Casino Hotel rings in Christmas season merriment with cake-mixing ceremony
Words and images by: FWD Media
Tucked away in a quiet corner is this hotel synonymous for some of the best cakes in Cochin. The Bakery at Casino is well known for churning out some of the best goodies in this part of town and come Christmas time, this place gets busy. Nothing says Christmas more than the juicy decadent plum cake soaked with the choicest of fruits and every year Casino heralds in the season of joy with the cake mixing ceremony – a tradition the hotel has religiously following since 1985.
Preparations start early for The ‘Mattanchère Spice – A Christmas Tradition’- an event that all at the Hotel keenly look forward to and is a “big joy” as George Joseph, GM CGH Earth and “heart and soul of the bakery team,” as chef Jemson described it. The mood was upbeat as the media and guests partook in the event, which was held at the Durbar Hall of the hotel, and followed by high tea.
“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.
Ingredients are carefully sourced from far and wide early on at the beginning of the year as Chef Jemson explained to the crowd. This year the team has used Indian raisins sourced from Nasik, renowned for some of the best raisins in the world. Ten tonnes of the matured plum cake which will be baked require almost 4000 kgs of raisins and the laborious process of sorting, cleaning and cooking the ingredients with grape wine happen months before the cake is actually baked.
An assortment of goodies which will be part of the Christmas hamper were also on display. The Christmas hamper will include double chocolate brownies, plum pudding, assortment of cookies, chocolate bourbons, etc.