of one of the pupcakes. If the stick comes out dry, the pupcakes are ready to come out of the oven. If not, bake for another 10 minutes and re-check using method described.
Place on a cooling rack or wooden board until cool and then serve one to your pup!
Store extra pupcakes in a sealed container.
Steve Byrne GSPCA said "At the GSPCA we want everyone to make, bake and sell cake to raise funds for the GSPCA during our GSPCA Cupcake Week between the 12th and 19th May."
"We've put together a page full of ideas and resources from making Pupcakes for your dog to promoting animal welfare and fairtrade when you shop for your produce."
"Every penny helps make a real difference during these difficult times and this is a great and fun way to support our work and bring smiles to those enjoying your cakes."
