Christmas
is unimaginable without cake and wine. For the season, bakeries offer a variety
of cakes, not only in taste but also in color, size, and shape. Sales of cakes at
bakeries and fairs peek during this season. The seasonal market is the magical
spring of coveted cakes and cake mixings.
The
traditional method of preparing the mixture for cake is known as Mix It Up
Ceremony. To understand the known history of cake mixing one has to go back
four centuries. Cake mixing is a tradition that started in Europe in the 17th
century and it takes place on the first Sunday of November. It is considered as
a very private family ceremony of the natives and the family reunions ahead of
Christmas and New Year. The fruits they received shortly after the harvest and
other dried produce are used to make fruit juices, alcohol, and wine. It is a
combination for making plum cake for Christmas and New Year. When the
ingredients are melted and the taste and aroma are perfect, the cake is ready
to be made. Every member of the household took part in the effort since the
reunion was a symbol of their hard work, unity and togetherness. Some would
send the cake to their relatives and friends. The agricultural profit that each
family received through the harvest was hidden in the ingredients for the cakes
in the respective houses. The only thing is to wait until Christmas for the
results to come out. Simply we can say that cake mixing is a celebration of
joy, fellowship, and togetherness that takes place before the birth of cakes in
the kitchen before Christmas.
Cake
mixing in Kerala started in the Thirties. Although cake making in India was
started by the British in Kerala, it was restricted to the white and affluent
community here. It has been only a few years since the practice of cake mixing
started in leading hotels and other places in Kerala. This process still
prevails in many homes and leading bakeries have already started mixing cakes.
Owners, shopkeepers, and workers all take part in the cake mixing.
It's
time to experiment with cakes. Miniature cakes that are decorated in a variety
of ways are a trend now. These are cute baby Christmas cakes that can be given
to loved ones and also became a major attraction in gift hampers. Miniature
cakes can be made using the dough of any cake, just like cupcakes. It's just a
matter of presenting them beautifully. These typically range in size from 5 cm
to 10 cm, and can be made in a different variety of shapes.
For
the connoisseurs, drinking wine is a ritual like hanging a star in front of the
house in December. From washing the grapes clean, wiping them with a clean
cloth, keeping them in a jar with an off-white yellow border, pouring boiling
water over them, sprinkling sugar on them, covering them with a cloth, and
placing it in the corner of the kitchen without anyone touching it, the process
is so interesting. More than fifteen dried fruits like raisins, dates, figs,
cherries, papaya, nuts, nuts like almonds, pistachios, spices like chuck, nutmeg,
cloves, cinnamon, sugar, flour, ghee, and eggs are added and mixed well, and
stored in airtight barrels for seven to eight weeks. It is true that wine is
what makes Christmas sweeter along with cakes. You just have to bite into a
piece of plum cake and experience the taste of a little wine afterward. Today a
wide variety of exotic and domestic wines are available in malls and
supermarkets. Wine today is not just about grapes. The people also make wine
using nutmeg, watery rose apple, carrots, and other different fruits. If you
put in two or three kilos, you can give each bottle as a gift along with the
cake to relatives and friends. On the 21st day, you will see the magic of pink
wine that turns into a bottle of good red wine after the lid is opened. It’s
time to cut the plum-cake, pour the wine into a glass and slowly drink it.