Kirsty’s vital ingredient: friends

Kirsty's cake stall, organised with friends, is a great example of the kind of support that Active Friends can offer the Maggie's campaign.

Anna Marriott, campaign manager of Maggie's, said: "Active Friends are vital to our fund-raising, and Kirsty Wark is a key example of what an Active Friend can achieve. Her cake stall shows how Active Friends can have a lot of fun. You can get together regularly with friends and enjoy yourselves, while raising money for a good cause."

Such is Kirsty's talent for networking that growing numbers of local businesses have become involved. The contribution of delicatessen Delizique will include its year-round in-shop sale of Kirsty's banana bread at £1 a slice, an initiative which has raised £1500 for Maggie's to date.

Students of Anniesland College catering course, Morton's Rolls and Kscocolat will all also donate goods. Pantry and Willow Tea Rooms will lend cake stands and cake boxes. But the piece de resistance this year is a one-off Maggie's Cake, featuring the exclusive Tree of Life design by the internationally renowned Glasgow design studio Timorous Beasties, commissioned by The Herald for the Maggie's campaign. The unique cake, made by Evelyn Hogarth of Top Tier cakes, will be sold at a silent auction at the end of the day.

It's a Victoria sponge whose recipe Evelyn has taken from the Glasgow Cookery Book, first published in 1910; such a cake would normally retail at around £50. Top Tier, which celebrates 20 years of business in June, will also be contributing designer cup cakes.

Kirsty is a big fan of the cup cake ("They're a fabulous art form; if I were getting married now I'd have a mountain of them instead of one big cake") and it seems that, even after all this time, she still has things to learn about baking. She's picked up a few tips from her friend Evelyn - for example, using sugar paste, made with icing sugar mixed with liquid glucose, as a topping. "My icing is always water icing and is rubbish, so I'm delighted to learn this trick of the trade," she says.

Clearly, baking has an appeal even for the busiest, hippest people. Kirsty explains: "It's something you can easily fit into a busy schedule because it really doesn't take long to do," she says. "It's a very satisfying hobby and I get great joy from it because you are creating something that's quite beautiful, a work of art."

Rising flour prices will not prevent Evelyn - whose customers include Turnberry Hotel, Mar Hall, some of the top names in showbusiness, plus private clients in Dubai, Singapore, California and New York - from continuing her vital support of Maggie's.

"Everything costs money, but in my cakes love really is the greatest ingredient of all," she says. "I've learned so much through Kirsty, and being involved in this event. Everybody seems to be so bowled over by the love and care they receive at Maggie's that a hospital can't offer, and it's good to be able to help keep it going."

But it's the individual contributions from ordinary people that help make the event unique. Long-standing friend Bridget Casement, who has been involved with the cake stall from the beginning, says: "What's so wonderful about this is that it doesn't take a huge effort to feel you're really helping the cause, and it makes you realise that it doesn't always have to be the grand gestures that make a difference.

"In the past I've made queen cakes in petit-four cases which my daughter decorated with pink icing and turquoise Smarties. They looked sensational, only cost 50p and sold out in minutes. Even lopsided things can look great. It's a great opportunity for people to open their Nigella recipe books for the first time.

"With so much produce being donated throughout the four hours, what are really needed are helpers who can organise delivery and storage, and sellers who can do mental arithmetic because there's no till - just an old-fashioned cash box. You have to be able to add up the price of five scones at 50p plus a chocolate cake at £5 and a few marshmallows at 25p a time - though you usually find that people don't wait for their change because it's for charity.

"A lot of people come who have been touched by cancer in the past year and want to help. Often they just roll up their sleeves and offer to do half an hour or so. It can be frantic, but, thankfully, Kirsty is supremely organised."

One of Kirsty's tennis partners, Lorna Murray, will bake her popular apple spice muffins to be sold in bags of four, all tied up with pretty ribbon. Another friend, Willi Smith, is a novice to the cause. "I never thought I'd become a baker but I've recently fallen in love with cup cakes and made 70 of them all served on a pink cake stand for a friend's civil partnership ceremony, and so I was thrilled when Kirsty asked me to contribute on Saturday," she says. "I'm still at the planning stage, but hope to make another 70 chocolate and vanilla sponge cakes with a swirl of buttercream on top and perhaps a chocolate button or Malteser decoration. I'll price them at £1.50 each."

Evelyn advises digging out a plug of sponge from the middle of a cup cake, filling it with buttercream and spreading this over the top of the cake to help the sugar paste stick.

But while Kirsty is keen to try making designer cup cakes at home, on Saturday it will be rather plainer fare in deference to her mother, Roberta, who died last month.

Kirsty's banana bread recipe is an adaptation of her mother's. "I use more eggs than mum did, and put in vanilla sugar, which she never used," she says.

Her tea loaf is another adaptation of her mother's recipe: she soaks her fruit overnight in Earl Grey rather than ordinary tea. Her tray bake is made of Rice Krispies mixed with butter and sugar, pressed down and covered in melted Green & Black's milk chocolate. And she will be making her pancakes just before leaving for the market on Saturday morning, without the help of a sophisticated food processor - just her trusted KitchenAid.

But among all the others' exquisitely piped icing, eye-catching glitter and designer crumbs, one sweet little item will be sadly absent on Saturday: Kirsty's mother's shortbread.

"It has been a staple of the stall for three years, and will be greatly missed," she says quietly.

Maggie's Bake-a-Cake Stall will be at Partick farmers' market, in the playground of Dowanhill Primary School, Glasgow, from 10am until 2pm on Saturday.

How to become a Friend of Maggie's
It could be a coffee morning, a book sale or a cake stand just like Kirsty Wark's. There are many ways to become an Active Friend of Maggie's.

Active Friends are volunteers who form a group of between five and 20 members to help raise money in local communities.

You don't need experience, just good organisational skills and a passion to improve cancer support in Scotland. A Maggie's fundraiser in your area will work closely with you to develop a variety of activities.

The campaign to recruit Friends of Maggie's - launched to mark The Herald's 225th anniversary - will provide lasting support for people affected by cancer. As well as Active Friends, you can get involved as an individual or company.

Maggie's Personal Friends are individuals who give by direct debit to Maggie's. This is a simple way to make a big difference. Knowing how much money is coming in each month makes it possible for Maggie's to plan ahead for the year-long courses it offers at its centres. From as little as £5 a month, a Personal Friend can give someone affected by cancer the chance to attend one of Maggie's workshops once a month for a year. The programme of workshops supports the emotional and psychological wellbeing of people with cancer and their friends and family. They include Living with Cancer, Stress Management, Nutrition, Yoga, T'ai Chi and Art.

Corporate Friends can support Maggie's in a range of ways, including taking them on as their Charity of the Year or holding business breakfasts and networking events. Maggie's corporate fundraising team will help you to tailor a programme that meets your goals, whether you want to improve teamwork or boost staff morale.

Everyone who signs up as a Personal or Active Friend of Maggie's is sent a stylish, eco-friendly carrier bag designed by design studio Timorous Beasties.

• To become a Friend, call Ellen Martin on 0845 508 4681 or visit www.edirectdebit.com/maggies centres. Your contribution will be celebrated on a roll of honour, and you will be kept up to date with events at Maggie's through a newsletter.