Winter in this part of the world surely brings in loads of joy for several reasons. Christmas and its celebrations are a part of it, and when we speak about Christmas it can’t go without having some soul pleasing plum cake with our loved ones beating the chill in the air! Cake Mixing ceremonies are held just prior to this festive season at various premises spread across the city which somewhat triggers this season of festivities and joy. And at Peerless Inn also it is believed that cake mixing is the best way to kick off the winter season! Cake mixing involves a good number of participants in the mixing activity since it is believed the more number of people involved in mixing these ingredients; more the abundance of resources will be there in the coming year. Every year at Peerless Inn they have celebrities enjoying the cake mixing, but this year they decided to think a bit different and to invite senior citizens from old age homes and a big group of cheerful school kids. It was really awesome to watch all the elderly people rolling up their sleeves to get involved in this mixing activity.
The ingredients, which included assorted nuts (like almonds, cashew, walnuts, etc) dry fruits (like plum, cherries, orange peels, lemon jests, resins, etc) spices and alcohol. True to the legacy of the English and Anglo Indian traditions that Kolkatans still celebrate this occasion with joy.
After being mixed together the rich concoction will be left to soak for the next few weeks before Christmas, till the time they get baked by master bakers into tempting cakes. This ceremony is conducted in great atmosphere of fun and merriment. Here, the whole idea of cake mixing is to energize all the well wishers and friends for the coming year end celebrations. The cake mixing is anyway an old event that is traditionally celebrated in European countries to bring in good fortune. So with this ceremony here it is expected that good times with great fortune will come in our lives as well.
The event was very well planned and the arrangements were good keeping in mind loads of elderly people and kids are coming in. The cake mixing tray though I believe was bit smaller in size keeping in mind there were so may people around, also kids shouldn’t have been allowed to mix the ingredients with alcohol, there must have been separate fruit juice or something equivalent for them to pour in and mix. But otherwise it was a lovely event filled with unadulterated joy and laughter.
Cheers!
foodiedada 