Can baking cure depression? A team of bakers are trying to find out by selling only grey cakes at pop-up shops around the world.
Baking to save your soul
One egg, 125 grams of sugar, the same for flour and butter, a smothering of jam and cream and there you have it – the ingredients for a Victoria sponge and also six items which might just save your soul. The ritual of baking is not just a way to create something to eat with a freshly brewed cup of tea, it’s also a natural way to lift your spirits and make you feel a little bit better about the world.
Every time I pull out a stack of baking books it’s usually as a distraction from something playing on my mind and a way to switch off completely for an hour or two while weighing the ingredients, mixing by hand (if I’m feeling really stressed) and slowly making something beautiful out of a few basic items. This idea is the basis for the Depressed Cake Shop (DCS) – a series of pop-up shops around the world selling only grey-coloured cakes to raise awareness about depression and mental illness.
No pink cupcakes in sight
The pop-ups are the opposite of traditional bakeries and there’s not a pink swirl, yellow sugared rose or multi-coloured sprinkle in sight. Instead you can expect lemon pies coated in grey meringue clouds, dull-looking butter cream cloaking a rainbow-coloured cake and macaroons the colour of tarmac – with vibrant raspberry jam inside waiting to ooze out once you’ve taken a bite.
The cakes on sale are made by a mixture of amateur and professional bakers and for those whose piping skills aren’t on par with Mary Berry – don’t worry, even cakes which might not look perfect on the outside don’t will still taste good. “When you’re depressed you don’t look great every day and cakes with a slightly unfinished look help to symbolise this,” explains Emma. “The most popular varieties are usually those which stand out from the crowd and are a bit subversive – such as a Swiss roll cake with the words ‘Psycho’ iced on top,” she adds.
Mental health awareness
The idea of using cakes and baking as a platform on which to start talking about the issues surrounding mental health is simple but extremely powerful.These issues are all too often forgotten about and pushed under the carpet either through shame or ignorance. But the facts speak for themselves as one in four people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives.
Depression is complex and the symptoms can be far reaching and complicated. This has been visually represented through the cakes and the fact it’s now gone global is testament to the powerful message behind the project.
The UK shops
Groups of bakers across the country have been organising events such as Louise Livesey who helped to set up the Oxford shop. As a passionate baker and a keen supporter of mental health charities, she said it was a natural thing for her to be involved.
“Baking, like any activity, can help depression sufferers if it's something they can take pleasure from and can take pride in. One of the things about depression is that you can often lose that sense of pleasure in the world so anything that reconnects with that, anything that gives a sense of accomplishment, is good. For some people on some days that can be just getting out of bed and getting dressed, for others it will be making cakes for the DCS,” explains Louise.
For anyone who wants to set up their own shop, her advice is not to do it alone. Getting together with new people can seem overwhelming but she says “it's actually a great way to remind yourself that you're not alone”.
Daniel Bashford from London joined up for similar reasons. Not only a keen baker, he’s seen first hand how mental health took hold of his brother and then after treatment, counselling and support he slowly recovered.
The challenge of baking something for the shop didn’t seem phase him and he produced a spectacular sponge cake covered in grey butter icing and sugar stars in a range of different shades which coated several vivid layers of sponge cake.
The sense of community and the atmosphere the rows of grey-coloured cakes with vibrant insides created “very heart warming to experience,” he said.
How to set up your own shop
If all the thought of baking has inspired you, it’s easy to set up your own shop no matter where you’re based. There are still plenty to come so the first port of call is checking the website or Facebook page to see if there’s one being organised near you. If not, you can do it yourself and you’ll need some basics such as a table, cakes to sell and a cash float for the day. There should be a location you can use for free, such as a bakery for an afternoon, and farmers markets have also been used.
The key to making it work is organisation. Most events have been arranged through the internet and this is a great way to raise publicity and also bring together the different elements such as the bakers, the space to host the shop and the volunteers for the day.
The legacy of the Depressed Cake Shop
The shop was set up to raise awareness, which it has done on an unprecedented level, but the organisers are now looking to take it further. There are two options here. The first is to find a well-known company, such as KitchenAid, to sponsor the shop and help fund its existence for the next 12 months in a London shop.
The second project the bakers are working on is approaching companies and encouraging them to launch one-off ‘grey’ versions of the cakes they produce. For example, selling individual grey-coloured Mr Kipling fondant fancies with a different-coloured sponge inside. Then all profits made from the sale would go towards a chosen mental health charity.
At the moment both of these ideas are in their infancy and are now in the hands of a dedicated team who are hoping to continue on the project’s outstanding achievements. Emma started with the simple idea to sell cakes that were grey on the outside and colourful underneath, and in doing so has successfully created a worldwide mission to get people talking about mental health, while enjoying delicious cakes.
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