After the beginning of a full-scale invasion of the Russian army, Alyona Vasyanovych from Zhytomyr, like hundreds of thousands of other Ukrainian women, was forced to leave her home and native country. For the safety of her son, she went to Georgia.
Ukrainian woman was warmly welcomed in a country that is famous for its hospitality. And on the eve of Easter, Georgians decided to support our fellow countryman by ordering festive cakes from her. The Ukrainian woman was pleasantly surprised and was able to bake almost three hundred cakes herself.
Commenting to Zhytomyr Journal Alyona Vasyanovych spoke about the baking process and whether Georgians liked Ukrainian 'pasochky'.
- Where did the idea to bake cakes come from?
-This idea was proposed by volunteer Salome Patsatsiya. I used to tell her that I like amateur pastries. Before the Easter, she offered to bake cakes for sale, thus supporting me. I willingly accepted this offer, because working with dough and baking helps me to distract at least a little from the events that are taking place in Ukraine.
- There are hundreds of recipes for Easter cakes. How did you decide to surprise Georgians?
- I used the classic recipe for cakes, but with the addition of lemon or orange zest and raisins. At first, I trained on making decorations for my cakes. I chose roses made of dough, which will resemble the decoration of a Ukrainian loaf. In general, I wanted my cakes to resemble traditional Ukrainian ones, so that they had a piece of the motherland. Therefore, for decoration, I also used blue-yellow confectionery decorations. I made several test cakes. Everything turned out delicious and beautiful!
- How many cakes have you been ordered?
- Initially, we planned to take up to 50 orders and bake them at home. But after we posted a photo of our cakes on Facebook page, there were many more orders than we expected. In total, there were orders for 2000 units. I was happy about this, but I felt responsible for the whole process, because this is my first experience making confectionery products to order. So I took 285 orders and knew for sure that we would have time to transfer these cakes to the festive Easter table of our customers.
- To bake such a large number of cakes, you need a lot of kitchen equipment. How did you set up the process and how much time did you spend?
- I knew that I wouldn't have time to do it at home. Then volunteer Solome agreed with the owner of a local cafe to give us a kitchen for 3 days. This helped me a lot, because there was more baking space and better equipment, so I could bake cakes in large batches. I started baking cakes in the evening, after there was free space in the kitchen. During the first evening, I made 33 cakes and baked them at night, but I was still inspired by the process, so I didn't feel very tired. The next day I made 197 cakes.
- How was the sale going? Did Georgians like cakes?
- I have baked cakes, and the volunteer Solome then took our cakes to the people who ordered them. Our clients from Georgia sent photos of their table with Ukrainian 'pasochky' and gave positive feedback.
- What does this pastry mean to you?
- I was very impressed that so many people from Georgia wanted to buy our Ukrainian cakes. I am surprised by the kindness of people to Ukrainians. I was pleased that I was able to transfer a piece of Ukraine here on this holiday.
