Creating cakes for animal rescue

One young Morninghill resident is making a difference in the lives of animals at Woodrock Animal Rescue.

With hopes of one day starting a career in conservation, Madi Götte, a Grade Nine learner from Reddam House, is off to a good start.

During her last three school holidays, Madi used the time and her love for baking to raise much-needed funds for the animal rescue organisation.

Her egg and dairy-free vegan cakes are a hit and she continues to receive rave reviews on the delectable delights.

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This past school holiday was the third time Madi had undertaken her fund-raising initiative and she’s determined to not slow down.

The money raised from each round of baking is donated to Woodrock to support the organisation’s sterilisation programme.

Madi has worked out that she can contribute to one dog sterilisation for every three and a half cakes sold.

After a visit to the organisation, the young animal-lover realised that Woodrock was seriously in need of initiatives to help raise funds.

“I wanted to find a way to raise funds to help them. I always enjoyed baking and now I get to do it for a good cause.”

During the first two rounds of fund-raising, Madi managed to bring in around R2 500 and this time, with a holiday squeezed in too, she had her eye set on reaching her R2 800 target.

“There have been people who have bought cakes every time.”

Madi said that her decision to make vegan cakes was something new and exciting that stemmed from her mom being vegan.

Her mom, Sharon, started experimenting with animal-free recipes after turning vegan in 2018 and one of those created is the very same recipe Madi uses for her cakes.

While the cakes contain no animal products, Madi assured the NEWS that they taste the same as a normal cake.

The two said that it also made sense that when supporting an animal charity no animal products should be used.

Previously, Madi’s cakes are so popular that her mom Sharon had to step in to stop orders.

“She just wasn’t keeping up and we needed to find a way to manage the orders and Madi’s time,” Sharon said.

She added that baking for Woodrock was beneficial for Madi’s skills development.

“When she started Madi didn’t know how to bake and I was a hover mom but now she’s doing them all on her own,” Sharon said.

She added that Woodrock was always grateful to receive the donations from Maddie’s baking endeavours.

Madi hopes that she can inspire other youngsters to become involved in supporting animal charities.

“You can always do something to raise funds for charities. You can make something to sell, you can host lucky draws at school, you can ask people for donations or you can volunteer at shelters,” Madi said.

Aside from baking, Madi supports her mom in fostering kittens for Edenvale Ferals and in January she baked all the cupcakes for the organisation to sell during a fund-raising market.

For residents hoping to catch a bite of Madi’s tasty treats this time around, unfortunately, she is not taking any more orders.

But, residents can look forward to more of Madi’s cakes when she’s on school holidays again later this year.

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