Allahabadi Christmas cake blends creativity, cultures

Spice of Life: You have to have the proper recipe, buy, mix and prepare your ingredients as stipulated in it and get it baked at a bakery with ovens using coal furnaces to get that iconic taste

A Punjabi relishing a British delight with an Awadhi twist! There couldn’t be a better tribute to the lip-smacking Allahabadi Christmas cake than this, I thought as I eyed the delectable spread on the dining table. I simply could not wait to sink my teeth into it. The aroma of Christmas cakes that lay in front of me was too hard to resist. After all Christmas, and the chance to savour the cakes, come only once a year.

The Allahabadi Christmas cake is a British delight with an Awadhi twist, a perfect mélange of Indian and British culinary traditions and creativity, and thus, a symbol of bonhomie. (Representative photo)

The Allahabadi Christmas cake is a perfect mélange of Indian and British culinary traditions and creativity, and thus, a symbol of bonhomie. The Awadhi twist granted to it by incorporating the famous ‘petha’ of Agra, is attributed to a Muslim baker and an Anglo lady of Allahabad. It is followed to a tee by the Christians possessing the recipe, which landed in my family residing in Amritsar, thanks to my maternal grandmother, who hailed from Allahabad, the city of Triveni Sangam.

I fought the urge to steal a bite and waited patiently till after dinner and was rewarded with the first piece of the same. The first bite transported me into raptures of delight when my taste buds came in contact with the delicious mixture of fruit, peels, dry fruits and other ingredients marinated in rum for days. Meanwhile, my teeth romanced the ‘petha’. I have been relishing this experience for the past four decades. Yet, every Christmas season makes these cakes taste even tastier than ever before.

There’s more to the Allahabadi Christmas cake than just the confluence of Anglo-Awadhi traditions. It’s a symbol of goodwill between families, friends and colleagues being a part of the process of gift-giving. I remember the time when my buddies and colleagues used to eagerly look forward to mine each Christmas. The cake, coupled with a cup of hot tea or coffee, helped us forge long-lasting ties and beautiful memories that we cherish to date.

The uniqueness of the Allahabadi Christmas cake lies in the fact that it is something you simply cannot order or buy off the shelves on the spur of the moment. You have to have the proper recipe, buy, mix and prepare your ingredients as stipulated in it and get it baked at a bakery with ovens using coal furnaces to get that iconic taste. You can add your creative touch to make your confection unique.

Besides, you have to book your slot and stick to it. That’s not much of an issue with the Christians of Amritsar, the food capital of India, where this Christmas tradition has received a fillip over the years. The gradually growing queues outside the few bakeries that bake these cakes, testify to people’s acceptance of this unique Christmas tradition. shaheen.parshad@gmail.com

The writer is an Amritsar-based freelance contributor