I did not think of making a cake that month. My daddy wanted a sweet for his birthday. But it all started with an elephant .

Close to my place there is a fabulous gift shop. During one of my visits, I set my eyes on an elephant. What a gorgeous Thai carving made of a solid poice of a mango tree! I was standing there watching it and suddenly I imagined a cake upon it. It was the cake! And as my father’s birthday was drawing near, I decided to make the cake I had seen in my mind. When I made it, the owner of the gift shop kindly allowed me to make a picture of the cake upon the elephant.

With this figure of the Laughing Buddha or Hotei I wished my father health and well-being. Of all the different types of the Laughing Buddha, I chose to make the one holding a peach in his left hand a bag symbolizing wealth and good fortune in his right one. I hope you will like it too!