Food and Mood – by Lisa

If there is one thing that never fails to put me in a positive mood…..it’s cake!

I love cake, I love to eat it and I love making it. Cake has had a place in my life for as long as I can remember. We only ever had cake for very special occasions when I was a child. Now as an adult, there is always an opportunity to have cake and for me, the best way is to share it.

If ever I feel bored, lonely or sad, then I’ll make a cake. I love to experiment and try new flavours and there is nothing more homely for me, than the aroma of a freshly baked cake filling the kitchen. We use cake as a comfort: I’ll bake a cake to cheer people up, and we use cakes to celebrate occasions like birthdays, weddings etc. in fact we don’t really need an excuse to have cake in our house. It is just something we love to share together when we all get a chance to meet up.

When my children were small I made all of their birthday cakes. This was mainly because it was cheaper and I could make it so much bigger to share around the seven of us. Whilst I was no expert, I really enjoyed the challenge of creating my own masterpieces to meet with their requests. Over the years I have made numerous cakes for my friends and family and always feel a sense of pride when I hand the finished result over. For me, baking and decorating a cake for someone gives me a chance to switch off from everything else and put all of my time and love into making something tasty!

Here are a few of my creations: