Buy a cupcake, save an animal. Does it get any better than that? Certainly not for the bakers and buyers in the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale, who will contribute all proceeds from tonight's event to the Humane Society of Memphis and Shelby County.
The bake sale, coordinated in Memphis by Food Awareness, will be staged in front of Grawemeyer's during the South Main Trolley Tour. Grawemeyer's is the new downtown eatery located on the first floor of the old Pullman Hotel at 520 S. Main Street.
Vegan Crunk blogger Bianca Phillips, who is also the associate editor at the Memphis Flyer , is spearheading the sale as part of a worldwide effort to promote animal-free diets and philanthropy. During the past three years, bake sales held during the last two weeks of April have raised more than $100,000 for various non-profits, according to the Worldwide Vegan Bake Sale website. Participants this year expect to raise another $50,000.
In Memphis, the bake sale's menu reads like a cornucopia of fun and decadent treats. Here's a sample: peanut butter blondies, orange cupcakes, oatmeal cranberry cookies, snickerdoodles and Nutella puffs. Angela Knipple, author of the recently released cookbook “World on a Skillet,” is bringing a surprise dessert and so is Karina Khan, who bakes for Cooper-Young's Imagine Cafe. “My guess is Karina will bring tiny cupcakes,” Phillips said.