Celebrity cake mixing, latest happy hour time?

It’s a trend that seems to be growing by the day. As hotels increasingly call in celebrities  for Christmas cake mixing, we decided to get into the investigative spirit and find out the rationale behind this festive activity.

Christmas cake mixing involves mixing huge quantities of fruit peel, nuts and spices into a cake mix that is marinated for over a month. The cake that results is then divided up by the hotel and distributed to its clients, gifted in festive hampers to favoured customers and can also be bought at the cake shops within the hotel. The celebrities coming in perform the act of throwing in some ingredients in a symbolic way which is later buttressed by chefs for the final delicious product that emerges several weeks later.

That Christmas cake mixing is a ‘happy’ activity seems to add to the charm for the celebrity concerned. As Ayaan Ali Khan who attended one such event in Mumbai last year explains, “It so happened that we were staying in the hotel concerned and the management requested us to be a part of it. The best part was that they called a whole bunch of children to the mixing as well for whom it was an exciting experience. The concept I think is universal brotherhood and peace and harmony. Which human being would not want to be part of such an event?”

Adds TV actress Divyanka Tripathi, “I’d love to be a part of a such an activity, if I was ever asked to. I like the fact that the cake can be presented in special hampers and would like the recipient to consider it a special gift from me. There’s so much patience that goes into the making of X’mas cake — and it is sprinkled with so much love. That’s exciting!”

Celebrity food critic Rashmi Uday Singh who’s attended cake mixings both in London and in India sees it as a global phenomenon. “It’s a sign of the times. Whether in London or in Mumbai, people love the celebrity quotient and that’s the real reason it’s thriving. For the hotel concerned it’s a public relations opportunity and for the celebrity it means more exposure to the public.”

Restaurateur Riyaz Amlani, who sees the Christmas cake mixing as a ritual attached to Christmas cake, points out that it is done all over the world and in individual households as well with or without celebrity. “But when you call in a celebrity it helps the cake sell better because then there’s the ‘X’mas cake-mixed-by-so-and-so-celebrity’ tag attached to it,” he points out. Riyaz says that it’s a win-win situation for everybody concerned because it serves up commercial enterprise “accompanied by the warm gooey Christmas feeling.”