In news that will come as a shock to those led to believe the world of British baking is a idyllic paradise presided over by the benign monarch Mary Berry, a Hong Kong protest-themed cake was removed from a competition in the UK following complaints from some of the attendees.
The three-tiered cake featured many familiar symbols of the protests, now in their 22nd week: yellow hard hats, umbrellas, and presumably fondant Post-It Notes bearing messages of support for the movement, like “Hongkongers, add oil” and “Five demands, not one less”.
The conscientious confection was topped off with a black-shirted protester wearing goggles and hard hat, a small turntable with the black Bauhinia flag on it, and most prominently, a large Guy Fawkes mask.
I am are happy to see this in the cake international in Birmingham competition . #FiveDemandsNotOneLess #光復香港時代革命 #香港人反抗 pic.twitter.com/NNzZ5O2GdV
— Mad (@Mad92286475) November 3, 2019
The cake even emitted a bit of mist — oops! tear gas — and played a recording of Glory To Hong Kong, the defiant protest anthem penned by an anonymous composer that has become the unofficial new soundtrack to Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests.
Sheung Wan brunch spot 3rd Space confirmed over Instagram that the person who baked and designed the cake worked for them, and that it was on display at Cake International 2019 at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham over the weekend.
The cafe posted a screenshot of an email, purportedly from the organizers, saying that their cake had to be removed from the competition area because the “content and message behind the cake has been viewed as offensive and led to complaints from attendees.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4Xv1nUAtPu/
The decision, unsurprisingly, prompted cries of “censorship” online, as well as a hasty official statement from the organizers justifying the disqualification on other, cake-related grounds.
In a Facebook post, Cake International said that they removed the cake from the competition area because people had threatened to damage it (did you consider removing those people instead?), adding that it was disqualified not for its political statement, but for being “oversized” — specifically, a confectionery 7-Eleven-style miniature umbrella hung over the “allowed area.”
The statement went on to say: “We appreciate that this situation is sensitive and there are many passionate views across the world, our decisions are based purely on what is in the best interest for the cake decorating community and not as a statement of our beliefs or opinions.”
https://www.facebook.com/CakeInternational/posts/2792910480741701
Netizens weren’t buying it, however.
“Just went to unlike the page, and will never attend another CI,” one Facebook user wrote. “Just noticed while on the page that reviews have been turned off, cowards.”
Others issued more visually oriented criticisms.
The disqualification comes hot on the heels of other instances of alleged censorship in the face of China’s delicate sensibilities over the Hong Kong protests.
A protest-themed sneaker design was pulled from a competition sponsored by the streetwear brand Vans, and the renowned jeweler Tiffany & Co. scrambled to delete an otherwise innocuous tweet that could have been interpreted as referring to the protests.
Meanwhile, the NBA suffered a firestorm of criticism after one of its executives tweeted a message of support for Hong Kong’s protesters, setting off a fierce debate in the US over China-centric censorship that even ensnared basketball superstar LeBron James.
But the cake saga wasn’t over there. The backlash was such that an anonymously run petition was initiated on Change.org calling for three presumably mainland-based competitors — accused by the petition’s authors of demanding the Hong Kong cake be pulled — to have their wins invalidated.
The petition currently has just over 640 signatures.
