Marta Rocha Torta

The year was 1954. A starry eyed teenager, Maria Marta Rocha, winner of the Miss Brazil contest, came to the US to take part in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe pageant had been started in 1952. But as airline tickets were expensive, the contestants were mainly from Europe and the Americas. 18 year …

What’s Black, White and Red and loved by Indians?

Schwarzwäld Kirsch Kuchen. That’s quite a tongue twister, isn’t it? For those of you that don’t speak German, I’ll give you a clue. Chocolate, cherries and cream. What’s not to love? “A rose by any other name, would smell as sweet”, said the Bard. This “rose” is also called Black Forest cake and is found …

Will the real Red Velvet Cake take a bow?

It was a long , long time back. Dinosaurs had just about stopped roaming the earth….probably because there was no Facebook or Instagram or Snapchat….  There was however a man called Adams. He had a wife — nah, not Eve. Her name was a more prosaic Betty. Remember them, they will re-enter our story at …

Vanilla — a bittersweet tale…

Vanilla is the best loved flavour in the world today. Vanilla infuses cakes, ice creams, cookies, confections, yoghurts, fragrances, bath and body products, candles, rum, vodka, medicines, Coke, Pepsi…..the list is endless.   When you reach for ingredients to bake a cake, inevitably there is vanilla in the list. Never mind the flavour of the cake …