Every now and then, a dabba opens in some aisle at the mid-day office, and out off wafts the aroma of divine, freshly Baked cake from someone’s home. Huddle, hush-hush and whoosh... in three minutes flat, it disappears. One thing is for sure, these simple-looking home-baked cakes—sans cream and frostings—can give store-bought ones a run for their money. And as always, the secret ingredient is love. We’ve noted down a few recipes for you (and for us, lest, we forget).

Jennifer Fernandes’ pound mawa cake

For Christalle Fernandes, mawa cakes are reminiscent of childhood when her mom would bring home parcels of six mawa muffins, wrapped in brown paper, tied with white taga (string) from a famous cake shop in Grant Road. “Recently, in a bid to re-create the taste of those mawa muffins,” says Christalle, who is pursuing an internship at Sunday mid-day, “she picked up her whisk and the bright red measuring cups tucked away on her baking shelf and whipped up a mawa cake from memory. The first time she made it, the kitchen was infused with scents of vanilla and of the secret ingredient. Our taste buds received a rush of nostalgia from long-forgotten flavours. The grainy texture of the mawa cake was a bite of the past.”