‘Depressed Cake Shop’ pops up in Spokane raising funds for mental health

“Where there is cake, there is hope… and there is always cake.”

That’s the motto of the Depressed Cake Shop, a pop-up bakery that raises awareness for mental heath that started in London and has made appearances all over the world.

The Spokane chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) has caught on to the trend. Friday inside River Park Square downtown, a long table of gloomy goodies tempted shoppers.

The treats, donated by several local bakeries including Sweet Frostings, the Little Garden Cafe, and Rockwood Bakery, had one requirement: they had to include an element of gray “to signify the gray cloud that can descend over a beautiful world when someone is struggling with mental health issues.”

But some of the goodies included a of splash of color, representing hope. A batch of heart-shaped sugar cookies were covered with gray frosting, but they featured multi-colored words that were arranged to read “It’s OK to not be OK.”

Other sweets included “Not ROLLIN outta bed today” maple bacon cinnamon rolls and “free of gluten and guilt” cupcakes. Many of the confections, like “worry wart” truffles, sported frowning faces that stared sadly up at the viewer.

NAMI Spokane’s executive director, Chauntelle Lieske, said she loved the idea when she found out about the bake-sale fundraiser from NAMI Seattle.

“It was an idea where you can raise awareness around mental health in kinda this way that it’s relatable,” she said. “Cake, cookies, treats, we can spark up conversation around it.”

People’s interests were indeed raised. After a few hours of opening, business already exceeded expectations. The flyers that NAMI had used to advertise the event said the pop-up bakery would be open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“I don’t think we’re gonna make it ‘til 7,” Lieske said.

Lieske said the goal of the event is to “raise awareness, get the conversation around mental health happening in our community.”

Spokane, she said, can do better when it comes to mental health.

“I think that we are doing better than we have historically, but there’s obviously room to grow. There’s definitely a need for mental health services. We’re not meeting that need, and it’s a very big need, so I think we have to continue this conversation.”

All proceeds of the event went to NAMI Spokane.