The cake story

Talk about cakes and your mouth starts watering. Cakes are meant to be relished and there are only a few who can resist a cake. However, every December, Bangalore hosts an event where the cakes are meant only to be stared at and enjoyed minus tasting. This is the famous annual cake show of the Nilgiris.

The cake has been on map of Bangalore just before Christmas and it draws thousands of visitors every day. For the last few years the cake exhibition is being organised  at the sprawling playgrounds of the St. Joseph’s Indian Composite High School on Vittal Mallya Road, adjacent to the Mallya Hospital.

Apart from the many cakes that are exhibited, the event also features several products which are put up for show in the form of an exhibition or fair. This year around, the cake exhibition was part of the consumer fair and it drew huge crowds. 

Every year, the Nilgiris prepare a huge cake which takes the pride of place. If it was Gol Gumbaz last year (2011), it was a huge complex called Pentagon of communal harmony where the major faiths or religions of India-temple (Hindu), Mosque (Muslim) and Church (Christian), Stupa (Buddhists) and Gurudwara (Sikhs)  was displayed.

There were also cakes representing a grandfather clock, a Barbie doll and a train with a station and shoe.     

The 2011 cake show featured an almost perfect replica of the famous Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur. Of course this was a sweeter Gol Gumbaz as it was made of pastries and sweets. The detail in the monument was unbelievable.

This year too the eye for details was amazing. No wonder, the cake exhibition is an eagerly awaited event which is held towards the second part of December.

The Pentagon cake is mammoth in proportion. It is a  yummy  22 feet by 22 feet (width) by 16 feet (height) delicacy. The exhibition opened on December 14.
C Ramachandran, 73, the former director of Nilgiris, has been the brain behind the annual cake exhibition.

Other cakes which were a huge draw this year were the Pagoda , Spiderman, Cake city, a red motor cycle, wedding bride and Simba the lion. There are money others that are spread over 10,000 sq feet of place.

The erstwhile owner of Nilgiris, Ramchandran, sold Nilgiris in 2006 and he is now the Chairman of the  Blue Hills Group which now organises the exhibition.

But people of Bangalore are so used to calling it Nilgiris, that the name has struck. It is no easy task making an exhibition of cakes click. This was the 38^th exhibition of cakes.

The first cake show by Nilgiris was held in 1969 and the venue was St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. The first year itself drew large crowd and they stretched upto the Nilgiri stores on Brigade Road.    

The cakes are not for sale but if any visitor is interested, he can order any particular cake he likes and it will be delivered to him.   
Some of the “monumental” cakes that have draw hordes of visitors every day are Vidhana Soudha, Seven wonders of the World, TaJ Mahal. Bangalore and Mysore Palace.