Mixing together the joyful spirit of Christmas

With the festive Christmas season just round the corner; Auchan hypermarket organized the annual Cake Mixing Ceremony with tradition and fanfare at its Inorbit Mall store, Pune today. During the ceremony, kilos of dry fruits were mixed to make 15 tons of plum cake for this year’s Christmas.

Speaking about the occasion, Mr. Ponnu Subramanian, Senior VP-Buying and Merchandising (Foods) & SCM, Max Hypermarkets India Pvt. Ltd., commented, “Cake mixing is a traditional ceremony that commemorates the start of the festive season. Christmas seems incomplete without the traditional Christmas cake and we continue this tradition with a lot of enthusiasm and fervour. The feeling of joy experienced at the ceremony with all the staff and guests participating in this tradition cannot be described in words. It is the perfect way to kick-start the festive season Through this ceremony we get our customers to participate and indulge in the real joy of cake mixing.

Meticulous planning and detailing went into the whole process right from sourcing the right ingredients, cleaning and chopping them and then mixing it with alcohol. The event drew the attention of many customers, who enthusiastically participated, wearing gloves and helping the Auchan staff mix the ingredients.

The blend consisted of an array of fruits and nuts like raisins, black currants, prunes, glazed dates, cherries and candied orange and lemon rind cashews, pistachios and almonds. Then came the part that everybody liked the best - pouring in generous quantities of liquor, fresh juices like orange, grape and lime and sometimes even jars of honey that are generously added. The mixture was then tossed and patted till all the fruits and nuts are evenly coated. To add on honey, marmalade and mixed fruit jam were mixed into the dry fruits before it was safely stored away. The jam is added to bind the fruits and mellow the sharp flavour of the liquor.

This was stored in air tight containers so that moisture doesn’t creep in. The whole idea behind mixing months in advance was that the flavour soaks in with the right kind of alcohol used.

This special tradition of cake mixing can be traced back to the 17th century in Europe, when the cake mixing ceremony marked the arrival of the harvest season. During this time lots of fruits and nuts were harvested for the cake mixing ceremony.