Feeling stressed? Get baking!

What do you like to do to relax?

Sit down with a good book? Go for a swim? Watch some TV?

Well according to recent research, what many of us like to do to de-stress is bake. Which is handy as the rest of us like eating cake to help keep our spirits up too.

The study by food brand Dr Oetker showed that one in three of us bakes to bring down the stress levels after a day at work. It probably explains the copious amounts of cakes you quite often find in offices up and down the country – it’s always someone’s birthday after all.

Of the 2,000 amateur bakers questioned, two thirds thought baking improved their mood, making them happy, calm and focussed. More than half said they felt a real sense of achievement once they’d finished (presumably the other half enjoy baking but maybe aren’t so good at it….)

The vast majority of us – four out of five - like to follow a recipe to the letter. But we’re betting many of those recipes you can recall by heart as every home baker has a favourite or two they like to return to.  One in seven has a closely guarded family secret recipe – which is brilliant, and the kind of thing every family should have. Maybe just not like that Friends episode when it turns out Phoebe’s top secret family recipe for chocolate chip cookies is actually taken off the side of a packet of a well known brands’ biscuits.

Here at Hunters of Helmsley we have everything you might need to get your bake on. Lemon drizzle, millionaire’s shortbread, the good old Victoria sponge – the classics which have brought joy to generations. Or maybe you’re more adventurous and would give the Great British Bake Off showstoppers a run for their money?

From dozens of types of flour (coconut is proving very popular at the moment) to the finest sugar, from far flung ingredients to the prettiest (and tastiest) decorations, we want all your creations to be masterpieces. And no one is going to find after-work baking relaxing if they get to the cupboard and find half the ingredients aren’t there. So why not come and stock up? We’re always delighted to have a chat (and to try and get you to share granny’s secret Coffee Cake recipe).

And, of course, if baking isn’t your thing – never fear. We’ve plenty of delicious ready-to-eat cakes here for you too. How about Whitby Plum Loaf or lemon drizzle cake? I can feel myself relaxing already….