Dehradun is famous for being the home to three institutions: the Indian Military Academy, the Forest Research Institute, and Ellora’s bakery. Of the three, Ellora’s bakery is the best loved.
The one thing you don’t need to know about Ellora’s is the address (it’s 25, Rajpur Road, if you insist) because everyone in town knows exactly where it is. Ellora’s Homeades: The Cakes and Bakes Shoppe—to give it its full title—is a short walk from the clock tower at the bustling town centre. It’s an unprepossessing sort of place that looks like any ordinary confectionery shop—well, two shops side-by-side to be precise—but contains within all manner of extraordinary goodies. Since 1953, Mr O.P. Gulati has been creating and selling a range of cakes and biscuits whose fame has spread far and wide. He’s still there, manning the till, a sprightly 76-year-old, who is clearly in love with his work. His eyes light up when I ask him what is the most popular cake. “Plum cake,” he says promptly—and I nod. Every time one of my friends returns to Delhi from Dehra- dun, they come bearing a box of plum cake—rich, moist and crumbly. “Date-and-walnut cake is also very popular,” says Mr Gulati, warming to his theme, “and butter pista biscuits, milk rusk… oh, and of course stickjaw toffees.” These sweets are well-named. Slightly too big to chew comfortably, they flood the mouth with sweetness as your salivary glands get to work, eroding the brick into something more manageable. And once you’re finished with the actual chewing part, you get the added bonus of having to dig out the sticky residue from your molars for several hours afterwards. “Children who used to buy the toffees now come in with their grandchildren,” Mr Gulati reminisces fondly.
The shops are now managed by one son, Anupam Gulati and his wife, Sugandha, while the bakery itself—a kilometre or so up the road—is looked after by his other son, Rajesh Gulati and his wife, Jyoti. My attempts to winkle out the secret of his plum cake fails miserably. “Only my son knows the recipes. He doesn’t even tell the workers!” Mr Gulati Sr chuckles, sounding a trifle Willy Wonka-ish.
You would think that with their reputation, Ellora’s cakes would be available all over the country but, as Mr Gulati puts it, “You can have quantity, or you can have quality: you can’t have both.” So, if you’re looking for cakes and biscuits of quality, you know exactly where to go.