Jabalpur/Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): As December adds wintriness to the chill and the church bells peal to welcome Christmas and the New Year, an aroma of cakes and pastries stem from many alleys in Jabalpur.
Cakes are generally hot and make one's mouth water. Yet, the one, called wine cake, prepared this time of the year in the city, gives off a more delightful fragrance than other cakes do.
A Christian family has been baking this cake since the British Raj. Owner of the bakery Isha Victor says his father set it up in the British era.
Wine cake is something that is made only on Christmas.
An addition of a drop of wine to a cake stops it from getting wrinkles, as well as laces it with an extra tang, Victor says.
This is the reason why it is in demand during Christmas, Victor says.
People book it one month in advance, he says, adding that wine cake is in demand everywhere across the country.
People from Delhi, Gujarat and Maharashtra make a trip to the city for it.
The family of former chief minister of Chhattisgarh late Ajit Jogi is fond of this cake.
'We still adopt the traditional methods to prepare wine cake. We use a furnace to bake the cake instead of an electric oven which doubles its feel,' Victor says.
A customer, Manu Priya, says that she has been buying it since her childhood, as her father used to bring this cake from the shop. It is so yummy that she is yet to find such a luscious cake anywhere across the country.
Manu who works in Delhi says that she visits Jabalpur during the Christmas holiday to buy wine cake from the shop.
'Ergo, put a piece of wine cake in your mouth and, as soon as it melts, take another; and let the process continue...' a wine cake lover says.
(With inputs from Shiv Choubey)
