Diwali is still a fortnight away and in fact it was a week before Dussehra that we actually heard the Christmas bells ring. The staff at Hotel Heritage Madurai on Melakkal Main Road decided to begin the preparations for the traditional Christmas plum cake, much ahead of others in the city. To spread the cheer and warmth of the festive season, they organised a stress-free gathering and invited people from different walks of life to take part in the traditional cake mixing ceremony.
The event was elaborately arranged complete with colourful balloons all over, a fully-decorated Christmas tree with gifts under it and Christmas carols playing in the background. The jolly atmosphere was much underway as the beaming general manager Anu Abraham led the guests, particularly the children and in-house guests consisting of several foreign tourists, his counterparts from other city hotels and few other known citizens.
Plastic gloves, tissue aprons and Santa caps were distributed to all and everybody moved towards the 24 feet long steel table on which the ingredients were kept. The 100 kilos of chopped, grated and sliced dried fruits were not just heaped on the table but were laid out in colourful combination in the shapes of a snowman and the Christmas tree.
Attractive that it looked, Anu Abraham further upped the fun of mixing by announcing that 16 silver coins were hidden in the ingredients. “Whoever gets the coin is considered blessed and lucky,” he said, as the old and the young rolled up their sleeves and got into the joyful mood of treasure hunting and mixing the ingredients more vigorously. As pairs of hands crushed and patted, flipped and tossed, pressed and over-turned the dry fruits including the omega-3 rich walnuts, almonds, cashew nuts, pistas, dates, yellow, dry and black raisins, apricot, figs, dry ginger chips, orange peels, prunes and cranberries, few voices let out screams in between on finding the silver coins. Truly, as the belief goes, it was the harbinger of happiness.
Accompanied with lot of cheering and camaraderie, 25 litres of rum and fives litres of imported red wine was gradually added to the mix. “While the fruits will add an element of natural sweetness, the richly dark colour and the intense flavour will come from the liquor added,” briefed Anu as the excitement level of the group kept rising.
“It is best to do the cake mixing at least two months before Christmas so that all the flavours, aroma and textures get appropriate time to soak in and mature,” he continued.
After about an hour, the sloshed dry fruits were transferred into four huge air tight drums. The mixture would be taken out on 15 December -- that is 72 days after the mixing -- and added to the dough to bake delicious plum cakes in moulds of 400 gm, 800 gm and one kg.
From experience, Anu says, the Heritage cakes would be the real plum cakes, properly matured, blackish in colour and little bitter in taste. If done properly, these cakes can even be preserved for a year, he says.
While the hotel will take customised orders and sell on kg plum cake for Rs.1,500 during the Christmas season, all their in-house guests will get to eat it free. From the mixed and preserved ingredients, the staff expects to bake 150 kilos of plum cake.
“We followed the age-old tradition of cake ceremony since the hotel is also housed in 100-year-old heritage property,” said Anu, promising to return with the delicious crunch this winter..
The cake mixing ceremony is a ritual followed the world over and in modern times has become a high profile event in swanky hotels. Hotel Fortune Pandiyan has also announced the cake mixing ceremony to be held on October 15. It will be led by popular pattimandram speaker S. Raja.
The Christmas plum cake is a symbol of celebration and the countdown has begun.
