To Have Your Cake, And Eat It, Too!

I seem to have inadvertently picked up a new profession.  I never would have imagined myself in the WEDDING CAKE trade, but it seems to have fallen into my lap, and I enjoy the challenge of making something beautiful out of just about nothing.  Cake-making is no small feat in Niger.  Not only are supplies hard to come by, but the heat (we're up to 100 - 110 degrees Fahrenheit now!) certainly adds to the challenge.  As I mentioned, I basically stumbled into this.  A friend asked me to do one for her wedding, knowing I loved to bake, and  knowing that I had a stove in which we could bake a cake (most Nigeriens cook over a fire).  I thought long and hard about it, of course thinking at first, "There's NO WAY that I can make a wedding cake!  I can't even make a wedding cake in the States, much less here in Niger.  It's just not my thing! 

I'm just doing good to decorate CHRISTMAS COOKIES!"

 

But then again, how could I say no?!  I wanted to give my friend a lovely wedding gift, and I did know how to bake a cake, and could it really be that hard?  And thus it began.  I've done four since then, two of which were in the last 3 months!  You see, word gets around here, and before I knew it, another dear friend was getting married, and he had seen the first cake, and he hoped that perhaps I could make one for him, and so on and so forth...  "Professionally made" cakes (whatever that means, and whatever it means here is most certainly different than what it would mean in the States!) are very expensive, and the average person cannot afford to have one at their wedding.

 

This weekend we celebrated the wedding of a very dear friend of ours, Issufou (Joseph).  We have known Issuf since just after he had become a Christian 3 years ago.  He went through the two years of Discipleship Bible School and Leadership school here in Maradi, and is now a pastor.  Wow, and are we proud of him!  We couldn’t have been more thrilled when he shared with us that he was going to be getting married.  We knew and really loved his future bride.  She had just graduated from the Discipleship Bible School this last year.  The wedding came up quickly, and sure enough, guess who was asked to make the cake?!!   I wanted to contribute something special to this incredible couple, so I said yes.  Here’s the journey…

.

Making a beautiful cake from scratch may sound exotic, but the realities are far from it - especially here.  I’ve simplified things down to making one or two 9 x 13 cakes, then cutting what I need from them.  Having just gotten home from a 10 hour trip from Niamey, Niger’s capital, I was running low on supplies, had no time to shop, and just a day to spare when Issufou asked if I could make a cake for his wedding.  I only had enough supplies for one 9 x 13, and knew I’d just have to just make do.  Considering the 100 - 110+ degree temps we've been experiencing, I try to get the cooking done ASAP so we can get it over with and TURN THE OVEN OFF!!!  Please!!!  Then the cake goes in the freezer.  Frosting, once made, goes immediately into the fridge so we can avoid puddles of sugar and butter melting all over the counter top.

 

Forming a solid base is pretty important.  Questions I ask myself about when making one include:  Is it strong enough to hold the cake?   Is it made of completely disposable things?   I don't want to have to wait all day at the wedding to get my (you name it) back.   Does it fit in my cooler? (HA - forgot to ask myself this question this time and ended up cutting off two inches from my board on the wedding day as we're running out the door to the wedding. Ooops!  Because of the heat, if we don't store the cake in the cooler when we go to the wedding, we will have one soggy, saggy mess by the time cake-cutting time comes!

 

 

Here's what I've come up with.  Niiiiiiiice, I know.  :)  But covered with some aluminum foil, it looks great!

 

Time to gather more supplies...

 

I gather whatever can be scrounged up from around the house.  Just about anything will do...  artificial flowers, ribbons, cookie decor, candy, confetti, and stickers to name a few.

 

Time to cut and layer the cake! 

 

I think three will do this time.

 

Oh, let's make it four, with this perfect little heart to top it all off.

 

Frosting!

 

Now we're getting somewhere...

 

By now, I'm in danger of losing my frosting.  It's starting to melt and absorb into the cake.  Time for a little "Time Out" in the freezer.  No, not for me (I wish!) - for the cake!

I will probably resort to sticking my head in there for a few moments at some point, though...

 

I think it's time for a snack!  And, after all, the cook should most definitely taste the cake (yes, some FROSTED cake) just to make sure it tastes good.  Someone has to do it, right?!

 

 Yummmm.  Okay.  Taste-test passed.  Back to work.

 

And what's a busy mom with 3 small children to DO with her little ones while in this tedious, time-consuming process?  Well, a picture's worth a thousand words!

 

Here they are, chillin' just outside the kitchen door where I can keep a close eye, and hear those adorable giggles!

 

Gracie thought having her own bucket was pretty cool!  Everyone had a limit of one bucket of water.  If you splashed out all your water, that was it.  So conserve and enjoy!  Great way to keep the kids close to Mama, cool, safe, busy, and HAPPY!

 

Here's my finished product for the day.  As you can see, my favorite accents are ribbons and flowers.  Ah, and you also get lovely view of my back yard here!  Completely off topic... but we just discovered we have owls living in our eucalyptus trees (the ones you can see on the right), and we can see them almost every night.  Yes, very cool!) 

 

Back to the wedding!  And our Bride and Groom with their cake...

 

It is truly a privilege to take part in one of the most memorable days of someone's life.  

 

Cutting the cake

 

  Not only is having a cake special, but it gives everyone the opportunity to lighten up a bit and laugh.

 

This girl's got a GREAT sense of humor!  She had everyone laughing.  What a perfect way to break the ice.

 

This little wedding-goer thoroughly enjoyed her rice and stew, which is traditionally served at many weddings. 

She wasn't the only one.  We all did!

 

  These days, whenever I am approached to do a wedding cake, I tell Jonathan, “I’m only doing this because we're really close to so-and-so, not for everyone!”  He just gives me that smile and says, “But we’re close to them all!”  Yes, it’s true.  All these Nigerien young people - in the youth group, our young Bible School students, and our friends from here and there - have become very dear to my heart.  We’re thrilled when we hear about one of them getting married, and I know, deep down inside, that I’ll probably be asked to make the cake, I’ll probably feel a little overwhelmed at the time, and I’ll probably (most definitely) say yes!  All because I (secretly!) really enjoy doing it, and am excited to be able to give them a gift they could otherwise never have had on their wedding day.  It’s a privilege and honor to be able to take part in the celebration of the joining of our Nigerien friends, most of whom are the first generation of Christians in their families.  What an honor to be there as they join their lives together…

 

It is at times like this, when I'm watching the lovely Bride and Groom on their wedding day, that I feel like I'm having my cake,

and eating it, too!