Cakes on the shelves of Sweet Home. Picture by Jai Prakash

Plum cakes, Easter eggs and delectable brownies are on their way to dining room tables in time for observing Easter — one of the most important events on the Christian calendar.

Confectioneries in Patna are busy preparing orders for Easter, which falls on March 31. Several sweet shops are ready with plum cakes while some have just started on them. The cake shop owners have not started on the Easter cakes though.

Ashok Mankani, the owner of Sweet Home on Boring Road, said: “We would prepare the Easter cake a day before the festival but we have already made plum cakes. We have also prepared brownies especially for Easter. They are our speciality — we put a lot of walnuts and extra chunk of chocolates to prepare the brownies.”

He added that the preparations for the Easter eggs have also started. Mankani said: “They are an inseparable part of Easter. Earlier people used to make the Easter eggs by dying or painting eggs but now they have been substituted with chocolate eggs.”

Another attraction that residents would find at Sweet Home is cross buns. “A cross bun is a spiced sweet bun made with currants or raisins and marked with a cross on the top. They are traditionally eaten on Good Friday and Easter. On Easter there is a custom of sharing cross buns among friends and family. Sharing cross buns ensures friendship round the year.”

S.K. Jha, the manager of Pal Cake Shop near Dakbungalow rounadabout, is preparing coconut cupcakes for his customers.

“Around 150 Christian families are among our regular customers. They place orders with us for coconut cupcakes at the time of Easter. We hope to finish our work before Easter so that we don’t disappoint our customers,” he said.

Apart from buying the delectable confectioneries, Christians in the city are also buying new dresses. Pooja Ann, the vice-principal of Jesus and Mary Academy, Patna City, has bought a white sari for Easter.

She said: “Easter is a big celebration for us and a new outfit is a must. On Easter we start our day with a prayer service at church and end it partying with friends and family. Earlier, people used to prepare Easter cakes at home but these days they are available at shops and people prefer to buy them.”

Digha resident Deep Kumar, an associate professor of St Xavier’s College of Education, however, misses the homemade cakes. “Homemakers used to put in a lot of effort in preparing the Easter cakes earlier. This used to add to the celebratory mood. Now that people buy the Easter cakes, the excitement of the festival has come down,” he said.

The city churches too are ready for the Holy Week that started with Palm Sunday. Father Jerome Capuchin, in charge of Padri Ki Haveli in Patna City, said the church would be decorated in the run-up to Easter. He said: “Good Friday and Easter are important for us. Padri Ki Haveli will be illuminated on Good Friday and the lights would not be taken down till Easter.”