Depression is pants. In fact it is a great deal worse than pants, but I do not swear on either this blog or social media in general.
If you have not suffered from depression, then you are very lucky, and cannot imagine the unfathomable ghastlyness of this illness. I would not wish it on my worse enemy. Life is lived at the bottom of a pit filled with a thick treacly fog – without the benefit of the sweetness. Nothing to look forward to, no energy, no hope, no excitement or pleasure. Doing anything, from getting dressed to making coffee, can seem an impossible Herculean task. Lethargic from either too much or a lack of sleep, and a haywire appetite either means bingeing or starvation which only serves to make yourself worse. Being no fun to be with means you see less of your friends, which in turn only exacerbates the problem.
My personal low point was one New Year when I found myself sitting in the corner of the kitchen weeping, having returned from a New Year party 36 hours previously, having roundly pissed off my friends for being both miserable, introspective and self absorbed. At the time none of us had any idea what was wrong, and being told to cheer up only served to make me worse. Thankfully a sympathetic GP, and good work medical insurance swiftly led to a two pronged treatment of drugs and talking therapy. I am grateful and realise how lucky I was to get top notch treatment quickly.
Nowadays I am very aware of my mood, and can try and alter my thinking which for most of the time helps. You can pretty much pin point my mood by the frequency, quality and originality of my blogging.
Saved by Cake is as much about mental illness and depression as it is about the baking. It is a brave, honest and somewhat paradoxically uplifting account of depression by Marian Keyes, whose legions of fans adore her witty warm writing and believable characters, making her one of Britain and Ireland’s most popular authors.
Marian discovered baking and found that the concentration required, the almost magical transformation from raw ingredients to a cake and subsequent deliciousness all helped. It has not “cured” her, but it helps. And baking helps me too – I get an inordinate amount of pleasure from feeding people – my poor guests are sometimes treated like foie gras ducks and geese when I am on a roll.
Saved by Cake contains 8o delicious recipes (all photographed); covering the basics to more esoteric numbers such as wasabi & white chocolate cupcakes with salt caramel icing or balsamic, black pepper and chocolate cake or even sweetcorn, coconut and lime loaf.
The book is filled with Marian’s warm and witty writing, who can fail to be charmed by instructions to “decorate pinkly” or a recipe for defibrillator cubes – with enough energy to bring a person back from the dead. There is even the three milks cake (AKA hug in a cake) for when you have a bad shock – such as a massive credit card bill after a shoe binge! I’ve made a note to make this for when my bill next arrives.
The book is perfect for a present, for the new or experienced baker, for someone who has no intention of baking but just loves Marian, or for someone who needs a hug in a book.
Many thanks to Penguin for my review copy of Saved by Cake.
Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes, RRP 16.99.
Fuss Free Rating
Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes ****
If you think that you may be depressed, please please please go and talk to your doctor. If you feel you will not be able to talk about it without breaking down, then write down how you are feeling and hand them the piece of paper. At its most basic level depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain. Drugs help. For some reason many people are reluctant to take anti-depressents. If you were diabetic you would not not take insulin? The same applies to any condition, depression included.
If you have a friend who is depressed and want to help them, then bother with them, take an interest. Persist with calls and e-mails if you do not get a response immediately. Go and see them and be there for them.
Sadly depression kills, in the UK there are around 4,000 reported suicides per year, if you are feeling suicidal or want to harm yourself, please call The Samaritans on 08457 909090 24 hours a day, or go to your local A&E.
Click for the recipe for Marian Keyes’ Sweet & Simple Strawberry Cupcakes
There’s something wonderfully healing and cathartic about ‘figuring out’ food and how to make it shine in all its glory and, THEN, more importantly, sharing it with people! It sounds like Marian K’s book accomplishes that and I also find your blog, Helen — informative, creative, generous, and delicious!
Thanks for bringing a often not talked about subject onto your blog, one in 5 the population will suffer at one point from some kind of mental health illness. I have dealt with this in the past and would say caked helped an awful lot :) I am going to put this book on my Birthday wish list.
I was one of the lucky winners of this book from Fuss Free Flavours. I just wanted to say thank you. It has got so many lovey recipes that I cant wait to try. Like Marian baking brings me a lot of happiness. I just wish that I had more storage for all my baking equipment!!! Thanks again! xoxo