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. :)

Food for the soul

What is your ‘food for the soul’? Is it meditation? Or shopping or talking to a close friend or maybe even listening to your favorite music? Well, for some ‘food’ is the 'food for the soul'. Eating good food enriches not only your body but also your mind and soul. Natural food made with natural ingredients is the best way to cook your food. As they say, your body is like a temple. So eating good food will make it live longer and your thoughts and mind would also be positive as a result.

I really don’t like to cook so much; though I love food. Trying out different cuisines, cooked differently is one of my most favorite hobbies.  After a lot of criticism from my near and dear ones, I have started trying to prepare a dish or two. I must say it is a good experience; cooking is a form of art, just like writing or dancing. Hence I am going to write about what I cooked today. As I said I am not a fan of cooking, so I have started with simple, basic things. I like to cook at times, but I most certainly can’t do it every day.  I am a graceful person, but I don’t know why I transform into this clumsy person as soon as I step into the kitchen.  I hardly ever manage to prepare a dish successfully, but mostly manage to break a dish or a bowl. My mom gets very irritated due to this and I don’t blame her.

I have often heard that a good writer should be able to describe the dishes in his/ her stories very well, so that the people reading them actually start feeling hungry. So I thought let me improvise the famous US pizza salad bar today with the garlic bread minus the pizzas. I ended up making everything differently except for the “carrots and dried black raisin salad”. I was chopping vegetables for almost two hours before I started mixing them with dressings. Here’s my menu for the night...

1. Green salad

I prepared this with a green paste(made of coriander, mint and green chillies) and curd. I added boiled corn, sprouted beans, roasted and salted peanuts and green and red bell pepper to the paste. I squeezed a lemon on my salad and mixed it. I garnished with mint leaves after adding a little salt. 

   2. Potato and apple salad

This is an interesting mix of fruit and veggies. I made a paste of little mayonnaise and seasoning and threw in some chopped boiled potatoes and freshly sliced apples. I also added red cabbage, cucumber, grapes and bell pepper. I sprinkled oregano and chilli flakes. Added salt to taste. 

   3. Frozen boiled egg and fried egg plant(brinjal) salad

Yes, I really got the idea of mixing eggs and egg plant as they both have the word "egg" in them. I boiled three eggs and froze them and chopped one egg plant and deep fried it. I mixed the two and sprinkled little salt and pepper and voila, the salad was ready!

   4. Carrot and dried black raisin salad

I heated little milk and added sugar in it. I added grated carrot and the dried black grapes in it. Let the mixture cool and added a dash of mayo. 

   5. Spaghetti in red sauce

For this one I made tomato puree, also added onions to it. I dashed in some cinnamon powder and salt. I added boiled spaghetti into the paste and added seasoning. I garnished with lots of oregano and chilli flakes. 

   6. Garlic bread

I put little butter on the bread. I also put very thinly sliced ginger, chopped garlic, green chillies, boiled American corn, green bell pepper and onion on it. I sprinkled some grated Mozzarella and Amul Cheddar cheese and toasted the garlic bread in the oven. 

   7. Mango, orange and lemon mock-tail with sliced apples

This is a preparation of mixing Rasna Mango, Orange and Lemon flavors and adding some sliced apples. I served it chilled.

I love my food... 

But I realized, when you prepare dishes for your loved ones, you feel happier when they enjoy it. Your satisfaction comes from the fact that they liked the food you prepared. At some point, you don't bother about how much you enjoyed your food. 

Hence I say, cooking is an art. It satisfies your soul even when you cook; not just while eating it. 

Kudos to all of those who cook with love and care for their family everyday. All the dishes have a secret ingredient that is the most unique, the ingredient which is made of the love the person feels while cooking.