Bake Off star's showstopper veg cake marks 15 years of FoodCycle

The baker to the stars is encouraging keen home cooks to volunteer with FoodCycle, as the charity marks a decade and a half of turning surplus ingredients that would otherwise go to waste, into nutritious community meals for those in need.

Steven visited a FoodCycle community meal project in Luton to do a volunteering shift, as part of the national charity’s partnership with kitchenware brand, ProCook where he has recently been engaged as a Food Expert.

He shared the cake, featuring life-like carrots, potatoes, aubergine, and broccoli, with almost 70 local guests and volunteers. Before the delicious dessert was served guests also enjoyed a winter vegetable soup and baked potatoes with vegetable chilli con carne and cheese, all made from food donations.

FoodCycle runs 96 community meals in communities across England and Wales, including almost 30 in London. So far this year the charity’s 7,000+ volunteers have served more than 130,000 free meals and saved almost 240 tonnes of food from going to landfill.

Steven said: "I really enjoyed my visit to FoodCycle Luton on behalf of ProCook, it was great to meet all the amazing volunteers who do such a brilliant job of turning surplus food in to such tasty, nutritious meals. Baking the cake was a pleasure and it certainly seemed to go down well with the guests and volunteers – there wasn’t a crumb left!”

“It really is remarkable what FoodCycle are achieving and this wouldn’t be possible without the kindness and dedication of their volunteers. Their weekly community meals are a huge boost for the health and wellbeing of thousands of people each week, and I encourage anyone to get involved.”

Steven rose to fame as a finalist in Channel 4’s GBBO series in 2017, later returning to win a 2019 New Year’s Day Special. Since then he has continued to be one of the most popular bakers ever to compete in the Bake Off tent, and has become cake baker for celebrities such as Russell Tovey, Nicola Coughlan and Sir Ian McKellen. Also, a successful businessman, he regularly tours food events as Food Expert for kitchenware brand ProCook, which earlier this year launched a partnership with FoodCycle.

He also created a special recipe to celebrate FoodCycle’s birthday - a vegetable cake, that volunteers can adapt to make using carrot, sweet potato, courgette, or beetroot, at 15th birthday celebration meals around the country (see below for recipe).

Steven said: “At ProCook we understand what a challenge it is for FoodCycle volunteers to turn their hand to making dishes out of surplus food, so I wanted to share a treat recipe they can make using surplus veg, depending on what they have available. It’s a way to get some extra vegetables and fibre onto people’s plates too.”

Carly Shutes from FoodCycle said: “We loved having Steven along to help us celebrate. The cake took everyone by surprise – it could have easily been mistaken for part of the food delivery. Our volunteers do such and amazing job, so it was a real treat for them to be joined in the kitchen by a Bake Off star, he was super helpful too and did more than his fair share of the washing up.

“We always need more volunteers to come and help out at our community meals across the country so we’d love it if Steven’s kind words inspire even one more person to sign up – you don’t need any previous experience and we provide all the training you need.”

Sign up to volunteer with FoodCycle here: https://foodcycle.org.uk/volunteer/

You can donate to support FoodCycle here: https://foodcycle.org.uk/donate/ Follow the charity on Instagram: @foodcyclehq or Facebook and X: @foodcycle

STEVEN’S SURPLUS VEGETABLE CAKE RECIPE FOR FOODCYCLE VOLUNTEERS

For the cake:

250g self raising flour 1 tsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 2 tsp ground cinnamon ½ tsp mixed spice Grating of fresh nutmeg 200g light brown sugar 200g dark brown sugar 300g grated vegetables – try carrot, sweet potato, beets or courgette (If using beetroot swap the spices for 2 tbsp cocoa, 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar and 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda) 300ml vegetable oil 1tsp vanilla extract 4 large eggs

For the frosting:

250g unsalted butter (room temp) 250g icing sugar 200g full fat cream cheese 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 175°c fan then grease and line two 8” cake tins.

In two separate bowls combine the dry and wet ingredients. If you are using courgettes, you may need to wrap them in a clean towel and squeeze out any excess moisture.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients together and stir thoroughly. Divide the mix evenly between the two tins and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven once baked and cool in their tins for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

For the frosting, cream the butter and icing sugar together, until pale and fluffy. Gently whip in the cream cheese and vanilla. Refrigerate until needed.

Stack your cooled caked with half of the frosting, and spread the rest on the top. Serve and enjoy.

TOP TIP - This recipe makes an 8inch, two layered cake (20 slices) but you could also turn it in to a tray bake (20 squares) or cupcakes (20) and of course, just scale up for more people! If you’re short of time, you can skip the frosting!