THE trend for brightly iced cup cakes is being turned on its head in a fresh attempt to challenge people’s perceptions about mental health.

Caroline Knight, who lives near Besselsleigh, is making and selling ‘miserable’ grey cakes.

The 26-year-old was diagnosed with depression earlier this year and is organising a series of pop-up cake stalls around the county as part of a nationwide movement called The Depressed Cake Shop.

Ms Knight’s will raise money for The Icarus Trust, a charity which provides support for families coping with depression.

Caroline’s first cake stall will be at Big Society in Cowley Road on Saturday, from noon until 6pm.

She explained: “The point of the grey cakes is to challenge people’s views of depression.

“It’s actually not all grey, it’s not that clear-cut and is a very complex illness. Preparing cakes for the first stall has been an amazing distraction for me.”

The cakes are made to evoke feelings of hopelessness and some have wording like “what’s the point?” iced on them.

But they have varied insides, often brightly coloured, to symbolise the hope of recovery.

She is being helped by Mark ‘Baz’ Butcher, 54, owner of Oxford’s St Giles Cafe.

He said: “Mental health is often put aside and not really talked about. I think baking is a massively beneficial activity and we’re very keen to be supporting Caroline and The Depressed Cake Shop.”

Some of the cakes include grey-coloured red velvet cupcakes and black dog cookies.

Public Health England’s latest mental health figures state that almost 12 per cent of adults in the county had depression in 2011/2012 – 0.3 per cent higher than the national average.