(you know your cupcakes are the right choice for an OSPCA fundraiser when they get a reception like this from your resident feline 😉 )
Did you know – today, February 24th, is Canada’s Cupcake Day – raising money for the Ontario SPCA. That’s right – today is all about cupcakes – and raising money to help animals in need all around Canada.
What is Cupcake Day?
Originally launched by the RSPCA in New South Wales, Australia, National Cupcake Day began in Canada in 2013, and the initiative has grown across the country year after year. Cupcake Day is a fundraiser in support of the Ontario SPCA to help animals in need in communities across Ontario. As a registered charity that does not receive government funding, the Ontario SPCA depends on the generosity of donors to help animals in need. By taking part in Cupcake Day, you are providing urgently needed care and shelter for animals waiting to find a loving home.
How am I helping animals in need?
This is my 13th year participating (in 2021 and 2022, I offered online classes in support of the cause and in 2023, I did “Cake My Day,” raising money for the Toronto Humane Society), and I am hopeful that sharing this recipe might raise enough funds to get me to my modest fundraising goal.
(want to help out? You can donate to my “online bakeshop” to raise money for the OSPCA – here, and you’ll get this recipe in exchange for a donation!)
This year, based on inspiration from my Grade 4 class, I’ve developed a carrot cake cupcake recipe that’s just perfect when you don’t want to make a huge carrot cake (sidebar: why are all carrot cake recipes so big?) and you just want a couple of bites. It’s also lighter than a lot of carrot cakes, which makes it a great choice for morning or afternoon tea (or, you know, breakfast!).
How Grade 4 inspired my Cupcake Day recipe this year!
Back to Grade 4 and how it ties into today’s recipe. Once a week in Grade 4, we have a class that’s 30 minutes long – too short to dig really deep into our regular unit of work but long enough to work on storybooks! I’ve developed one unit per term using a different storybook each time where we say what we see in the pictures, predict what we think is happening and then read to check our predictions. At the end of the unit we rewrite the story together. And, no surprise, each story we read has a food-ish theme!
So far, we’ve done Le Loup qui découvrait le pays des contes (Big Bad Wolf asks folks in fairy tale land to help him make an apple cake and quashes assumptions about how “big and bad” he actually is! End result: we made apple cakes!), and this term we worked on Oliver’s Vegetables (written in English but we worked on the story in French). In this story, Oliver, who doesn’t like vegetables (he only eats French fries) visits his grandparents who have a huge vegetable garden and his grandpa tells him he can eat French fries if he finds the potatoes in the garden. It takes him all week, harvesting one vegetable per day, and along the way, he discovers that he doesn’t mind a variety of different vegetables. In the end, he finds the potatoes and gets his fries, though!
My students started guessing a few lessons into this mini-unit that we would make carrot cake as the end result of this story, but I wanted to do something with the star of the book (so we’re making home fries this week!). But the more I thought about carrot cake and knowing it was Cupcake Day coming up, the more I wanted to develop a cupcake recipe for those times when you just want a couple of bites, not a giant cake!
This recipe makes 12 decent-sized cupcakes and, of course, includes a cream cheese frosting (“best part,” according to my Grade 4 students and our resident feline, Cole). I do have some kids who “don’t like cheese in my frosting” 😀 so I was pondering what to offer as an alternative.
Last weekend in my baking class, I made madeleines with a lemon glaze that was a hit with participants, and I wondered about a simple icing sugar/ milk glaze for these. Then, serendipitously, Dorie Greenspan published a recipe for a carrot cake with an orange glaze, and I knew it had to be a tangerine/ clementine (they’re in season right now!) glaze! So, the recipe includes not one but two frosting options.
Want the recipe? Help me support animals in need!
Today, I’m sharing the recipe in exchange for donations. If you’d like to help, just head to my personal page on the Cupcake Day website, where you will be able to donate to the cause. For every donation received, I’ll send along the recipe for you to make and enjoy at home!
Donations will be directed towards the OSPCA to help animals in need. Go on, the cats and dogs of Canada will thank you 
Other cupcakes you might also enjoy:
National Cupcake Day 2013: Chocolate Coconut Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2014: Jaffington Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2015: Little Orange and Almond Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2016: Jam and Cream Butterfly Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2017: Strawberry Yoghurt Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2018: Double Chocolate Buckwheat Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2019: Fudge-y Chocolate Cupcakes
National Cupcake Day 2020: Lemon-Blueberry Financiers
2021 and 2022: Online classes in support of National Cupcake Day
Cake My Day 2023: Two-Bite Brownies
National Cupcake Day 2024: Fudgey Chocolate Mint Brownie Cupcakes
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Buy my books! In the French kitchen with kids and French Food for Everyone: le goûter (after school snacks), le dîner (dinner) and le petit déjeuner (breakfast) are out now! Click here for details and how to order!
Carrot cake was one of Cleo’s favourites (birthday treat special), and it seems Cole has taken up his auntie’s interest! 🙂
Well, in the cream cheese frosting at least 😉
A nice treat and a good cause. Good for you, Mardi.
Always happy to support a good cause!