Cake mixing at The Casino Hotel kicks off Christmas fervour
- 23 Sep 2017
- Sunaya
- Features
The ‘Mattanchère Spice – A Christmas Tradition’ witnessed a long established cake mixing custom at The Casino Hotel
Compiled By: Charishma Thankappan Photos: Anand A N
Christmas revelry starts early at The Casino Hotel every year. The ‘Mattanchère Spice – A Christmas Tradition’ was an event that saw the time-honoured practice of cake mixing, which has been prevalent at the hotel since 1985. The hotel invited the media and guests to take part in the cake mixing activity, followed by high tea, at the Durbal Hall, in the hotel’s premises on September 22, 2017.
The event is held every year as an attempt to showcase the way the hotel makes their traditional plum cakes in time for Christmas. A team of 25 bakery chefs are involved in the process of baking the plum cakes, which begins right after the end of Christmas.
“This is a process where we want to tell Kochi that we respect the way plum cakes should be made the traditional way, giving importance to the traditional recipes and maturing period for the cake,” said George Joseph, general manager of The Casino Hotel.
“This event today is to mix the grapes with wine, different alcohol, and spices.”
Eager guests – both children and adults alike, were seen participating in the cake mixing. The partakers donned long plastic gloves, chef’s hats, and aprons to get ready to get ‘dirty’. However, the mixing looked easier than it actually was, as the thick, gooey, mouthwatering mixture of raisins was a heavy, tight mass that resulted in a good workout for the biceps! The fun-filled affair was the last batch of the raisins that were being mixed with nutmeg powder and rum.
Jemson Jose, sous chef – Bakery and Patisserie, explained the essence behind the culture.
“We started from February – selecting the raisins from each stem, cleaning them – washing and drying. They were then cooked with grape wine along with candied ginger, candied lemon zest, lemon juice, salt. The beauty of the cake is that it is kept for one month of maturation. During this time, the nectar inside the raisin bursts forth and keeps providing moisture to the cake, which keeps the cake moist. It (the cake) is the heart and soul of my team - that much love, care, and attention is given to that mixture. It is my baby.”
The bakery team has used Indian raisins sourced from Nasik, which is known for some of the best quality raisins in the world. The team will produce ten tonnes of matured plum cake this year, for which 4,000kgs of raisins have been used. Chef Jemson extended his appreciation to his team for their hardwork and efforts that they put in from February till December.
