Tribal People Try Cake

Cake covers birthday sponges, chocolate fudge cake, carrot cake, red velvet, black forest and the American layer cakes covered in buttercream. Bakery cake is common in Pakistani cities; the elaborate frosted kind is what the videos usually feature.

Frosting is the divide. A thick layer of American buttercream is sweeter and greasier than anything the village bakes, and the usual move is to eat the sponge and leave the icing. Chocolate cake wins; red velvet is treated with suspicion.

Cake is a city thing bought for weddings and birthdays. Home sweets are halwa, kheer and mithai, all far less sweet than a frosted American slice, whatever people assume.