23 December,2009 06:55 AM IST | | Fiona Fernandez
With just 2 days to go for Christmas, it's a race to bag the best Plum Cake. The GUIDE goes on a Plum Cake trail across Mumbai to bring you off-the-counter buys and goodies made in Catholic aunties' kitchens
Chances are, that by the time you read this, most of Mumbai's Christmas-celebrating crowd would have wiped bakery shelves empty. Mumbai's bakeries and home-bred cake makers work overtime to ensure every table has a Plum Cake to savour. We'll help ensure you get your chance too. Get, set, gorge!
WHY PLUM CAKE?
In the early days, porridge was eaten after a day's fasting on Christmas eve. Later, it evolved into a fruit-nut pudding and eventually the rich, fruit cake made from the finest milled wheat flour. This tradition reached India with the British colonialists. Alternatively called the Plum Cake, it's the most popular element on the X'mas goodies list.
SOUTH MUMBAI
Celebrations
Call: 32953043
Christmas Cake, Rs 650/kg, Rs 350/1.5kg
Tucked away behind Cymroza Art Gallery, this bakery needs no introduction. With samples for customers to taste and choose, Mehernosh Khajotia's rum-soaked Christmas cakes, filled with raisins and walnuts, are drool-worthy.
Gaylord
Call: 22044693
Special Marzipan Plum Cake, Rs 725/kg; Regular Plum Cake, Rs 515/kg
This South Mumbai landmark has been using the same recipe for 50 years. The marinating of fruit and nut (like almonds, sultanas, black currant, cashew nuts) in rum and wine is done on September 1, and the cakes hit shelves by December 18, says Noel D'Souza. The pricing, flavour and clientele have been in tact all these years.
CENTRAL MUMBAI
WORLI
City Bakery
Call: 24930562
Plum Cake, Rs 92/1.5kg bar
This 50 year-old bakery, dotted with a chimney, is a relic from the past. It is a humble hot-bed of baked delights, and makes a mouthwatering Plum Cake, minus the frills.
DADAR
Ovenfresh
Call: 32492666
Special Christmas Plum Cake, Rs 180/450gms;
Rs 240/650gms
Easily the most popular bakery-restaurant in the Shivaji Park area, its owners changed hands sometime back but the season specials remain in demand. Owner Ronak Mehta claims, this year for the first time, his bakers have used brandy sauce in the preparationu00a0 of their plum cakes.
CENTRAL SUBURBS
MULUND
Indulge
Call: 9819787328
USP: Rich Fruit Plum Cake, Rs 300/kg onwards
Faye Almeida was gifted an oven as a wedding present, and that's where her love affair with baking began. Orders have skyrocketed through word-of-mouth. She has moved out of her home kitchen to set up shop. Faye only uses butter and brown sugar in her fruit cakes.
WESTERN SUBURBS
BANDRA
American Express Bakery
Call: 26422857
Rich Plum Cake, Rs 360/kg
Set up in 1922, this institution on Hill Road has a Plum Cake recipe that's a Carvalho family secret. Here, fruits are marinated by mid-September, and the cakes are ready by the third week of December. "We never run
out of stock until Christmas day," says proprietor Emil Carvalho, with a
proud grin.
J. Hearsch & Co. Bakery
Call: 26435361
Rich Plum Cake (without alcohol), Rs 45 (bar with 10 slices)
This 100 year-old landmark believes in getting you your money's worth. The age-old recipe includes cut peel (rind of sweet lime) and cashew nuts in addition to the usual ingredients. It's prepared with the same care it was years ago, promises Melvyn D'Sa.
Kathleen Rodrigues
Call: 26434307/9820928572
Special Mixed Fruit Cake,
Rs 500/kg
One of Bandra's many homemade cake specialists, Kathleen has been making cakes for five years.
Rejoyce
Call: 65137444
Christmas Cake, Rs 2,000
for 2.5 kgs
One of the newer, equally busy bakeries on Chapel Road, Rejoyce prides itself in two artistically decorated varieties of Christmas cakes that fly off the shelves this time of the year.
Vanita D'Sa
Rich Plum Cake (without icing),
Rs 200/400gms,
Rs 400/800gms
Call: 26430232/ 9820646734
Vanita soaks the fruits in rum and repeats the process with the ready cakeu00a0-- the end result is divine. She says icing is a waste on Christmas cakes.
VAKOLA
Vienna Bakery
Call: 26672811/26672811
Rich Plum Cake, Rs 148/800gms; Rs 74/400gms.
This famous 50 year-old confectionary brand has Mumbaiities eating out of their hands, with their version of the rich Plum Cake. Their main bakery, located in Vakola, is your best bet for last-minute buys.
MALAD
Fiesta
Marzipan Plum Cake, Rs 900/kg, Rs 450/1.5 kg; Plum Cake Bars, Rs 85
Call: 28611313
This eight year-old bakery brings in the crowds even though Malad is littered with home-made cake options. Owner Alka D'Souza says their fruit is soaked in alcohol in September, and later baked at their own unit to give the cakes a home-made appeal.
Goan Food Restaurant
Rich Plum Cake, Rs 400/kg
Call: 9820756797/ 9029815274
This family-run business near Orlem Church, run by Misquitta and Gloria Fernandes, makes plum cakes with and without alcohol, and pull every stop to ensure orders are catered to, as loyalists in the area with vouch for.
BORIVLI
Brownie Point
Call: 65272591
Plum Cake, Rs 300/kg
This popular Borivli bakery manages to hold its own and works wonders as the last-minute stop for the Christmas plum cake. It does a fairly good job at recreating it, with a vintage, homely touch.
