Beyond tradition

Imagine a cute Santa, a bright mistletoe or a Christmas wreath on a yummy, creamy base melting in your mouth? It’s a Christmas wish come true! Gone are the days when Christmas treats meant only the traditional plum cake.  Sweet treats for the season have moved on. With everybody high on the Christmas spirit, what better way to indulge in the festive spirit than with tasty cupcakes and heavenly cookies that are bright, colourful, inviting and perfect to spread the joy!

Giving a delicious twist to the traditional plum cake are the ‘chocolate plum cupcakes’, available at ‘Happy Belly Bakes’. Shisham, the proprietor, says that they don’t make the regular plum cakes and have a very moist version of it. “We don’t use regular fruits. We use high-end ingredients like almonds, walnuts and candied ginger instead of tutti-frutti.”

She says that they make Christmas cupcakes in other flavours like carrot, banana walnut and blueberry too instead of the regular flavours. “The icing can be fondant decorative toppers, varied colours of rich butter cream or royal icing. We also do chocolate ganache topping.”

Shisham says that their cupcakes have well-soaked fruits in them. “We use butter over a lot of flour. To keep the cupcake soft and fluffy, we also add milk to the batter. The correct baking temperature adds to the moistness. Also, after the cupcakes are baked, we wrap them up and let them cool slowly. This helps retain the moisture,” she says.

About cookies, she says that they are customised. “We do shapes like Santa, socks, mittens and reindeers. We also make gingerbread man cookies. Stained glass cookies are a speciality and so are sunshine cookies, which have vanilla-based royal icing.”

Other passionate bakers like Katherene Deborah from ‘Ms K Cupcakes’ are making cookies in classic ‘Christmasy’ flavours. “We have made something unique this year — edible decorations like cookies and cake pops that can be hung on the Christmas trees.” Cookies shaped like Christmas trees, candy canes, stockings, snowflakes and gingerbread man are popular at this time of the year.

“For the cupcakes, we use colours like red, green, white and gold. While the flavours might not go well with everyone, I suggest the red velvet cupcakes with cinnamon, nutmeg or bourbon buttercream. We are also doing cupcakes with ‘drunken chocolate’, which has rum in it,” details Katherene. She says that when it comes to cupcakes, being gentle with the batter is the best way to go. “Everything has to be folded gently for the final product to have a nice fluffy feel,” she says.

Goodies in interesting flavours like ‘gingerbread’ and ‘cherry liqueur’ are also a rage in the City.

Priya Vijan, proprietor of ‘Melt It Down’, says that gingerbread cupcakes are another speciality. “This cupcake is inspired by the traditional gingerbread cookie. It has spices like ginger and cinnamon in it which make it apt for the festive season, with a cream cheese frosting,” says Priya excitedly. She adds that the ‘gooey chocolate’ has a chocolatey texture while the ‘cherry liqueur’ and the ‘gingerbread cupcakes’ are more dense. All the three flavours are prominent and intense. Priya is making them in packs of six, with a set of two in each flavour or six of the flavour.

She says that the ‘gooey chocolate’ is a flourless creation. “This cupcake mainly has chocolate in it, where eggs are beaten well separately. The centre is gooey and is baked to a certain temperature. The denser cupcakes are made with the best of butter and have a lot to do with the liqueur. The cherry flavour and the pieces add to the experience,” she says.

Another hit this season are butter cookies with royal icing, says Yuvna Damani, chef with ‘Spoonful of Sugar’.

“We have these in different Christmas themes. We also have a larger cookie which is shaped like a white dove.” She says that in cupcakes there are the regular and larger sizes available. “Red velvet cupcakes with green cream cheese icing are a classic hit. Chocolate cupcakes with a green butter icing are also popular,” she says.

Ask her what enhances the taste and makes their goodies stand apart, and she says, “We use top-notch ingredients like good quality butter, icing sugar and cream cheese. The right amount of butter gives the right texture to the cookies. We use more of cream cheese and less of butter in the cupcakes. Baking them to a slightly higher temperature than required, makes them softer inside. Also, to make the taste pop up, one can add a few drops of lemon juice.”