LONDON BASED POP UP CAKE SHOP STARTS GLOBAL TREND

LONDON BASED POP UP CAKE SHOP STARTS GLOBAL TREND IN SELLING GREY COLOURED CAKES TO RAISE AWARENESS  OF MENTAL HEALTH ISSUES

 A charity cake shop selling ONLY grey coloured cakes – in a bid to to raise awareness of mental health issues – has started a global trend which will see over 30 ‘depressed’ cake shops  popping up during August, including some in locations as far flung as Australia, Malaysia and the United States. It matters. One in four people will suffer from mental illness at some point in their lives, a key theme that will also be reflected in many of the cakes designs.

The unique concept was conceived by Miss Cakehead as a creative platform to raise awareness of mental health issues and provide a platform for discussion. The first shop is based in London and can be found at Suzzle on Brick Lane from the 2^nd – 4^th August. On Sunday 4th, between 1-3, it will even feature a DJ set from Feeling Gloomy the world’s only club devoted to playing sad music.

 The symptoms of depression can be complex – and vary widely – and so will the cakes on sale, many aiming to visually represent mental illness. For example barely decorated cakes or cookies will communicate how depression can affect ability to work, the grey & dull consistent colour scheme that all fun can disappear from life. 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 London cake shop will include black dog macarons and a psycho Swiss roll from Miss Insomnia Tulip, grey fudge and cupcakes with a hidden bright neon interior, and grey piñata brain cakes.  Many of the cakes on sale will be made by those with personal experiences of depression, using baking as a way of expressing their personal experiences of metal illness. Some of the cakes on sale will even have been created as part of ‘baking therapy’ a method which many individuals use to manage their illness.

Speaking about the shop Miss Cakehead comments:

Previous projects have made me aware that cake is a great way to get people discussing traditionally tough conversational topics so I wanted to create a unique experience to support those with mental health issues. Shockingly mental health issues are still considered a taboo subject by many and this must change. By doing a completely unique awareness campaign I hope that depressed cake shops will create an experience and environment within which it will be possible not to engage with the issues at hand, and the wider impact of these. It’s about challenging stigmas and labels. When someone says cupcake  you think pink icing and sprinkles. When someone says mental health issues and an equally unimaginative stereotype will pop in most minds. By having grey cakes we’re challenging the expected, and getting people to challenge the labels they put on those who suffer with a mental illness. 

The long term aim of the project is set up an official charity which will host series of baking therapy sessions around the UK, create a support network for those who use baking to help combat depression, and support bakers through the process of turning cake making into a business as their health improves. The Depressed Cake Shop team is also in talks with numerous brands about producing ‘grey’ products in a bid to continue building on a concept that has proved to be incredibly effective in raising awareness of mental health issues.

You can find out more about the event here, and download high resolution press images here.

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For more information on The Depressed Cake Shop please contact Emma on emma@misscakehead.com

The Depressed Cake Shop is an Eat Your Heart Out Event, a collective of UK based food artists leading the way with creative food presentation, innovative edible projects and ground breaking edible art techniques. The key aims of the movement are to promote creativity in food, give talented individuals the chance to shine, be discovered and build their own self-sufficient businesses. As part of our support network we also offer guidance, advice and media training on how to manage the many media opportunities that come along as an inevitable result of being involved with Eat Your Heart Out.