There are days when coffee is optional.

Cake is not.

You know the sort of day.

Somebody has asked one question too many.

The to-do list has somehow got longer while you were looking at it.

And whatever you had planned for lunch is no longer going to fix anything.

At that point, you do not want advice.You want cake.

Luckily in Peterborough, there are two very different ways to sort that out.

The “Get Me Out Of This House” Option — The Willow Café

The Willow Café has been in Central Park for almost 30 years and says it operates independently of any chain.

Which is useful, because sometimes the answer is not just cake.

It is cake somewhere else.

You can walk through the park, sit down, have a coffee and a slice of something homemade, and for an hour nobody needs anything from you.

That alone is worth quite a lot.

The café serves homemade cakes, sandwiches, soups and breakfast rolls, with vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free and dairy-free choices available.

Its current website lists opening hours of 9am to 5pm every day.

But the real attraction is harder to put on a menu.

It is the feeling of being somewhere green, with a proper coffee in front of you, while whatever was annoying you an hour ago suddenly feels slightly less important.

Cake has many talents.

Perspective may be one of them.

The “I’m Turning Up With A Box” Option — The Sunday Bakehouse

The Sunday Bakehouse handles the same problem from the other direction.

You do not go there for the café experience.

You bring the good bit home.

The small-batch bakery, run by Emilia, currently focuses on stuffed cookies, cheesecakes, cinnamon rolls and made-to-order celebration bakes.

Which means this works particularly well when the day has gone wrong but leaving the house feels like far too much effort.

Or when you are visiting somebody and want to look much more thoughtful than the amount of effort involved.

There is a lot to be said for arriving with a box of sweet treats.

People are pleased to see you.

Nobody asks why you are late.

And if there are cinnamon rolls inside, all previous offences are usually forgotten.

The only mistake is saying:

“We’ll save some for later.”

You won’t.

Everybody knows you won’t.

Sit Down Or Take It Home?

That is really the choice.

The Willow Café is for the day when you need to get out, sit somewhere pleasant and let the world carry on without you for an hour.

The Sunday Bakehouse is for the day when you want the comfort delivered to the kitchen table.

One gives you Central Park.

The other gives you a box full of very poor long-term planning.

Both work.You choose!

And both are better than standing in the kitchen eating a biscuit over the sink while pretending that counts as a break.

Where do you go when coffee is wanted but cake is absolutely necessary?