Middle East & Africa | Hot cakes

Egypt’s patisserie police crack down on depraved desserts

Sexy cupcakes are no joke, the government insists

|CAIRO

THE CELEBRATION seemed innocent enough. A group of old Egyptian women gathered at the posh Gezira Sporting Club in central Cairo to mark a birthday. For some reason, it seems, they wanted to shake things up. So for dessert they indulged in cupcakes topped with sweets shaped like genitalia (male and female). They also gobbled a cake that looked like a pair of buttocks. Pictures posted on social media show the women chuckling; one holds a pastry up to her mouth, its phallic confection menacingly close to her lips.

This article appeared in the Middle East & Africa section of the print edition under the headline “Hot cakes”

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