This cake was made for a Mother’s Day afternoon tea party to celebrate Mother’s Day and to remember a very special mother who had gone home to be the Lord two years ago on the date of this year’s Mother’s Day.   Mrs. Mulan L. Z., the second daughter of an older couple, was born around the time of the Sino-Japanese War.  Her father, being without any sons and beyond the age of military service , named her after Mulan Hua, the female Chinese warrior from the Ballad of Mulan* who had taken her father’s place in answering the call to fight for her country.  (Yes, you guessed it right – Mulan Hua is the same Mulan from the Disney cartoon, except that the original story did not have the dragon, nor the gods, nor the story of Mulan rescuing the emperor.)  Although Mrs. Mulan L. Z. was far from being a warrior in the physical sense in her lifetime, she was remembered by her family and friends as a woman who, through the strength God gave her,  overcame many fears in her own life, on the behalf of her family, and encouraged many in her quiet manners.  One of her friends fondly referred to her as “the quiet warrior.”  I am reminded of the Word of God from 2 Corinthians 12:9, “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness…”

As a way to remember Mulan, her daughter, Flora, wanted me to make a Mulan, which is actually the name of a flower in Chinese.  While not  certain how the flower really looked like, I did some research and was very surprised to find how  befitting that Mulan, without knowing, had named her two daughters “Lily” and “Flora” – as it turned out, Mulan is a type of Magnolia, namely, Magnolia Lillyflora…  Happy Mother’s Day.

*You may find the original Ballad of Mulan in English at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ballad_of_Mulan.  For Chinese, you may find it at http://home.pacific.net.hk/~shung/favorites/mulan.html.