A recipe for St Mungo’s Broadway Woolly Hat Day cupcakes could help bakers across the country to support homeless people this winter.

St Mungo's Broadway is calling on bakers up and down the UK to show their support for homeless people by taking part in Woolly Hat Day on Friday 29th January 2016. Now in its sixth year, one of the most popular ways of supporting Woolly Hat Day is through bake sales in schools, offices and community spaces.

As well as bakes, Woolly Hat Day sees hundreds of people donning beanies, baseball caps and berets to help St Mungo's Broadway raise money for its work supporting homeless men and women. This year, St Mungo's Broadway is aiming to raise £60,000 – a sum which would make life-changing differences to vulnerable people. There are lots of ways for people to take part and help them reach their ambitious total.

You can get involved by:

• Bidding in the online celebrity hat auction for a famous piece of headgear
• Getting together with friends, teachers and colleagues at school, work or university to don your hats for the day
• Eating your hats! Get baking with the exclusive Woolly Hat Day cupcake recipe
• Holding a hat party at work or at home
• Making a text donation – text WOOL16 £3 to 70070
• Following the action on Facebook StMungosUK or Twitter @mungosbroadway

Howard Sinclair, St Mungo’s Broadway Chief Executive, said, “St Mungo's Broadway believes that everyone should have a place to call home and be able to fulfil their hopes and ambitions. Woolly Hat Day is a chance to show support for those without a home, or at risk of losing one. With homelessness rising and Woolly Hat Day in its sixth year we want it to be even more of a success in raising funds and awareness of our work and the problems people face. By putting your hat on for Woolly Hat Day, or bidding for one of our pieces of famous headgear, you can help make a difference to the lives of people who find themselves without a home.”

Minky Kitten, a Bath-based cake decorating company, has developed a delicious recipe for the cakes which have a tasty orange sponge base with mouth-watering orange buttercream.

WOOLLY HAT CUPCAKES

For the cupcakes:

• 200g (7oz) self-raising flour
• 115g (4oz) caster sugar
• 110g (3¾oz) softened butter
• 2 eggs, separated
• 2tsp baking powder
• ½tsp salt
• 110ml (3¾fl oz) orange juice

For the decorations:

• 300g (10½oz) softened butter
• 700g (1lb 8¾oz) icing sugar
• 2tbsp orange juice
• 100g (3½oz) orange sugarpaste

1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F/gas mark 4) and line a cupcake tray with cupcake cases.
2. Place the butter, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla into a large bowl and mix well until creamy.
3. In another bowl, stir together the baking powder, salt and flour.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the creamed egg yolk mixture, alternating with a little orange juice each time, until all the ingredients are combined.
5. Beat the egg whites and fold them carefully into the mixture.
6. Spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases until they are up approximately 2/3 full.
7. Place the tray in the oven and bake for 15–20 minutes. When cooked, remove the tray from the oven and leave the cakes to cool for 15 minutes, then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack to cool completely.
8. Place the remaining butter, orange juice and icing sugar into a bowl and cream together until light and fluffy. If mixture is too stiff add a little more orange juice.
9. Transfer the buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a piping nozzle and pipe a rosette onto each cupcake.
10. Use orange sugarpaste to make a woolly hat and place it on top of the buttercream. To do this, roll a large sphere and cut it in half. Roll a small sphere and spike it with a cocktail stick to give a woolly effect. Place the textured ball on top of the half-sphere. Roll the sugarpaste out, cut a strip and wrap it around bottom of the hat.

St Mungo's provides a bed and support to more than 2,500 people a night who are either homeless or at risk, and work to prevent homelessness, helping about 25,000 people a year. They support men and women through more than 250 projects including emergency, hostel and supportive housing projects, advice services, specialist physical health, mental health and skills and work services. Visit www.mungosbroadway.org.uk to find out more.