Paeroa’s Ann Stanaway picked up a new hobby this year – baking up a storm for those in her community who need it most. 

For the last two decades, Ann Stanaway has been quite happy keeping out of the kitchen. While she says she did “the usual wife-mother-thing” once upon a time, health issues saw her husband take over all the cooking in their home about 20 years ago, while she continued to work. “I was excluded from the kitchen, but I was happy,” she laughs. “When you’re out in the garden, and you hear the call that lunch is ready, you’re not going to say no to that, are you?”

But more recently, not long after celebrating her 86th birthday, Stanaway rediscovered the joys of the kitchen through Good Bitches Baking. First launching back in 2014, the organisation now has 32 chapters nationwide, where over 5,500 volunteers provide nearly 40,000 boxes of sweet treats a year to over 600 charities and groups supporting people through tough times. “I thought that’s a good enough reason for getting back in there and doing some baking,” she says.

Stanaway’s first rostered bake was back in January this year, which coincided with her hosting her regular stitching group at her house. “It was a cake of some sort that sadly never came out of the tin on its own,” she chuckles, “but luckily I had made extra for the girls coming over here.” Said girls were “very forgiving” as she “chipped out” the botched cake from the tin, while her less “crumbled” bake went on to a grateful community group in Paeroa. 

Since those experimental days, Stanaway has found her baking groove – particularly with tried and true recipes from Edmonds and early Alison Holst. “One of the ones that always works for me is a grated zucchini chocolate cake,” she says. “What I’m finding is that the recipes that work best and still seem to be popular are the really old ones. The biscuits that go down the best are always the ones that our mothers probably taught us to make.” 

In a cost of living crisis, the older recipes also have financial benefits. “We’re fairly limited with money in our retirement, which is why we use the basic older recipes,” she says. “After all, they were made with what people mostly had in their cupboards rather than expensive or specialist things – although you do have to look twice at some of the measurements.” A non-negotiable pantry staple? “Always have icing ingredients, because that covers up a lot of sins.” 

Regularly including delights like peanut brownies, lemon drizzle cake and chocolate chip cookies, Stanaway’s baking bundles have gone around the Hauraki chapter (Paeroa, Waihi and Ngātea) to dozens of organisations in need. She’ll sometimes whip up biscuits or muffins for a local drop-in centre, which regularly holds support meetings for people going through difficult times financially. “I think in those cases, people are stressed, and sharing food very much helps people relax.”

While her baking has undoubtedly brought joy to those in the community, Stanaway says picking up the new hobby has also hugely enriched her own life. “Even if it does add to the budget, you’ve got to do something at this age that you enjoy, that challenges you and adds interest to your week,” she says. “Things can get quite isolating when you’re older, and I believe that we’ve got to keep getting out there and being with the community.” 

Even in a small town like Paeroa, Stanaway says the simple act of baking has introduced her to so many more people in the community. “You’ll meet somebody new through Good Bitches Baking, and then you meet them at the library and see them on the street, and you might only stop and say half a dozen words to each other, but that is still so good for you,” she says. “I’ve met so many people who I wouldn’t otherwise have ever had the opportunity to talk to.” 

And after experiencing her own need for support from family and friends due to a health issue in recent years, Stanaway is more than happy to give back in her 87th year. “It’s a very small thing, but it’s just a little way of helping someone else,” she says. 

“You’ve got to give back to the world – and it’s not so hard to bake a cake.”