There is nothing more special than a mother’s love and one of our Friends of MTF, Kate Valasis shares such a heartwarming story of her incredibly talented mom who, in Kate’s words, lives for creating beautiful things.

 

Thirty years ago my little sister was born with cerebral palsy and autism. She’ll never be able to look after herself or live a fulfilled life that we’re so lucky to be able to do.

My parents have dedicated their lives to giving her the best life possible and although they are both beyond amazing, I’m hoping to shine a spotlight on my mom with this article.

My mom grew up in not so ideal circumstances. Long story short, my dad came along and they rooted their lives here in Kimberley, doing everything possible to give myself and Stacey the best life.

Last month my sister turned 30 and for as long as this, my mom has always tried to make her birthdays memorable, even though she doesn’t understand the meaning behind it.

 

Spending literally days creating the most splendid and aesthetically pleasing cake I’ve ever seen. And I’m not the only one – I uploaded the beautiful cake images, that my talented boyfriend Martin was so gracious to take, to the Vegan Community page on Facebook. Short backstory – myself and Martin have been Vegan for over 4 years. My mom always goes out of her way to make delicious food and desserts that our entire family can enjoy.

In a few days, the post was overrun with amazing comments and compliments to my mom. Over 140 comments and 360 likes. I know numbers shouldn’t matter, but to my mom they did. That’s why I posted it. So that she could see the perspective of others and it was all only positive.

So back to the birthday cake. This amazing creation took a total of 4 days to finish. My mom worked on every part of this cake till 3 am to make sure it was perfect.

I can’t tell you the exact recipe, because, like everything else about my moms’ talents, it just comes naturally. She gets a thought and she runs with it. She doubts herself, but the ideas always turn out perfectly. If you thought this cake was beautiful, eating it was even more superb.

I’ll try to explain this masterpiece as best as I can. This cake has 7 layers and each layer has a different flavour, thanks to these flavournation.co.za products – definitely check them out.

 

Next came the icing, but not like any icing you’d find in the confectionary section of a supermarket. No this icing, like everything else, was made with love. Creamy, not overly sweet, and went perfectly with the soft cake layers. My mom then added this to the cake, in layers of pretty ombre pink, purple and white colours fading into each other. It was then topped with cake decor, nonpareils, sprinkles and edible glitter.

You may be thinking, “well that’s one hell of a cake already!” But my mom never half-asses anything she does. She goes all out.

The next phase were the Vegan meringues. Made using aquafaba (the liquid from chickpeas), in various colours, and different flavours. All piped into perfect little drops and swirls in different sizes.

 

 

Then, the macaroons. Oh, the macaroons. Before I was Vegan, I had macaroons once, but they were nothing like these! They were divinely fluffy and airy, the texture was just unreal. She made each little macaroon a different delicious flavour. It was heavenly and soon became my new fave dessert. If it wasn’t such a mission to make them! My mom literally took more than a day of creating, baking, cooling and making sure that they were just perfect.

My mom is extremely doubtful of herself and her abilities. She’s also very modest and even though I constantly tell everyone that anything she touched turns out perfectly, not only her food but that is one high point. She’s a stay at home mom and everything she creates, she does it for the family to enjoy.

She hardly ever eats her own creations and she never looks for attention or praise. She just wants to know someone else appreciates what she does. So this article is for my mom. So she can hopefully see what I and everyone else sees. Her selflessness, her modesty and her unbelievable list of talents.