Everytime I think of winter… I think of snow… Growing up in the tropical city of Mumbai, winter only meant a crisp nip in the air… Nothing major… But all the images I got to see either on TV or in magazines described this lovely, soft, feathery light drops of heaven called snow… Even the ‘These are a few of my favourite things’ song had snowflakes that stayed on her nose and eyelashes and silver white winter melted into spring…. Considering most of my childhood was spent imagining what the mountains of Europe looked like while I went on magical journeys with Maria Von Trapp, Enid Blyton and Santa Claus, winter and snow became synonmous to each other in my little fairytale world….

Back to the present day… and after being asked to participate in a winter wonderland cake collaboration all my repressed memories of childhood came rushing back…. winter meant snow…. and my desire to feel it, to touch it, to sleep in it, to make snow angels, to throw snowballs… So my cake had to depict snow… And true to the magical fairytales I grew up with, winter also meant weddings…. In the East Indian community that I belong to, December is the month to be married… You will find a gazillion weddings happening on any given Sunday in the month of December…  So well, my cake had to depict a winter wedding…. And last but by no means the least… Christmas…. the most important day of the year for us Catholics…. The day Jesus was born. Midnight mass and christmas carols, fruit cake and christmas trees, family and friends…. Full of joy and hope….. I just had to have Christmas on my cake….

So I decided to depict snow in various forms… snow on the ground, snow in a flurry while it fell and snow in the form of snowflakes. For the very first time I used white cotton candy to get the effect of snow and punched wafer paper snowflakes. The winter wedding was depicted as a bridal gown with lace and sequins and a fabric effect. And Christmas depicted through a Christmas ornament and the Star of Bethlehem that guided the three kings to the lowly manger where the King was born…. This star rotates around its axis

Winter… with or without snow will always bring with it the warmth of Christmas and family, of days spent in rejoicing and indulgence… it will bring the end of the old and ushering in of the new… it will bring laughter and gladness of the spirit… it will bring the best time of the year….. and yes someday I will know what it feels.like to have snowflakes on my eyelashes….