THE DEPRESSED CAKE SHOP - LEEDS POP UP CHARITY EVENT

Earlier this month, Leeds witnessed an array of grey cakes taking over the Corn Exchange in the form of a pop up shop devoted to raising mental health awareness.

The Depressed Cake Shop, as mentioned in my previous post HERE, was part of a global network of shops, founded by Miss Cakehead, aiming to sell grey coloured cakes to raise awareness of mental health issues and provide a platform for discussion.

I played event organiser for the Leeds pop up and could not have even predicted that it would have been successful as it was. With over fifteen bakers donating cakes throughout the day there was a fantastic range and variety of cakes to keep the public happy and intrigued.

We raised £536.74 from selling grey cakes, a silent auction for a picture and from external donations with all funds going to two very worth local mental health charities, Inkwell and Dial House.

I would just like to say a massive thank you to all those who participated with the event, whether it be through baking cakes, promoting the event, eating our delicious grey baked goods or through kind and generous external donations.

Photos: Mark Murphy

THE DEPRESSED CAKE SHOP

I've been super busy with any spare time organising The Depressed Cake Shop pop up event for Leeds which will take place this Sunday 4th August from 10.30-4pm at the Leeds Corn Exchange.

The Depressed Cake Shop is part of a global network of shops, founded by Miss Cakehead, selling grey coloured cakes and cakes which represent mood to raise awareness of mental health issues and provide a platform for discussion.

One in four people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives, a key theme will be also be reflected in many of the cakes designs.

The symptoms of depression can be complex – and vary widely – and so will the cakes on sale, many aiming to visually represent mental illness. This will be a cake shop like nothing else seen before, the grey sad looking but delicious tasting cakes powerfully demonstrating the effects of depression.

Cakes on sale at the Leeds Corn Exchange will include cakes and baked goods fitting within the theme, baked by over fifteen local bakers, both professional and non-professional taking part in the event. 100% of sales from each and every cake will be donated to Inkwell and Dial House, two very important and worthy mental health charities within Leeds.

Many of our cakes will also be made by those with personal experiences of depression, using baking as a way of expressing their struggles with, and experiences of, the illness. 

For more information on the event please see below:

Facebook Event Page

Leeds Inspired Listing

Culture Vulture Interview

It would be great to have your support - See you Sunday!

LIFESTYLE | FINAL COUNTDOWN

It's the final month of student life for me and it's all kicked off!

On Wednesday I handed in my hefty dissertation and now I am working towards my final essay and exam of the semester.

I've been busy baking in the Inkwell kitchen, over the last few weeks these beauties have been baked:

Toffee, Pecan and Banana Loaf

Orange and Poppyseed Cake with Chocolate Drizzle and Homemade Candy Peel

Raspberry Bakewell Cake (only got an Instagram pic - sorry!)

I've also started working in the kitchens at Opposite Cafe in Leeds - renound for it's superb coffee and amazing food with an always lively and buzzing atmosphere. I'm loving it. I am however very busy but still managing to fit in a good work/uni/life/playtime balance so GO ME.

Some highlights of "playtime" over the past few weeks have been...

#1   Losing my Brewdog Leeds virginity!

#2   Going to the preview for the new exhibition "Feast" at the Leeds Gallery and getting to try out the incredible Whisky Tornado creation by Bompas and Parr.

#3   Feeling 10 again and going bowling - dodgy dj, cheap drinks and £1.50 games... What could be better?

#4   Accidentally ending up at the new Jewish Artists in Yorkshire exhibition at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery in the University of Leeds Parkinson building on my library break... free wine and a live klezmer band!

#5   Post-dissertation drinks and buffet. More free wine...

LIFESTYLE | OUT OF THE SKETCHBOOK

Last Friday night, Inkwell hosted the preview of their latest exhibition 'Out of the Sketchbook'. My lovely and wonderfully talented friend Lorna Johnstone was one of the artists to exhibit her work.

