The Power of Forgiveness Cake
BY TAMARA PALMER
Many desserts bring me to the brink of tears, but Azalina Eusope’s Forgiveness Cake at Mahila got the water actually flowing.
Azalina explained as she was plating the cake that it was something that her mother made once a year, and it had a profound effect on her life. She told us that she was raised by her grandmother in Malaysia because her mother wanted her first-born to be a boy instead of a girl, and she would only see her mother once a year. Her mother didn’t communicate with her otherwise.
One day that her mother made this cake, Azalina’s heart flooded with forgiveness when she tasted it.
“I told myself, no matter what, I forgive my mother,” Azalina said.
Azalina has added her own beautiful touches to the cake for her restaurant. Though she recently closed one space in San Francisco (Azalina’s Malaysian inside The Market on Market), Mahila (which means “becoming a woman”) stays busy and Azalina’s got expansion plans in Oakland. Life is good.
Forgiveness Cake: sugee cake with coconut kaya jam
Watch Azalina’s explanation of the dessert thanks to a series of short videos shot by our friend Yiying Lu.
The mural in Mahila’s entryway
The hugging picture up top is of Azalina and Yiying — she and I were in tears by the end of Azalina’s story.
Mahila, 1320 Castro Street, San Francisco