Ibiza The Fern Resort and Spa gears up to welcome the Christmas season

The season for making plum cakes with nuts, fruits and spices is finally here. Ibiza: The Fern Resort and Spa, Kolkata, hosted a grand cake-mixing ceremony on December 7 on the verdant lawn, basking in the sunlight and rapture of the ravishing December month. A galaxy of stars, including actors Sonalee Chaudhuri, Swatika Dutta and Kyusha Biswas and singer Soumitra Ray, joined the ‘Cake Mixing Ceremony’ at Ibiza.

The cake mixing was initiated by Subhadip Basu, General Manager and Zaffar Rahman, EAM (F&B), Ibiza. Other chefs, resort staff, residents and non-resident guests rolled up their sleeves and donned their Christmas hats to plunge into a hearty mix of dry fruits, nuts, raisins and syrups galore.

“Cake mixing is an ancient traditional festival marking the onset of harvest season in the western countries. We also embraced this culture here that ushers in the Christmas festival in earnest. It is also a ritual performed to welcome happiness and prosperity. The more hands that go into it, the better the flavour of the cake. We, at Ibiza: The Fern Resort and Spa, Kolkata, have a full-fledged bakery and churn out cakes of all sorts of flavours. We celebrate the ritual every year with fun and frolic. We are delighted to have the gracious presence of singer Soumitra Ray and actors Sonalee Chaudhuri, Swastika Dutta and Kyusha Biswas,” said Subhadip Basu.

The cake mixing began with handing over the aprons, gloves and Santa caps to the guests and celebrities. This was followed by the chefs, other staff members of the hotel and guests coming together to mix the ingredients. The process began with adding the fruits and nuts to a large container and pouring the spirits. Then the mixture was tossed and turned till they were drenched in the spirit.

Christmas décor and live crooning added immensely to the camaraderie of the event. This was followed by a scrumptious spread by the culinary maestros of the hotel to celebrate the festivities with a perfect blend of Christmas spirit and cheer. It was a tremendous task of mixing an assorted 35 kgs of fruits with 12 litres of wine, whiskey, beer, brandy, vodka and rum!

For almost 30 days, the mix will be allowed to steep before their special Christmas cakes, Christmas puddings and Dundee cakes come out of the oven.