This year's icing on Christmas cake in Kolkata: Symbols of political parties

KOLKATA: With the state Assembly elections due next year, Christmas cakes this time have got different icings -- political party symbols.

A woman and her friends have opened a stall of homemade cakes with icing designed as lotus (BJP symbol), twin flowers and grass (ruling TMC), hand and sickle-hammer (Congress and CPM).

Piyali Sarker told ANI that she came up with the idea to stand out.

"My friends and I have been making cakes for a long time. We thought we should make something that would stand out and with the state elections coming up, we hoped that people would find this interesting and attractive," Sarker said.

She added that sales have increased and they had been selling at least five cakes every day.

Many customers were delighted at the new look of the classic Christmas dessert.

"I was in the area and this (Piyali's cake) caught my eye. I saw the cake with the BJP logo and found it very interesting. This comes just in time for the Bara Din (Christmas, which celebrates Jesus Christ's birth), and combined with the anticipation of the upcoming elections, this is very exciting," said a customer.

According to Sarker, she didn't price the cakes high to attract more people.

"We are selling these cakes at a reasonable price with a slim profit margin, as right now, we want people to know about us and spread the word. It takes about an hour to make one cake," she said.

"The TMC and BJP cakes are the most popular among the people. We have also received a lot of orders, not from political parties, but from ordinary people," she added.