With Christmas a month away, a Cake Mixing Ceremony was held on Saturday at the School of Hotel Management (SHM), SOA’s faculty of hospitality and tourism management, to usher in the festive season.

A traditional event dating back to the 17th century in Europe, cake mixing is considered the harbinger of good times and happiness. It also marks the arrival of the harvest season when lots of fruits and nuts are harvested and used to bake plum cake.

The traditional Christmas cake or Christmas Pudding as it is called comprises lot of dry fruits held together by eggs and flour. At times, it is moistened by molasses and flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, ginger and other spices.

The dry fruits, cherries, tutti fruit, cranberries, dates, sultanas etc comprise over 70 ingredients used in cake making.

Prof. Bibhuti Bhushan Pradhan, SOA’s Pro-Vice Chancellor and Registrar and Mr. Uday Shankar Swain, Human Resource Manager of Taj Vivanta, Bhubaneswar graced the occasion. The Dean of the institute Dr. Sapan Kumar Sadual, Professor Susanta Ranjan Chaini, other faculty members and students were present. The event was also attended by students of several schools and colleges of the city.