Social Bite has teamed up with 2020 Bake Off winner Peter Sawkins to create a limited edition brownie box as part of its ‘Boxes of Joy’ delivery service.
Peter’s tasty creation officially launches tomorrow, 29 October, and contains four brownies in two delicious new flavours reminiscent of classic desserts; raspberry and oat cranachan and sticky toffee pudding.
Proceeds from Social Bite’s ‘Box of Joy’ brownies – which successfully launched a year ago as a result of the fundraising challenges posed by the pandemic – go towards helping the organisation’s efforts to end homelessness.
Aged just 21, Peter, an accounting and finance student from Edinburgh, was the youngest ever winner of Channel 4’s Great British Bake Off competition in 2020.
He gained widespread support for his beautiful bakes, often comprised of traditional Scottish ingredients, and adapted to be gluten-free in homage to the treats he makes for his gluten-intolerant brother.
The limited edition brownie box, designed by Peter, will be available to purchase until 31 January 2022 while stocks last.
The brownies are NCGI (no-gluten-containing-ingredients), priced at £12.99 for four and can be bought directly from Social Bite online for UK-wide delivery.
Commenting on the partnership with Social Bite, Peter said: “I was absolutely delighted to be asked to create these two new flavours for Social Bite. They do such amazing work and it’s great to support them in this way with my baking.”
When asked why he chose those flavours, Peter said: "Social Bite already have such a wide variety of brownies, so my brownies needed to be a bit different.
"With the raspberry one, I wanted it to have a Scottish twist and keep it local - plus raspberry and chocolate is a classic combination.
"Sticky toffee pudding is my favourite dessert, so putting that into a brownie isn't something I've done before. The dates in it work really well, and you get that nice caramel taste."
In the year since Peter won the Bake Off, he explained that his highlights are releasing his book and going to the National Television Awards. And, when it comes to who he think will win this year's show, he said he's impressed by Giuseppe, Jürgen and Crystelle.
As a social enterprise business, Social Bite exists to achieve social objectives and is driven by a cause, rather than profit.
Its food delivery service, including its ‘Box of Joy’ brownies, helps to sustain its enterprise model and support more people into jobs to help break the cycle of homelessness.
One in four members of Social Bite staff have experienced homelessness as an extreme barrier to employment.
When customers purchase their brownies online, they are also given the option to ‘pay it forward’ so Social Bite can distribute brownies to people experiencing homelessness.
Social Bite launched in 2012 with just one café on Edinburgh’s Rose Street.
Social Bite Food, the commercial arm of the charity, now runs a chain of four social enterprise cafes in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, a central kitchen and food delivery business which employs and supports people affected by homelessness, as well as Vesta Bar & Kitchen in Edinburgh.
Like many other organisations, Social Bite had to re-purpose as a result of the global pandemic, and has been overwhelmed with the positive response to the brownie delivery service.
Josh Littlejohn, Co-founder of Social Bite, said: “We couldn’t be more grateful to Peter for being our first ever ‘Box of Joy’ guest star – he is a fantastic baker and his brownie creations are delicious.
"We have no doubt they’ll fly off the shelves as the perfect gift, especially in the run up to Christmas.
“When we launched the brownie delivery service last year, I don’t think any of us could have imagined the sort of positive response we had.
"It was such an uncertain time for all and our biggest concerns were the vulnerable people who we support on a daily basis who had been the worst affected.
“Thankfully, the brownies have been a huge hit and continue to help us grow and develop the commercial arm of the charity, which in turn, directly helps those affected by homelessness in Scotland.”
In nine years, Social Bite has grown to be one of Scotland’s most prominent homelessness charities.
Celebrity endorsement from the likes of George Clooney, Leonardo Di Caprio, Will Smith and Dame Helen Mirren have helped to raise the profile of Social Bite and its worldwide mass sleep out events.
Social Bite has also created a movement which in turn has funded programmes designed to break the cycle of homelessness, including the Social Bite Village, Housing First and its new Jobs First programme.
