When Riya turned 3 in Jan, out of the several things I had fantasized coming true was a 'Castle Cake' for her Birthday Party. It is not important of how and where this idea settle in my mind:-) but I really loved the idea of a Castle Cake.
But how to do you get a 'Castle Cake' made in Pune, India? The first round of visit to bakeries revealed that 'Castle Cake' is not on the menu of the cake makers. And what's on the menu, stays on the delivery. I hoped that I would be able to convince them to adjust, find alternatives, be creative and deliver. The first easy step was to download pictures of castle cakes from google and put them in a folder in my desktop. Most of the pics from Internet that I was drooling over, were from outside India. I obviously skipped the cakes with fancy fondue art work and the ones that used ready-made castle structures. After many rejections, there was one shop which indicated that they have a new pastry Chef coming over soon. It should be doable. I was hopeful.
It was nearing the end of Dec'12 and Riya's birthday was to be there in 2 week's time. So I went to that shop again. Somewhere in my mind I had that image of explaining my 'Castle Cake' to a Chef like in 'Cake Boss'. But it turned out that my Cake Chef was a 'Kareem Bhai', a normal Indian worker who if I met in a street could be a Rickshaw driver, a Street Vendor or just someone who can be anything but could not be a 'Cake Chef'! But somehow 'Kareem Bhai' gave signs of understanding the cake better than any of the folks I had talked to earlier behind the cash counter (the shop owners). We explained him how he could make the pillars. How to put the ice-cream cones at the roof-top and how to decorate the flower vines...and windows... He said that he'll be able to make the cake. He has been making cakes for the last 6 years. We just needed to choose the frosting and filling.
The day before the birthday we went to finalize the order. The shop owner assured that the cake would be made that night and would be ready for the pick up at 11 am for the afternoon birthday party. So the next day we reached there at 11:30 am and...Kareem Bhai and his helpers were putting the first layer of cream on the round base!! Could they be more late? I didn't know how to react. At that point it was like, ok just give me any cake. We went to the birthday venue for other preparations to come and pick the cake later.
The cake did not arrive till 1 pm. We were waiting till the very last minute for Sandeep and my brother to arrive with the cake. I think they spent almost 45 minutes in front of the 'Chef' while he was making the cake. As everybody around was gasping at how beautiful the cake is, I hardly got a minute to admire or look at it. All I have left now is 3 pictures of the 'Castle Cake', not more, not less, three.
It looked nice though.
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