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Soaking up the fun and flavour

PUDUCHERRY: Forty ingredients go into the making of your Christmas plum cake! And, these items, including dry fruits, fruit peel, cherries and seasoning, are mixed at least 45 days before the day the baking is done.

This ritual, called ‘raisin soaking’, was held recently at Hot Breads and The Promenade in Puducherry, with the staff and guests too joining in the fun. The aroma of nutmeg and cinnamon hung in the air during the 10 minute mass mixing. The staff also had to pick out gold and silver chocolate coins from the mixing. This was done so that every ingredient would be mixed in proper proportion.

And, did you know that in some raisin soakings people add a bit of garam masala to add a bit of flavour. A bit of rum and wine are also added for good measure. If clients specify that the mixing is for children then more of nutmeg and cinnamon are added.

The mix is kept sealed and taken out only while baking so that the flavour remains intact. For every 500 g of mix you can make 2.5 kg of cake. After baking when you bite into the cake the flavours of the individual ingredients stand out.

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