Baked with love: How Tarnaka's 100YO 'Real Bakery' still strives to make Christmas special for Hyderabadis

Inside a small bakery at Tarnaka, people are busy buying plum cakes for their celebrations.

A father and his two children walk in. The girl asks for a rich plum but was disappointed to find that it just got over. Throughout the day, people have been coming and purchasing cakes in bulk quantities for family and office parties. And for the mother-son duo who runs the bakery, it has been a busy time for the last couple of days.

Welcome to Real Bakery. Located opposite Railway Degree College near Tarnaka metro station, the bakery was established in the 1900s by L.S.D'souza. Initially, it was started at Tarnaka Cross Road. In the 2000s, the bakery was moved to its present location. L.S. D'souza worked in the Portuguese Army. In the early 1900's, he left the army and migrated from Goa to Hyderabad along with his family.

Gauva cheese cake

After L.S. Dosuza died in 1963, his son Antony D'souza took over the bakery. Earlier, they used to use a wood fire oven to bake the cake. But for the last 25 years, due to the high intensity of heat, now they use gas stoves to bake.

The bakery is known for its Guava Cheesecake and Rich Plum Cake. "To make the Guava cake, we use only the natural pulp of the fruit and no artificial colors or flavors are used in its preparation," says Nelson D'souza, son of Antony Dsouza, who runs the shop currently with his mother Linda.

Nelson D'souza (right) with his mother Linda (left)

He adds that the bakery still follows his grandfather's recipe in the preparation of both these cakes.

The bakery starts getting Christmas orders for plum cakes by the first week of November. "We start the preparation of plum cakes in August. We start taking orders in November. Every year, we see shortages as it gets closer to Christmas day," explains Nelson.

John, a sexagenarian customer of the bakery, says that he likes the rich plum cake the most here. "My father has been coming here since the time he was my age. Without the rich plum cake from Real Bakery, our Christmas is not complete," says Joezer, John's son.

"Our advertising is only through word of mouth. Probably, it is the quality and taste that attracts customers and eventually retains them as our loyal customers. Our target has always been to make a customer come back. If they come back, that is enough to know that they liked our cake," says Nelson.

Rich plum cake (left), Guava cheese cake (right)

The bakery also makes the most sought after wedding cakes for Christian weddings in the city. "It is the chocolate brownie that is served for weddings. In nowhere else in the city, you would get a similar chocolate brownie," proudly says Nelson, trying hard not to spill the beans regarding the recipe.

It is almost 9:30 pm. But the inflow of people to the bakery has not stopped yet. They walk in to check if they are lucky enough to get the last box of rich plums to relish with their families for this Christmas.