On Saturday we were invited for a cake mixing ceremony in ITC Grand Chola. Since it was my first, I immediately jumped in. Those who read this blog regularly would know that I get kind of high on life in the latter half of the year with a punchy culmination for New Year's.
A cake mixing ceremony kickstarts the cake making preparations for Christmas in many restaurants. A Christmas cake or plum cake is baked or steamed before Christmas and is packed beautifully or wrapped with love and distributed to friends and relatives just like platters of sweets and savouries are distributed for Eid or for Diwali. Dear friend Cee, hosts a lovely Christmas party every year and after Ana kutti turned two she made it a point to invite us to baking the cakes too. I was happy to help her out with baking batches of the dark, fragrant cake and licking ladles clean after all the work was completed. To date, Ana kutti makes it a point to ask me when we would go misk (mix) the cake at Cee aunty's house. The twinkling, bedecked Christmas tree was an added attraction for her of course.
The cake mixing ceremony is one where restaurants or hotels invite guests over to mix the various dry fruits and nuts with honey and alcohol, to be used in making batches of plum cakes during Christmas. The whole affair is very relaxed yet festive. The nuts and spices are soaked in alcohol and are let to soak either a few months or a month at least before Christmas. The belief is that the more the nuts soak the better their flavour infuses in the plum cake.
Here in ITC Grand Chola's Italian restaurant Ottimo, we wore long white aprons and a tall chef's hat with long gloves that went up to our arm pits. The children who were special invitees, were given their own small hats and gloves. Then we walked up to a long, white trough which was lined to prevent leakages or drips. After a brief welcome by a head chef, we started tossing various nuts and dried fruits and spices, topping the lot with honey and spirits. It was beautiful to see such vibrant colours in the white trough - orange from apricots, red from dried cherries, black from currants, green from pistachios, brown walnuts and almonds and a host of other such colours. After that came the aromatic elements. I remember just briefly inhaling my favourite spice - cinnamon's scent before putting the fine powder in to the mix. For the most part I was happy to push the ingredients about to mix the lot together and making sure my chef's hat stayed on my head instead of slipping into the decadent mix. Ana kutti seemed to have a slight OCD moment, (taken after her dad looks like) feeling not very happy with getting her hands dirty. So she was mostly wandering about looking petulant that she was denied a chance to join the fray.
Before we knew it, the mixing was over and we walked over to where the hi-tea was laid out. The restaurant's beautiful earthy colours and clean design made for good photo backdrop. After nibbling on a few memorable dishes, pizzas and a superb lemon tarts, we were happy to call it a day. Ana kutti was loud in her appreciation of the tasty pizzas, which seemed to have made up for the dismal start of the evening for her. A foodie just like her mother! The cake mixing ceremony was capped with each of us getting a goody bag that had among other things a lovely, little memory of the evening in the form of the soaked fruits and nuts with a plum cake recipe to boot. I intend to try my hand at baking with the delectable goodies.
Here's to a very hopeful and bon-homie filled season to you all.
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| Colourful dry fruits and nuts waiting to be added |
The cake mixing ceremony is one where restaurants or hotels invite guests over to mix the various dry fruits and nuts with honey and alcohol, to be used in making batches of plum cakes during Christmas. The whole affair is very relaxed yet festive. The nuts and spices are soaked in alcohol and are let to soak either a few months or a month at least before Christmas. The belief is that the more the nuts soak the better their flavour infuses in the plum cake.
Here in ITC Grand Chola's Italian restaurant Ottimo, we wore long white aprons and a tall chef's hat with long gloves that went up to our arm pits. The children who were special invitees, were given their own small hats and gloves. Then we walked up to a long, white trough which was lined to prevent leakages or drips. After a brief welcome by a head chef, we started tossing various nuts and dried fruits and spices, topping the lot with honey and spirits. It was beautiful to see such vibrant colours in the white trough - orange from apricots, red from dried cherries, black from currants, green from pistachios, brown walnuts and almonds and a host of other such colours. After that came the aromatic elements. I remember just briefly inhaling my favourite spice - cinnamon's scent before putting the fine powder in to the mix. For the most part I was happy to push the ingredients about to mix the lot together and making sure my chef's hat stayed on my head instead of slipping into the decadent mix. Ana kutti seemed to have a slight OCD moment, (taken after her dad looks like) feeling not very happy with getting her hands dirty. So she was mostly wandering about looking petulant that she was denied a chance to join the fray.
Before we knew it, the mixing was over and we walked over to where the hi-tea was laid out. The restaurant's beautiful earthy colours and clean design made for good photo backdrop. After nibbling on a few memorable dishes, pizzas and a superb lemon tarts, we were happy to call it a day. Ana kutti was loud in her appreciation of the tasty pizzas, which seemed to have made up for the dismal start of the evening for her. A foodie just like her mother! The cake mixing ceremony was capped with each of us getting a goody bag that had among other things a lovely, little memory of the evening in the form of the soaked fruits and nuts with a plum cake recipe to boot. I intend to try my hand at baking with the delectable goodies.
Here's to a very hopeful and bon-homie filled season to you all.
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