SUGAR ON TOP

Delhi's Christmas really begins at the bakery counter. From corporate bulk orders in south Delhi to neighbourhood queues and quieter suburban rituals in Noida, plum cakes map how the Capital region tastes X-mas.

- S KEERTHIVAS

IN Delhi, Christmas begins as much at bakery counters as at church. Across neighbourhoods in DelhiNCR, the festival announces itself not only with carols and midnight mass, but with queues outside bakeries, plum cakes booked weeks in advance, underscoring yearly family rituals.

At Maxim's Bakers in Kailash Colony, Christmas arrives at speed. The rush is driven less by slow, walk-in neighbourhood sales and more by bulk corporate orders and delivery-led demand. Inside, the shop is packed with boxes stacked. Friends drift in, young families scan the counter, and delivery workers shuttle in and out with parcels headed across the city. The rush peaks in the days just before Christmas, compressing weeks of preparation into a narrow window of demand.

Established in 1969, Maxims is known for both egg and eggless plum cakes, sold largely in bigger formats. Egg-based plum cakes are priced at around ₹1,200, while the 400-gram eggless fruit cake sells for about ₹1,200 as well. Unlike many traditional bakeries that rely on raisins, tutti-frutti and mixed dried fruits, Maxims uses cashews as its dominant dry fruit; a choice the baker says lends the cake a lighter texture and a less densely sweet finish.

"Our rush usually starts around December 21 and goes on till the 27th," says store manager Pankaj Bisht. "Those few days decide the season for us." A significant portion of Maxims' business comes from corporate bulk orders. "We have companies that have been ordering from us for 10 to 15 years," Bisht says. "Just last week, one corporate client placed an order for nearly 500 kilograms of plum cake."

Cake has no religion