Bizou Cafe, Saibaba Colony
A decorated red tin box arrives with plum cake, assorted cookies, and festive cheer. The plum cake coated with a thin layer of flat icing holds the assorted toppings of dry fruits in place lending the cake a festive finish. The plum cake is light, balanced, and I can taste the cake and the rum-soaked fruits (used in moderation) together, without it feeling heavy.
Alongside the plum cake is a curated assortment of artisanal cookies, each handmade after several weeks of trials. The result is nearly 15 varieties including chocolate crinkle cookies, matcha and white chocolate, red velvet and white chocolate, orange-cranberry cookies, snicker doodles coated in cinnamon sugar, sesame cookies, and festive shapes like Santa boots. Each tin offers a mix of two to three pieces of each flavour.
Artisanal cookies
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“There are no shortcuts, no artificial flavours, essence or preservatives” says Kirthana Sendhilkumar, founder of Bizou Cafe & Grill located at Alagesan Road, Saibaba Colony. For a cafe celebrating its very first Christmas, the preparations for the debut plum cake began in November the old-fashioned way with soaking of fruits, handmade cookies, and Christmas music playing in the background. “Dry fruits were soaked in rum nearly a month in advance, allowing flavours to mature naturally. We even did a soaking ceremony with the entire staff and posted videos on our Instagram page, marking the start of our first festive season.”
Festive boxes
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Kirtana’s own Christmas memories were shaped in pastry kitchens abroad, where December meant long hours, Christmas songs on loop, and trays of cookies moving in and out of ovens. “That’s what Christmas feels like to me, music playing all day and baking without stopping.” This year, for the first time, she brought that memory home with the café decked up in red and green, windows painted with festive drawings, and Christmas décor filling every corner. “It’s my first time decorating a café for Christmas,” she says. “That itself has become a memory.” Her focus is on keeping the traditions alive. “It’s our first Christmas,” she says, adding “We just wanted to get it right.”
Decorations at Bizou Cafe
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The rich plum cake is priced at ₹699 plus taxes for 500 gms and ₹1299 plus taxes for one kg. The festive cookies box comes at ₹499 plus taxes. Individual flavour bags (red velvet, matcha grinch, orange & cranberry, X-mas sugar, candy cane, chocolate crinkle, snickerdoodles, sesame) cost ₹299 plus taxes. Bizou is hosting a year-end market on December 28 from 11am to 7pm. To book a stall and to pre-order cakes and cookies, call 8925905037.
Cafe Diem, Coonoor
At this quaint cafe in Coonoor that opens into stunning views of the valley and tea gardens, every loaf tells a story. The plum cakes are handcrafted with the finest ingredients to ring in a rich, flavourful Christmas. “Cake mixing is an annual ritual. Fruits soaked in rum and wine are carried forward year after year, deepening in flavour. This time, even the district collector, Lakshmi Bhavya Tanneeru IAS joined the tradition,” says Radhika Shastry, who quit her corporate career and moved to the hills.
Handcrafted cakes
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The plum cake is beautifully moist, the kind that gets better with time, and packed with apricots, cranberries, blackberries, pistachios, dates, almonds, spices, candied ginger, and citrus rinds — all soaked in rum for an entire year. While it is slightly spiced, the flavour is deep, just what one would expect from a classic plum cake. The quality of ingredients shines through with no overpowering artificial essence, and the sweetness is just right. Says Radhika, “The outcome is a cake that has the best ingredients and the love of the people of Nilgiris who participated in the annual cake mixing ceremony. They enjoy the experience of mixing dry fruits, and spices like cinnamon nutmeg, and lots of rum.”
Classic plum cake
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Available in half and one kg packs. Priced at ₹630 and ₹1050 including taxes. Courier charges will be additional depending on location to be sent to and weight of the cake. Call 9845001111/ 9663849639.
Treat Factory, Ramanathapuram
CB Sowmya, a home baker who sells from a cloud kitchen called Treat Factory, came up with her plum cake recipe after a lot of trial and error. “I wanted to offer plum cakes baked in the traditional, European way,” says Sowmya, whose kitchen is based in Sreepathy Nagar in Ramanathapuram in the city. She soaked 15 kinds of nuts and dry fruits in rum after Christmas last year to be used to bake plum cakes this year.
Plum cakes baked in the traditional, European way
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“I also offer a non-alcoholic version in which once the order is placed, I soak the nuts and dry fruits in orange juice,” she says. Sowmya’s version also consists of orange zest, lending it a slight tang along with the denseness of the spices. Another variation she incorporates is using jaggery instead of treacle that is made of sugar. The molasses derived from jaggery is a deep gold and nutty, adding more flavour to the cake.
A 250gm plum cake is priced at ₹500. To order, visit them on Instagram @the_treat_factory, treatfactory.in
Akila Kannadasan
Chocko Choza, Race Course
While a lot has changed at Chocko Choza since its inception in 1998, the founders like to keep certain things true to traditioned. This includes their Royal plum cakes for which nuts and dry fruits left to mature for a year. The cakes are baked at low temperatures to let them soak in the flavours of the spices and nuts. A highlight is that they avoid tutti frutti, hydrogenated fats, and artificial colours or flavours.
Royal plum cakes
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Also part of their Christmas offerings is the stolen load, a traditional bread that has dry fruits, nuts, and spices. Then there is plum pudding, a classic treat; the Yule long rolled with chocolate cream; the Christmas plum gelato; and of course, ginger bread man cookies.
The plum cake is priced at ₹945 for half-a-kilogram. Located at 10, West Club Road, Race Course, Gopalapuram. Call 8220400100.
Akila Kannadasan
Published – December 25, 2025 07:47 pm IST
