Cakes and sanity

It's the little treats like a cup of tea or latte with a slice of cake or a pastry that keep you sane. I was talking to an elderly friend today, whom I have known for many years. We chatted about the latest news, and I told her that I try not to plan anything further than a day ahead. I live one day at a time.
When I go to bed and start thinking about the future, I cannot sleep with worry, which is mostly related to my older son with autism. Now that he reached 13, there is a whole plethora of new issues. One of them being even less tolerant to any break in routine or noise.
Since around Christmas time, he is keeping himself on his own, mostly hiding in the attic with his ipad. Not exactly a Mrs Rochester's case, but as frustrating and sad for me. He doesn't want to have any meals together with us. At Easter we had friends over for lunch, but Sasha didn't show himself even once.
When my husband is away, I find it especially tricky to watch over both boys, so I run upstairs-downstairs like a shuttle.
Mornings these days are a battle. Every simple task like inviting Sasha downstairs so that he has a breakfast or making him put his school uniform are physically and emotionally taxing. By the time he gets on the school bus, I feel like I won a Waterloo.
Then I grab Eddie and we run to his school. Later I do some grocery shopping and whatever errands I need in town. By the time I come home mid-morning, I am so ready for a cup of tea and something sweet, like a little cake.

Typically we always have either a homemade cake at home, or some Mr Kipling's goodies. My boys are particularly partial to Angel slices and Chocolate slices, so I tend to have a mini-stash of them. They are a handy size, not too big, not too small, individually wrapped and keep well.

When BritMums asked recently if life is better with cake, my answer is Yes. Little treats make life more tolerable.

I appreciate they are not exactly a diet food, for example, one of Viennese Whirls is 145kcal, one Bakewell tart is 200kcal. But then I run so much about, walking miles and miles every day (I don't drive), that I do burn quite a bit of calories as well.
My men all have a sweet tooth, they were delighted when a parcel arrived from Mr Kipling and BritMums with 3 boxes of Cherry Bakewells, Viennese Whirls and French fancies. These are the cakes that I don't usually buy, so I was quite curious to try them.

First we tried French Fancies. They look very pretty, dainty little things. Way too sweet for me, I couldn't finish even one. That didn't stop my guys, and the all the fancies were gone in 60 seconds.

Viennese Whirls with a raspberry jam and buttercream filling also got thumbs up from my guys. I was reassured to read on the box that the bakes contained 100% natural flavours and no artificial colours and no hydrogenated fat.

Eddie loved the swirls, and asked me to buy more.

From the selection that we received we liked Cherry Bakewells the most. The pastry is crumbly, with an almond-flavoured sponge and fondant icing is delicate. The sugar content is quite high in each pastry, so one is plenty. It is lovely as an occasional treat.

So, on the days when I feel overwhelmed or even blue, wishing for an escape via a time-travelling Tardis, a little cake with a cuppa is a sanity-saver.

This post is an entry for #betterwithcake Linky Challenge, sponsored by Mr Kipling. Learn more at https://www.facebook.com/mrkiplingcakes

Thank you, BritMums and Mr Kipling for our treats!