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Navi Mumbai: Have your cake & eat it too

Gupta baked her first cake when she was 14-year-old and immediately took a liking to the activity. She now makes cakes in all designs and styles.

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For the Guptas, it is cake and pastry time not only during Christmas but all around the year. That is because they have a master chef at home who can whip up delicious, creamy cakes anytime.

A barbie doll figurine will adorn the cake for a four-year-old’s birthday while for a 70-year-old the same will be of an aged lady holding a small baby, symbolising a grandmother cuddling her grandchild.

Vashi resident Priyanka Gupta baked her first cake when she was 14-year-old and immediately took a liking to the activity. When she started cake-making as a venture eight years back, her focus was in making them visually appealing. And so to master the art of decoration, she did a six-month course from Wilton Institute of Cake Decoration, USA.

“When I started making cakes, the objective was to make them customised i.e. suited for the occasion my customers wanted it for. The course gave me the basic techniques with reference to maintaining the texture and consistency of the icing for different kinds of decorations, patterns and other things,” says Gupta.

Gupta also says people rarely got cakes with designs of their liking and designs elsewhere which became a reason for her venture to become an immediate hit.

She is also known for her cupcakes, brownies, pastries and truffles. In these eight years she has tried countless designs but some of the best and most sought after have been the bikini cupcakes, graduation cap and burger cupcakes, to name a few.

With a view to widen her product base, she also started offering sugar free and eggless varieties, oat variants for fitness freaks, among others. “My aim was to provide for a guilt-free indulgence.

So apart from using branded products, I also started using substitute for butter and double cream,” adds Gupta.

While she has a wide customer base today, it all started at her husband’s workplace, where the cakes were an instant hit. “Gradually, the cakes became my identity. Even people I did not know, came to place orders at office,” says Dr Mahindra Gupta.

No doubt the Christmas season is when she has her hands full, with at least five orders pouring in daily. With a smiling Santa or a bright green tree or a miniature snowman, the cakes and cupcakes come in many varieties.

 “Although, mostly I think of the design I’ll be making on the cake, many a times they also ask for a specific pattern to be made,” she says. Gupta recently also conducted two corporate workshops in the city with specific focus on Christmas cake decoration.

Fours years into her business, she started organising workshops on her customers’ demand.

The aim was to change the notion of people who always thought cake-making was rocket science. “Not everyone has an oven, so I teach them how to make cakes in a pressure cooker and it turns out to be better than those made in oven. I also teach them to make non-icing cakes, desserts, chocolates, pizzas and breads apart from decoration techniques and ideas,” says Gupta who has people of varying age groups coming to attend the workshops.

To accommodate her increasing student base, share their ideas and first time experiences, she recently started a WhatsApp group called ‘Chef’ites’. Her Facebook page is also a forum for them to discuss new ideas.

Gupta credits her success to her husband’s constant support and encouragement. “His backing and support has led me to indulge in my passion,” she says adding, “Now my aim is to take it a step further and start our own bakery of customised cakes. It is a long-cherished dream that I hope comes true in the near future.”

Home made cakes, to suit your taste
Birthdays, anniversaries, bachelor parties or festivals, Priyanka Gupta makes cakes for any occasion

Her colourfully decorated Christmas cupcakes are priced at Rs50 and mini versions of the same at Rs30 per piece. You can order a 1kg cake decorated with a beaming Santa’s face for Rs650

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