Craft on a cake

As I walk into Bakesters, I see a young couple ordering a cake for their engagement party. Harsh is taking the order while sitting across the table. I know Harsh since many years. He is my mami's (mother's brother's wife) sisters son. He along with his friends has started a new venture, called "Bakesters." They bake cream as well as fondant cakes and deliver those themselves.

Harsh Langalia, Soham Parikh, Sunny Trivedi and Tanya Bhatti were classmates in M.Sc Bio-tech. Once while chilling out at a cafe, they had a discussion on opening a business. They were thinking of opening a cafe, when Tanya told them about her baking skills. The guys were amazed and prodded her further so she told them how her mom is also into baking. As a result Tanya also had a good hand at it. Getting inspired by Tanya, they decided to start a baking business and "Bakesters" was born! They also made a Facebook page by the same name. They gave a nice tagline to Bakesters, “A treat for every street”.





Tanya and harsh






From L to R- Harsh, Soham and Sunny

They started baking at home. The first order was placed by Harsh's mom. They started getting more and more orders soon after that. The FB page was the only place where they had their contact number and they didn't advertise anywhere else. They got an amazing response in December with the parties in full swing.

These guys have been making fondant cakes which are beautiful cakes which look like craft on a cake. Fondant is a thick paste made of sugar and water and often flavoured or coloured; it is used in the making of sweets and chocolates and the icing and decoration of cakes. There are many home bakers in Ahmedabad who bake fondant cakes. However, they don't bake smaller cakes as the ingredients used in these cakes are quite expensive. The USP of Baksters is: they home deliver amazing fondant cakes, that too as small as 500 gm.

The Bakesters team knows the golden rules of hospitality industry in spite of studying bio-tech as they themselves home deliver the cakes that they bake and hence maintain a personal rapport with their customers. No wonder they got more that 950 likes on the FB page! Social media is a great tool of advertising, but one definitely needs to have a personal (non virtual) touch.

With Tanya leaving for Australia to pursue further studies, the guys got worried as they would have to manage all the baking and decorating on their own. But the best part is that they learned it from her before she left and have even honed their skills further. They bake 100% egg less cakes, which are a hit with the Jain's and Gujarati's of Ahmedabad. Hansa ben who was a house help at Tanya's place also helps in the kitchen.

The fondant cake industry has unbelievable mouth watering trends coming up every now and then. If you are a foodie like me and watch TLC and other "good-enough-to-eat" channels, you would know what I am talking about. These guys manage to keep themselves updated and come up with amazing ideas. Sunny is the creative one and is proficient with embellishing these cakes while giving them a proper finishing. (Finishing is the key word for fondant cakes) I asked him whether he is good at drawing and painting as this is a lot like that. He said, "I was good at craft in school. My mother loves painting." This throws light on how one art develops from other. Who would have imagined cakes being crafted like these? In this era of customization, where one can get customized clothes, furniture, websites, online stores, and what not, you can now "customize" your cakes too! I like creativity, and I would love to have a cake customized to the tee. Besides cakes, Bakesters also offers cupcakes and chocolates.





Love the rose on the cupcake




Whipped cream on cupcakes, can't get better than this




3 tier cake for a party





Who wouldn't like a proposal like that?



Or like this?




This one is just my favourite


It's been a month now since they got a shop at Bodakdev, near SG Highway. I went there on Sunday.




While telling their story they also told me of a funny incident. Once they had to deliver a cake to a birthday party at a restaurant. Sunny and Harsh were in the car going to deliver the cake when two fondant flowers on the icing fell off. As they had just started, they didn't have straw support for the cakes. They panicked but they knew they had to fix it. So they called Soham with some fondant paste. They waited for him on the road and fixed the cake inside the car when he got the ingredients. As Harsh was recalling this incident, his dad who was around remarked, “So you need to be more careful with cakes in your car as they are more delicate than your girlfriends.” I won’t comment on the girlfriend part, but oh yes, the cakes are delicious and the cream (which does feel delicate in your mouth) just melts so tenderly. As these guys are conquering the baking industry in Ahmedabad, (with strong competition from women home bakers) I would only say a word of caution, handle your cakes with care. :)