A winter evening of Yuletide splendour and the air scented with aromas of freshly baked cakes makes for the ideal wholesome festive setting. From December 22 to 25, visitors to Acropolis Mall, were treated to this festive atmosphere thanks to the fourth edition of Flavours of Bakery, a four-day bakery festival that stirred up the Christmas spirit of Kolkatans with a wide variety of cakes, pastries and ice creams
All images by Sourav NandyThe festival was inaugurated by (left) actress Sayantani Guhathakurta along with (right) K. Vijayan, general manager of Acropolis Mall, and Rukmini Paul, president of Pathchala, an NGO working for underprivileged children living in Kalighat. “At Acropolis, we believe in celebrating every season and culture. The aim is to provide a holistic experience to the shoppers in the mall. Even during the pandemic period, the mall was open and we tried our best to organise these festivals by following strict Covid protocols. I think it brought relief to the people from the mental lockdown more than the physical lockdown that the pandemic had put us through,” said Vijayan who gifted Christmas goodies to the children arranged for by the Merlin Group. “It feels beautiful to see the kids relish the cakes and sing Christmas carols with such enthusiasm. This is exactly what Christmas stands for,” added Vijayan
Brownies to cheesecakes, pastries to plum cakes, and muffins to almond-covered dundee cakes, there were many options to choose from. Flavours of Bakery had heritage bakeries like Flury’s and The Lalit Great Eastern on board along with other brands such as The Cake Boutique, Khadure, Royale Confectioners, Cakelicious, Mambo’s, Turkisyano and Choco Fantasy
At the heart of Kolkata’s Christmas experience for years, the Flury’s counter stood out for its classic plum cakes and its latest addition to the menu, the Nolen Gur cake. “We’ve been trying to keep our bakery tastes intact for decades, but the pandemic came with a price. Although this year has reinvigorated our sales and the trust of our customers,” said Sumanto Chowdhury, Area Manager of Flury’s
“I ventured into baking during the lockdown period. You can call it my passion. All of my items are home-based. I have a full commercial bakery set up right in my house and I operate from there. My specialisation is with customised cakes,” said Soma Sengupta from Khadure, based in Kasba, which is famous for its brownies (in picture). “This year, I’ve tried experimenting with different shapes of cookies, such as star and gingerbread ones,” she added
Barsha Ghosal, from The Cake Boutique, who has been a baker for the last five years, said, “I make customised cakes for birthdays, anniversaries, baby showers, you name it. Plum cakes and chocolates are usually in great demand during Christmas. The newest items in my store are the Caramel Cheese Delight (in picture) and the lemon tea cakes.”
“Strawberry dips and the Santa Claus lollipops are our bestsellers this time around. We’ve also got Santa Chocolate Bouquets as one of our newest additions. Our dry fruit cakes are, as always, trending during Christmas,” said Mohammad Ahmed from Choco Fantasy
Representing Mambo’s, Amit Jaiswal said: “People love our mud cakes, Oreo cupcakes (in picture) and chocolate tarts. Our red velvet jars are also quite a craze during Christmas. This year, we’ve introduced Basbousa, an Arabian delight.”
At Cakelicious, macarons and chocolate eclairs performed best. “People also adore our Yule logs during Christmas. Our new items this year are a French puff pastry named Vol-au-vent and a Latin puff pastry called Pithivier,” said Fatema Barodawla (in picture) from Cakelicious