Cake with a conscience

It’s nice, isn’t it, to look at all the beautiful things around us and be happy that they’re doing good things for the world. Flowers are far more beautiful if their production’s helped our lovely British bumblebees, food all the more delicious if it’s brilliantly cooked by young people who would otherwise have struggled to find a job, and fashion all the more fun when we know that the people who’ve created it are paid a decent wage and work in fair conditions.

Social enterprises are businesses specifically established to do good. They’re often set up by charities, and work to ethical principles such as caring for the environment, employing staff who’ve had difficult starts in life, or investing in fair-trade, organic and ethically-rooted projects. Good things.

That’s all well and good, mind, but let’s face it – we still want beautiful, tasty and special. Just ‘good’ isn’t always ‘good enough’, on its own. 

Today I was sent details of Birmingham-based ‘Miss Macaroon’ (I’m a sucker for cute names), whose social enterprise looks gorgeous, is easily high-end enough for even the fanciest wedding, and – icing on the passionfruit-flavoured cake – provides employment and training opportunities for young care leavers, ex-offenders and individuals not in education, employment or training. What’s not to love?!

Macaroons make yummy favours or fun canapes, and also look really fancy piled up into a wedding cake-type sculpture.  Best of all, though, is the warm and cosy feeling from supporting such a fabulously ethical enterprise – the perfect reason for a second helping!

I’m definitely keen to feature more of these fantastic social enterprises over the next few weeks and months. I’m now on the hunt to learn about other socially conscious enterprises (as always, if you know of anyone fabulous – send them over) – I'm anticipating a lovely warm, ethical wedding glow coming my way.