Cake Factory

For the Cake Factory, 2015 was the year when the company opened the doors to their first standalone shop – a long awaited dream for them, explains Hafsa Husain.

The Cake Factory began in 2007 by sisters, Fara and Hafsa, and has built up a strong following through their delectable delicacies – most of them made from family recipes passed down from previous generations.

The Cake Factory has a wide menu but its core strengths lie in its rendering of favourite Lankan sweets such as love cake, jaggery cake and date cake as well as perfecting old favourites such as ribbon cake and chocolate cake.

The love cake especially, is much-loved among nostalgic migrant Sri Lankans who return to their adopted lands with slabs of the spice and honey infused and nut studded concoction carefully nestled in their suitcases.

The Cake Factory’s new space is small, warm and inviting. The cosy outlet tucked away on Fifth Lane will be serving up pieces of Christmas cake, yule log and Christmas cupcakes delicately decorated with miniature Christmas trees, stars, snowflakes and holly.

The Cake Factory’s standard menu is also worth perusing if you’re on the lookout for more. There’s a Hummingbird cake which takes the humble banana cake up a notch by mixing in pineapple and cashew and a cream cheese frosting giving it the final flourish.

There’s also Battenburg cake, banoffee pudding, chocolate mousse, chocolate biscuit pudding and host of other desserts and cakes to satiate your sweet tooth.

The Cake Factory is located at 91A, 5th Lane, Colombo 3

Paan Paan

Inevitably, December is a month where family, friends and colleagues come together and socialising abounds. But there’s a tendency to wear around the edges when you host events at home – especially when you’re flying solo in the kitchen.

Paan Paan’s seasonal fare helps make entertaining less of a chore and could also double up as a thoughtful gift for your fatigued host.

For December, the bakers at PaanPaan have put together sweet and savoury platters as well as sandwich platters especially prepared for the season. With star shaped pizzas, Vol au vents and patties and Christmas tree shaped pizzas, even the daily savouries have been given a quirky seasonal makeover.

Aboo Yusoof, Managing Director of PaanPaan, adds that they’ve also introduced a chocolate profiterole tree (54 profiteroles lined up in the shape of a Christmas tree) to the menu.

In addition to its platters, PaanPaan will be carrying a range of alcohol-free sweets for the season. Although predominantly known for its bread and sandwiches, the PaanPaan menu has expanded its offerings for the season.

This month PaanPaan will be serving up nutty cantucci cookies (Italian almond cookies), chocolate rocks, marzipan topped orange and canola muffins, raisin bread, breudher, fruit cake and blueberry tarts.

PaanPaan has outlets on Lorenz Road, Colombo 4; Havelock Road, Colombo 5; Alfred House Gardens, Colombo 3 and Sri Jayawardenapura Road, Rajagiriya.

English Cake Company

Recently graduating from a small, enclosed space to a sprawling and inviting bakery and café, the English Cake Company’s new space now has a little library, playroom for children, dining areas and a terrace.

Recovering from the bustle of moving and easing into the seasonal rush, Yohan and Elinor Galapitage have just finished planning the menu when we visit.

The ECC’s croqu embouche(literally meaning ‘crunch in the mouth’) is a decadent treat which picks up in popularity during the season.

The French dessert is a showstopper in any sweet table – picture a tower of chocolate mousse or custard filled profiteroles delicately bound with strands of wispy spun sugar.

This year, the ECC dusts out Eli’s grandmother’s recipes and features English favourites such as Christmas pudding (made with or without alcohol), mince pies, traditional English Christmas cake, sticky toffee pudding and treacle tart.

The ECC will also be baking mince pies, stollen, yule logs (in chocolate, passion fruit, lemon and strawberry flavours), breudher, gingerbread biscuits, and muffins in varied flavours.

Christmas hampers with a selection of cakes and desserts from its standard menu and homemade yoghurts and cakes will also be available. “Everything we make is what you would be able to make at home. And it is with the highest quality ingredients that you would make yourself for your family – but we’ve taken the work out and done it for you,” smiles Eli.

If you need a moment to breathe between the holiday rush and would like a quick break, a mini Christmas fair will be held in its premises on December 23 and 24.

The English Cake Company is located at 2 Sulaiman Terrace, Off Jawatta Road, Colombo 5

In Deloraine Brohier’s book ‘A Taste of Sugar and Spice’, which details the Dutch-Burgher cuisine of old Ceylon, there’s a nostalgic chapter describing the advent of Christmas in the Burgher households.

The chapter abounds with details of visits to Pettah shopping for materials for Christmas dresses, the fragrant aroma of baking filling the house, Christmas Day service at the church and of course, the sumptuous meals which bring the family together.

If you’re nostalgic for traditional Burgher favourites of yore, the Dutch Burgher Union won’t disappoint. The DBU’s VOC Café can always be relied on to stock up on milk wine, love cake, jaggery cake, ginger beer as well as jaggery toffee, milk toffee, coconut rock and beef Smore throughout the year and is a perennial Colombo favourite for lamprais.

For the season, the DBU also serves Christmas cake and breudher and takes on orders for fougetti (pastry rolls wrapped in crystallized sugar, stuffed with chopped pumpkin preserve and cashew) and bol-o-fiado (a Portuguese styled layered cake with nuts and rose essence)as well asboroa.

The VOC Café is located at the Dutch Burgher Union – 114, Reid Avenue, Colombo 4.

Mitsi’s

Originally from Serbia, Mitsi has been baking in Colombo for the past seven years. Her restaurant in Kollupitiya is now two years old and specializes in Italian and French cuisine as well as Balkan barbeque.

Mitsi’s biggest draw however, are her desserts. She supplies the dessert and cake quotient to nearly 30 well known restaurants and coffee shops in Colombo and Mitsi’s cakes and pastries have also garnered a following across the seas – her confectionary is exported to Maldives regularly.

Crowd favourites at the quiet, slightly secluded restaurant include the decadent Death by Chocolate cake and cheesecake.

For Christmas this year, Mitsi has roast turkey, Italian risotto and homemade chicken sausages with cranberry sauce on the cards and is currently contemplating the menu for her Christmas dinner buffet.

Her kitchen will also be busy mixing seasonal cakes, pralines, melt-in-your-mouth baklava, yule logs and a range of more sweets made especially for the holidays.

Mitsi’s is located at 34A Bagatale Road, Colombo 3.