Ah! Christmas. It's time to pull out the woollies, hang the hollies, dress up the tree, truss up the chicken, filter the wine... and hurry the cakes into the oven.
Away from the high-profile mixing-baking sessions at star hotels and the bustle at the well-stocked shops and commercial bakeries, it's the cakes of the traditional home bakers that a particular clientele lines up for this festive season. A must-have on the Christmas table, these moist, crumbly, dried-fruit laden, rum-soaked, round or rectangular cakes speak of some planning and loads of love put in by those baking them.
The oven's been heating up at regular intervals these days at Nicky Picardo's home near Lal Deval as the 69-year-old is midway through delivering on orders. He learnt the art of cake-making from his better half, Tessy, and modestly says he's only standing in for her while she meets other family commitments. The couple has been in the business for 20 years now, more for the love of baking than pecuniary considerations.
In Picardo's vat, the dried fruits and zests swim in the spirits for at least a couple of months before the baking. The recipe for the cake is pretty simple; one just needs to get the proportions correct. That's something Picardo has mastered and there's rarely a cake slab among the few hundreds that he bakes that has gone wrong. He will continue to bake till Christmas eve, while also making other sweets like marzipans, milk toffees, date rolls and guava cheese.
Such sweets have been the mainstay on the menu card of Mary Phillips on Convent Street in Pune Camp for a good 15 years now. However, she has added cake-making to her repertoire for the last three years. The 53-year-old bakes 300-400 cakes for Christmas, with at least 30-40 emerging from the oven daily.
At another end of town, in Aundh, Veena Pinto (51) has been selling her rich fruit cakes for the past 10-12 years. The former lecturer, who has an M.Sc and an M.Phil degree against her name, came to Pune from Mangalore around 20 years ago. She usually bakes around 50 kilos of cake for Christmas, but makes them all year round too with buyers even from the UK and the Gulf pre-ordering and then coming over to pick them up.
Pinto prides herself on her cakes being chockful with dried fruits, zests and other ingredients while staying frugal on the flour. She lets us in partly on her cake-making secret, saying just 400g flour is added to one-and-a-half kilos of dried fruits.
Pinto owes much of her baking expertise to Zandra Sequeira, a 77-year-old Koregaon Park resident. Sequeira, who came to Pune from Chennai in 1968, sold what she terms as "no-compromise cakes" for a good 15 years in Pune. She learnt her art from her mother, who made cakes, ginger ale, different wines, sweets and even wedding gowns and hats in Chennai.
Sequeira stopped making cakes around three years ago. Now, the spirit is still willing, but only to bake that one special cake for her family for Christmas.
Away from the high-profile mixing-baking sessions at star hotels and the bustle at the well-stocked shops and commercial bakeries, it's the cakes of the traditional home bakers that a particular clientele lines up for this festive season. A must-have on the Christmas table, these moist, crumbly, dried-fruit laden, rum-soaked, round or rectangular cakes speak of some planning and loads of love put in by those baking them.
The oven's been heating up at regular intervals these days at Nicky Picardo's home near Lal Deval as the 69-year-old is midway through delivering on orders. He learnt the art of cake-making from his better half, Tessy, and modestly says he's only standing in for her while she meets other family commitments. The couple has been in the business for 20 years now, more for the love of baking than pecuniary considerations.
In Picardo's vat, the dried fruits and zests swim in the spirits for at least a couple of months before the baking. The recipe for the cake is pretty simple; one just needs to get the proportions correct. That's something Picardo has mastered and there's rarely a cake slab among the few hundreds that he bakes that has gone wrong. He will continue to bake till Christmas eve, while also making other sweets like marzipans, milk toffees, date rolls and guava cheese.
Such sweets have been the mainstay on the menu card of Mary Phillips on Convent Street in Pune Camp for a good 15 years now. However, she has added cake-making to her repertoire for the last three years. The 53-year-old bakes 300-400 cakes for Christmas, with at least 30-40 emerging from the oven daily.
At another end of town, in Aundh, Veena Pinto (51) has been selling her rich fruit cakes for the past 10-12 years. The former lecturer, who has an M.Sc and an M.Phil degree against her name, came to Pune from Mangalore around 20 years ago. She usually bakes around 50 kilos of cake for Christmas, but makes them all year round too with buyers even from the UK and the Gulf pre-ordering and then coming over to pick them up.
Pinto prides herself on her cakes being chockful with dried fruits, zests and other ingredients while staying frugal on the flour. She lets us in partly on her cake-making secret, saying just 400g flour is added to one-and-a-half kilos of dried fruits.
Pinto owes much of her baking expertise to Zandra Sequeira, a 77-year-old Koregaon Park resident. Sequeira, who came to Pune from Chennai in 1968, sold what she terms as "no-compromise cakes" for a good 15 years in Pune. She learnt her art from her mother, who made cakes, ginger ale, different wines, sweets and even wedding gowns and hats in Chennai.
Sequeira stopped making cakes around three years ago. Now, the spirit is still willing, but only to bake that one special cake for her family for Christmas.
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