Behold! Behold! A Schloss Cake!!!
What you are looking at is a red velvet hilarity. It took me about four hours to bake and was largely inspired by the Great British Bake-Off. My wife and I have been binging on it lately, and that can only end hilariously.
I’m not a complete noob at baking. I’ve baked some pretty good cookies and brownies, but a CAKE. Man, that’s a whole different level.
And how did it go? Well, poorly. Everyone LOVED the cake. No one liked the icing. Want proof? Here was the cake when I got back from work:
Now, to answer the question which may have popped into your head: Why the hell am I writing about a cake on a blog about depression?
Welp, because it was fun. And engaging, and I mean ALL ENGAGING. And that was really good for me.
Let me explain.
When I was a kid, I remember my Mom telling me that when she was down, she loved to bake. She said it was all engaging and really absorbed her attention. As an adult, I’ve found that she was completely right.
This jives with my efforts to fight depression. I’ve noticed that, the more absorbed I get in an activity, the less time I have to think about depression. Indeed, this is something I’ve written about before: The key role that rumination has in depression. This is something which has a large role in the book The Depression Cure: Fighting rumination means finding an engaging activity to absorb your attention and break the cycle of rumination.
And, let me tell you, when you bake, your attention is absorbed. Or, at least, it better be. Otherwise, your icing may suck…I mean, otherwise, things won’t come out as good. And I have to say, I really enjoyed it. I think there’s a piece of me…a very large piece…which is still a little kid. You want me to play with food AND bake something which could be very tasty? I’m in! Where do I sign up? And yes, there is a sense of pride that goes with baking. It’s kind of fun to know that I made something which is at least a little bit tasty.
Should you bake? Maybe. I mean, if it isn’t for you, don’t – but, if you want to try, I say it’s totally worth it (start with cookies, those are simpler and harder to mess up). But, if you don’t want to bake, do something else. Do something engaging, something that will swallow you whole. Do something fun. Just do something. It’s really important to beat depression.
And, as always, if you have any comments or thoughts, please let us know below!
Mike Schlossberg - Author 