The Honesty Box
With the influx of baked good in the house when I started blogging, the obvious problem was eating them fast enough to make way for the next batch. My housemates and friends in the office always make a valiant effort and could often make a dent, but he idea of an honesty box was too interesting to resist.
My housemate Ben’s trip back to Devon was the inspiration. In that neck of the woods, help-your-self eggs outside people’s houses are all part and parcel of rural life, but when he came across a little cupboard with a sign which read ‘Delicious Cakes’ it grabbed his attention.
Living in London, as I do, some might doubt that the concept could translate, but I was willing to give my neighbourhood the benefit of the doubt and with the mindset that I could end up losing a few slices of cake and a couple of pound coins in a jam jar at worst, I decided it was worth a shot; A chance to spread my ‘good cake only’ philosophy outside the four walls of the house (even if only to the street just outside the front door). Baking meets social experiment… I was quite excited to see if it could work.
So, I enlisted Ben to build a little cupboard with a gauze door and a shelf out of bits and pieces found and salvaged, that could be mounted to the wall in our driveway. With ‘cakes £1’ emblazoned down the side of the box in white paint and an additional detachable signpost to catch the attention of passers by, who could miss it?
The first honesty box (back when filtering your photos to oblivion was obligatory!)
On the first weekend I stocked up the box with Brownies and Lovebars (recipes I’d recently perfected). Footfall was quite slow but it was a solid start, with seven slices taken and £7 in the jar (plus the £2 I cheekily put in there myself to get the ball rolling, because nobody likes to be first!) No thievery though! The locals are an honest bunch it seems. I even had a couple of positive comments about he cake on Instagram, which was enough to spur on a second honesty box the next weekend. I thought… If all seven punters come back for more and tell 2 friends each, that’s 21 next time… I better get baking.
“So me and my bf just moved in to our new place in Haringey. Went for an adventurous stroll and came across this super sweet hidden gem! We picked up the peanut butter brownie and oh my god! Oh my god! What a fantastic, beautiful and delicious idea! ”
Suze always wanting in & and a note left on the honesty box when it was sold out.
“Saw this today-we are at number XX. Absolutely loved this-AMAZING Bakewell tart. Thanks so much! Would pay more than a quid for cake that good. Nice to know we have super talented neighbours.”
The honesty box because a staple weekend feature of our street for the next 4 years, until I finally took the plunge and started to bake professionally, supplying a few local cafés and then eventually working in bakeries. It was the honesty box and the kind feedback of the local community that gave me the impetus to take it to the next level and here I am now!