In season of kicks, football fans root for their teams with cakes

NEW DELHI: Aman Rathee’s 3-year-old son, Anhad, is a diehard fan of the animation character Chhota Bheem. He has also heard of the Brazillian football star Neymar and considers him the incarnation of Chhota Bheem. His parents have been scouting around for a pastry chef who could design a cake with his favourite character in a Brazil tee! As the FIFA World Cup whips feelings into a frenzy, pastry chefs are loaded with such orders.Confectionaries across the city are lining their shelves with offerings that give form to fans’ fantasies.
Baker Arshi Dhupia, who is not a football fan herself, is familiarizing herself with soccer trivia as just a football-shaped cake will no longer win customers. “Fans share a concept with us, and at times, negotiations on flavours and the preparation last for four to five days. The cake has to tell a story and mirror the fan’s personality,” she explains. She has her hands full till the tournament is on. Cupcakes and football-themed cakes are the hot favourite.
Some want a cake shaped as a map with colours of the team’s jersey, while others ask for cupcakes with flags of teams. Cake maker Kishi Arora is busy catering to the myriad orders, paying close attention to detail. “I had to make cakes shaped like the maps of Brazil, Portugal and Spain but in the colour of the team jerseys. At every stage I shared images through messages so that the orange on the cake matched with the shade of Spain’s jersey. Customers are that particular these days,” she says.
Besides the regular cakes with flavours of almond, lavender, pistachio and chocolate, Kishi has received a lot of orders for confectionary with vanilla, raspberry, peach and mango toppings. She isn’t complaining as each fruit matches the colour of a team and serves as a convenient topping.
Regular house parties with a group of friends watching late-night matches also make use of customized goodies. Chef Abhishek Basu of The Park Hotel says he has received last-minute orders for assorted cup cakes with choco-chips as well as orange, ram and raisin flavours. Edible prints of team flags are thrown in for good measure.
“Since the first match, we have had regular requests for cupcakes with flags of teams playing for the night,” he says. Chef Vikas Vibhuti of The Oberoi says football-themed cakes were anyway getting popular with major championships in their final stages. With the world cup also starting recently, he is seeing club-related orders turn into country-specific ones. Arshi though has noticed a stronger club loyalty.
“Though Messi is turning out for Argentina, orders for him are always themed on Barcelona,” she adds.
She has to request fans placing orders to give at least a day’s notice for their confectionary and not insist on cream-based cakes this season. Most of the chefs consider chocolate-based cakes with seasonal fruit toppings a safe bet.