What are Gtor-ma Cakes?

Gtor-ma cakes are sacrificial cakes used in Tibetan Buddhist ceremonies as offerings to deities. The unbaked cakes are prepared by kneading parched barley flour and butter into cones, decorated with pats of butter. The cakes form part of the phyi-mchod, or eight offerings of external worship, as well as part of the offerings of the five senses, which are considered internal worship. For presentation to wrathful tantric deities (dharmapalas), the gtor-ma are realistically coloured and modelled to resemble parts of the human body.