This is the last Sunday before Christmas, and what better time to work our way through a nice delicious Christmas cake. At this time of the year the sweet tooth seems to erupt, and off I set to try out what was available in Lahores cake market.

As Christ is a Prophet recognized in our Holy Book, my late father always made it a point to visit all his Christian friends. “It is our religious obligation to make our Christian friends feel that we care”, he used to say. But though we live in exceptionally intolerant and illiterate times, I still hope all of us will make that special extra effort. In the process we can enjoy a slice of excellent Christmas cake.

In our youth it used to Mokkam Din, with Yasin Khan a close second. But then both of them have faded away. So I tried out the ‘Rich Fruit Cake’ that Shezan makes. It costs Rs480 for a kilo of this two-inch spread, and if intelligently purchased a two-layer cake of this lethal stuff can produce a four-kilo ‘killer’.

Oh, I have tried it twice, and it is, probably, the best thing that money can buy at this time of the year. If you could manage a sprinkling of the jolly stuff, it could have a ‘medicinal’ effect – get the drift.

But then an even better option is available. Ajmer Bakery in Gulberg Main Market produces a ‘nine-fruit’ Plum Cake. This bakery is known for its Christmas fares and I tried out a small piece of this. It was amazing. I would recommend this with hot custard as a main sweet. I understand that most foreign consulates buy from this bakery their Christmas wares.

They also produce an excellent Danish Bun which is very near the original stuff in cold Denmark. This makes an excellent stand alone meal with a glass of milk. Ajmer also makes excellent ‘patties’ outers and this is the best time of the year to experiment and make your own Christmas filling. Be it sweet, be it salty, or even a combination of cheese with mince and walnuts, the end result surely would be top of the line.

Probably every bakery will be producing cakes by the hundreds, mostly cream cakes and other combinations. I took a round of the fashionable new bakeries in Gulberg and DHA, and they say that they will bake them from Thursday onwards. But the traditional Christmas Fruit Cake is the one to go for. It is an expensive proposition by any reckoning, but worth the trouble just once a year, especially in this cold month.

PARADISE FOOD: Last week I revisited the Paradise Food Eatery just opposite the Lahore High Court. This also been a place that produces the very finest ‘desi’ food. I went there with college-day friends Khawaja Usman and Husnain Almakky. We decided to order their famous “Murgh Masallam’, and ‘dal mash’ to balance things out.

The whole chicken ‘masallam’ is stuffed with a rich, though mild, ‘masalla’ with almonds and other similar delights. This is a meal fit for the proverbial king.

With hot ‘rotis’ that just kept coming from the super active ‘tandoor’ and an equally efficient service, we soon had our fill by over-eating, which is what happens when the ‘roti’ is hot and fresh. Between us three we were not able to finish one chicken. Probably age is catching up with us. But it was delightful, and I would recommend this place any time.

NUTS AND DRY FRUIT: We normally think of kernels as ‘dry fruit’, but in Europe by ‘dry fruit’ one is alluding to fruit that has been dehydrated. This Friday I had coffee with my neighbor Farooq Ali Khan, who presented me with an excellent combination of bananas, apples, pears and pineapples in dehydrated form.

I have had this in Italy and Germany, and it was a surprise to find them in Lahore. They make an excellent snack, and are available in a ‘dry fruit shop’ in the Cantonment. An excellent addition to our snack range. — AMSHE