How India’s first Christmas cake was born in Kerala’s Thalassery in 1883

Royal Biscuit Factory. (Supplied)

“My great-grandfather Mambally Bapu was a businessman based in Burma. He shipped milk, tea, and bread from there to the British troops in Egypt. Upon his return to Thalassery in 1880, he established a bakery,” Prakash Mampulli told South First.

In those days, there was only one bakery in faraway Kolkata catering exclusively to the needs of British people there.

“So Bapu’s Royal Biscuit Factory became India’s first bakery established by an Indian and open to both Indians and Britishers,” explained Mampulli, the present owner of Mambally’s Royal Biscuit Factory.

Over the years, the establishment has developed 17 varieties of Christmas plum cakes with unique desi flavours.

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The preparation

During his days in Burma, Bapu had mastered the skill of biscuit-making. He soon wanted to return home, popularising baked food products in Thalassery and its surroundings, which remained part of the Madras British Presidency.

A painting of Bapu handing over the first plum cake to Brown. (Supplied)

From day one, he started manufacturing over 40 varieties of biscuits, rusks, bread, and buns.

A few days before Christmas in 1883, Murdoch Brown reached Bapu’s biscuit factory with a rich plum cake that he brought from England. He asked Bapu to taste a piece of the cake and instructed him to make one with a similar taste and appearance. Without realising that he was carving his own place in India’s culinary history, Bapu agreed and sought ten days to prepare the cake.

Brown gave Bapu the basic ingredients for the cake, including cocoa, dates, raisins, and different dry fruits. He also told Bapu to buy a French brandy from adjacent Mahe, or Mayyazhi, a French settlement that now forms part of the state of Puducherry.

Instead of travelling for about 14 km to Mahe and buying the brandy, Bapu decided to substitute it with a locally brewed liquor using cashew, apple, and banana varieties, Kadalipazham. Meanwhile, a blacksmith in Dharmadam, on the outskirts of Thalassery, had prepared the cake’s mould based on the description given by Bapu.

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India’s largest market

On December 20, 1884, Brown reached Bapu’s shop and received the first plum cake in India. After tasting it, Brown certified it as the best cake he had ever had, and the planter has ordered a dozen more.

Premnath with the Ice cake, a signature item at Santha bakery. (Supplied)

“In those days, yeast was unavailable for fermentation in British India. So, he experimented with the locally brewed liquor. The local liquor has effectively fermented the dhow and provided it with a unique taste,” said Premnath Mamballi, a family member of Bapu who now owns Santha Bakery, the first of its kind in the state capital Thiruvananthapuram.

Now, Kerala has India’s largest plum cake market, and the Mambally family has a major share in this business. Family members operate the top bakeries in Kerala: Cochin Bakery in Kochi, Shantha Bakery in Thiruvananthapuram, Modern Bakery in Kozhikode, Best Baking Co. in Kottayam, and Mambally’s in Thalassery. They have all inherited the legacy of Bapu.

Among them, only Santha Bakery stopped operations during the last Christmas (2022) as Premanth’s family felt it was strenuous to continue with the business.

Even now at each bakery, paintings mark the historical moment in which Bapu handed the cake to Brown and welcome the visitors.

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