Jennifer McPhee
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Feb 11/02) -

SUBHEAD: CUTLINE #1: Jennifer McPhee/NNSL photo The NorthMart bakery is so busy that Wally Bootsma is looking for an assistant cake decorator. by Northern News Services NorthMart baker and cake decorator, Wally Bootsma, comes from a long line of bakers.

His grandfather, father, uncle and three brothers all worked as bakers.

His father was a master baker and pastry chef.

"He was very classy and efficient," says Bootsma. "I saw him do 18 black forest cakes in an hour."

Bootsma and his father owned a shop from 1985 to 1992. During that time, Bootsma was "big into cakes." He usually produced 24 birthday cakes over a weekend.

He's now NorthMart's baker and cake decorator.

Northmart brings frozen dough in from Ottawa and shapes and moulds it, in addition to making and decorating cakes. "This gives people an alternative to pre-packaged," says Bootsma. "It's fresher."

You might think someone who spends so much time around breads, pastries and cakes would be on the heavy side.

He's not. "Most bakers are not overweight," he explains. "Because it's a lot of hard work. It's hard lifting and you have to move fast. It's not like domestic baking. You can't take your time at it."

In most shops, bakers must produce enough product to equal five times what they earn.

"In places like this," he says. "It's even higher."

On Bootsma's counter is a birthday cake adorned with blue icing and a wrestling superstar's picture made of edible rice paper.

The cake is for a young boy from Qikiqtarjuaq. NorthMart regularly sends cakes to other communities.

Bootsma says companies now offer shortcuts to cake decorators -- icing flowers and roses come ready made.

Cakes with surfaces resembling construction sites with little trucks, roads and rocks are big sellers, he says. And, as always, Barbie remains popular.

The cake on the counter looks perfect, but Bootsma says he's not immune to decorating bloopers.

"I put my name on a cake once," he says.

"It said Happy Bootsma. I don't know what possessed me. They came back and I had to redo it."