Santa Claus may be busy making his list (and checking it twice), but if you want to get that Christmas cake just right, you’ll have to be naughty not nice. For how will you get the perfect sweet and spicy fruit cake without a timely dose of booze? “In most East Indian homes, the fruit for Christmas cake is soaked a year in advance,” reveals Curran Mathews, an Amboli-based baker, who’s got a jarful of raisins soaked in rum stashed away for his cakes. “Every time I use the fruit from the jar, I refill it,” reveals the 20-year-old.

Santacruz resident, Rebecca Vaz, who bakes delicious Christmas cakes, says she prefers rum over bourbon or brandy. Pic/Satyajit Desai