Lorna explains a little about her work and her approach:

"I keep a visual journal. I use drawing and collected words to document and make sense of my world. For “Out of the Sketchbook” I wanted to share my creative process, linking my ongoing projects, challenges and observations together in sort of a big spider diagram. Some drawings evolve naturally, from a meditative state of mind; other times I set myself tasks such as ‘daily news drawings’, ‘a drawing a day’, or leaving messages on paper coffee cups for others to find. What I’m interested in now is removing my drawings from the isolation of the sketchbook page and laying it out with work from different days, different sketchbooks. I’m curious to see how themes begin to link together and what patterns will emerge."

You can view more of Lorna's work HERE.

Some pictures I took of Lorna's exhibition work are shown below:

RECIPE | PEANUT BUTTER AND BANANA MUFFINS

This is the recipe we used at Inkwell on Friday. This makes around 12 medium-large muffins.

My recipe is adapted from Rachel Allen's recipe which can be found HERE.

Ingredients:

250g Plain Flour

75g Rolled Oats

1tbsp Baking Powder

30g of Mixed Seeds

2 Eggs

1tsp Vanilla Essence

75g Light Brown Sugar

2 Bananas (Ripe)

100g Crunchy Peanut Butter

50g Butter (Melted)

250ml Milk

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 190ºC and fill a muffin tray with 12 muffin cases (or alternatively you could use fairy cake cases and make 24 little muffins).

2.  Sieve the flour into a large mixing bowl and add the baking powder, rolled oats and mixed seeds.

3.  In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until fluffy and mousse-like. Add the vanilla essence, 2 bananas (make sure they are mashed well), peanut butter, melted butter. Add the milk last.

4.  Fold the wet mixture into the dry mixture - be careful not to over-mix.

5.  Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases. You can sprinkle over some extra oats and seeds at this point (I forgot to do this!).

6. Place the muffins in middle shelf of the oven for 20-25 minutes (or until the top of the muffins spring back when you touch them).

7.  Leave to cool for 20 minutes and dust with icing sugar for a pretty finish!

We also made some smaller muffins in cupcake cases and topped with Cinnamon Buttercream Frosting and Grated Chocolate.

LIFESTYLE | MORE BAKING AT INKWELL...

I had another afternoon of fun and baking at Inkwell last Friday, this time with my baking buddy David! We bake on the Friday afternoon so that there are cakes to sell in the Cafe the next day. Last week's cakes were a MAJOR success so I was asked back to bake this week!

To learn more about Inkwell visit my previous post HERE.

We made some nut and seed flapjacks...

Some peanut butter and banana muffins...

...and some smaller versions with cinnamon buttercream frosting.

(This was our first attempt at using a piping bag - please forgive us!).

Also in the kitchen was some delicious home made roasted red pepper soup...

...and some carrot and chickpea veggie burgers!

I love being able to experiment and get creative in the kitchen and it's great to know that we can do it for a good cause too. I'll be back again next week with some vegan cakes and a few more wonders.

Do you like my hat (and my flapjacks)?

LIFESTYLE | BAKING AT INKWELL

This week I started a new and exciting role as a volunteer for a lovely little place called Inkwell.

For those of you unfamiliar with Inkwell, it is based in Leeds and describes itself as....

"A safe, creative and accessible space where passion and skills entwine, challenging the stigma of mental health and celebrating the diversity of its participants. It seeks to engage, stimulate and absorb all abilities through creative activity. Users develop life skills such as teamwork and problem solving leading to increased confidence and improved wellbeing. We are part of Leeds Mind, an independent charity whose aim is to enable individuals with mental health problems to flourish. Our core values are: Inclusion, Collaboration, Aspiration, Respect and Excellence."

I spent yesterday afternoon baking away in the Inkwell kitchen. Hopefully what I produced was an acceptable collection of baked goods for them to sell in their cafe this weekend. (I am unsure as I didn't get to taste anything I made!).

I made a victoria sponge with freshly whipped cream and strawberries (pictured above), a tray of cinnamon and sultana flapjacks (no picture - sorry!) and a batch of extra gooey and naughtily chocolately brownies.

If you are Leeds based, it's definitely worth taking a visit to Inkwell to check out all that is available and on offer to the public. They have a cafe every Saturday, numerous arts and craft workshops during the week, as well as a monthly instrumental night and secret cinema night.

If that hasn't persuaded you enough the check out the post by Culture Vulture HERE as to why you should visit Inkwell :)