Cake mixing at Hyatt Regency, Kolkata

Kolkata, October 8, 2013: Today morning I went to hotel Hyatt Regency, Kolkata, for a cake mixing ceremony. Cake mixing is usually done by the city hotels to warm up to the approaching Christmas season and winter festivities.

Cake mixing is a traditional followed across the world which is said to be the harbinger of good tidings and the yuletide spirit. On the practical side, it is not easy to make Christmas cakes without preparation so the work has to begin a month or two in advance. The ingredients used in the festive fruit or plum cakes – raisins, black currants, dried fruits, candied peel, candied cherries, tutti frutti etc., are soaked in wine, rum, brandy, whiskey and other add-ons like taste-makers and flavouring agents to get the right aroma and flavour. Come December and the mix is would be ready for baking.

It is matter of right ingredients, patience, skill and intent which determines the outcome; the cakes may be light or dark, crumbly-moist to sticky-wet, spongy to heavy, leavened or unleavened and so on; it can be made in many different shapes, with frosting, glazing, a dusting of confectioneries, sugar or plain.

Cake mixing has deep roots in Kolkata given the years of British Raj and the Anglo Indian influence. Large steel basins, gloves, aprons and chef hats add to the spirit of the tradition.

For the past few years I always avoided requests for such events but this morning I went because Hyatt Regency was kind enough to take an initiative and call the elderly Pronam members for the cake mixing ritual.

From the four divisions of Kolkata Police, eight Pronam members, including myself, Usha Uthup, Arindam Sil and Anandi Ghose were there from The Bengal. The Pronam members participated with much cheer and fervour in the cake mixing ritual. I, on behalf of Pronam, am really thankful to the Hyatt’s new General Manager, Britta Leick-Milde, for taking this initiative. Thank you Britta.
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