It’s National Baking Day here in the UK. So I thought I’d write a little about baking – I believe this is a skill we should all develop and perhaps many of did in this past year.

There are so many great reasons to bake – from practising self-care and nurturing to mindfulness and being kind it can only be a good thing. All of these actions boost wellbeing and resilience and we need those more than ever. Plus what is there about cake that’s not to like – wherever you might be in the world? Perhaps that’s also why so many people did bake more during the pandemic!

Here are 3 great reasons to get baking this week!

Know what you are eating – I never  buy commercial cakes and biscuits for my family. One glance at the labels tells me how full of junk they are and they just don’t taste as good as homemade! Often when I bake for others they’ll tell me it’s the best thing they ever tasted. Now, much as I’d love to attribute that to my fabulous baking skills, more often than not it’s simply because they don’t often eat homemade cake. But more than that I know exactly what is going into my biscuits and cake and can even slip in things like courgette (zucchini) or beetroot into chocolate cake and raisins and chia seeds into cookies. The amount of sugar I end up using is also less than you might think.

Spread the love – nothing spreads joy faster than cake. Bake a cake and bring it to work or pop it in to a neighbour   and watch faces light up with pure joy. I’ve never seen anything like it! I even now take home-made biscuits or fudge to my work meetings – it always brightens the meeting and immediately breaks the ice too. There ‘s something so loving and caring about baking for others. It’s something I’ll do for the rest of my life.

Mindfulness practice – baking is exact. Get the temperature wrong and your bake won’t rise. Put in just a little too much baking powder and it might taste rubbery. You have got to pay attention to detail. Which means there is no choice but to be completely in the moment. Baking helps me to relax more than anything because I simply have to eliminate any distractions – whether external or just my wandering mind – to do it properly. Baking is the perfect way to be in the present.

So, get baking this week and see what you come up with!

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