City rings in Yuletide spirit with cake mixing galas

The practice, which began with harvesting plums and nuts prior to the Christmas season and preserving them by soaking in a mixture of alcohols to be used in the cakes, is buzzing in Chennai too.

As part of the ceremony, dry fruits like almonds, cashews, raisins, plums, apricots, cranberries, etc. are doused in a heady dose of rum, brandy, whiskey or wine and allowed to soak for a few weeks till it’s time to bake the cake. As many hotels across the city are becoming venues for social gatherings through cake mixing, they tell us that it is also the time to send out messages on healthy eating and sharing happiness irrespective of one’s religion.

At their recent cake mixing ceremony which witnessed popular faces from around the city, The Residency Towers declared that their cake was going to be “99 per cent trans-fat free”. General Manager Erin Louis explains, “Generally, there are a lot of trans-fats like Vanaspati in the plum cakes. Instead, we decided to use butter and pack the cakes in metal tins with a special layered packaging that will allow the cake to have a shelf life of a year if kept in a refrigerator. Our idea was also to place a focus on health and hygiene through the event. Cake mixing as a ritual is also a way of sharing happiness, irrespective of religion.” The process of plum cake making, is also a rather elaborate one that involves a lot of care and passion, he says. After 30-50 days of soaking, the nut mixture matures as the sugars in the fruit ferment over time, adds Erin.

Ankush Gupta, the assistant food and beverage manager at Radisson Blu City Centre Chennai, finds the event, which was once done internally among hotels by chefs, now becoming a festival in itself. “Many people in the city are now coming forward to host their own cake mixing events, which were once done by the hotel chefs themselves on the back-end. The event has become an occasion for everyone in the city to gather and mark the beginning of Christmas. Since everyone is involved in mixing and soaking the nuts, the cake will also be looked forward to by all,” he remarks.