HYDERABAD: With New Year’s around the corner, cutting a cake when the clock strikes 12 is guaranteed. And with the plethora of talented bakers who are experts in baking mouthwatering delights in the city, you are assured of good value for money.
If one observes carefully, the past few years have seen an increase in the number of bakers who have cropped up in the city. Designer cakes whose tiers can be multiple, cakes in the shape of jewellery, shoes, theme cakes, you name it and these bakers will make it for you. For many of the bakers, their ventures took root through baking classes.
“I started off by baking cakes and making chocolates for my family. After that I participated in a cooking competition which gave me enough confidence to start my own venture in cakes. However, initially I started small with making cupcakes, chocolates. That is how ‘Chocolate Station’ was born in 2013,” says Aanchal Dugar who specialises in designer cakes. Summing up the reason behind the rising numbers, she opines, “There are many women in the city who are bakers like me. I think the appeal of home baking is that there can be different customised goods based on the clients interest and hygiene is a priority and obviously everything is freshly baked from scratch.” As someone who was able to balance her college and hobby of baking with ease, Aanchal seems content with her decision. “I could manage both college and ‘Chocolate Station’ simultaneously. My hobby became my profession and I was able to become an entrepreneur at the age of 18 which is amazing,” says Aanchal who has supplied her cakes to Lakme Fashion week in Delhi for fashion designer Archana Rao, owner of Frou Frou and Asia’s largest summit for entrepreneur. She also supplies her cakes to a star hotel in the city. Ask her which cakes she enjoys making the most, she shares, “My personal favourite is whenever I make designer cakes for birthdays and weddings because those are the most special moments in everyone’s life, as my cakes are part of their moments.”
For many, baking has not only proved to be a respite from the work pressures but has also been therapeutic, like in the case of Anita. “Previously, I worked in a corporate company which would leave me with little time to do anything else. I wasn’t even getting time for my daughter so when my friends told me that I should take this up as a business, I started the Baking Bug,” says Anita. Keeping the growing number of fitness conscious people in the city, Anita specialises in cakes that are healthy, fat-free and keeps coming up with other tastier alternatives. “I make gingerbread cakes, oatmeal cakes for people that are little worried about calories,” says Anita, who takes orders under the brand Baking Bug.
“I always enjoyed making cakes, I used to bake cakes for my daughter’s birthday, my anniversary and for friends and family,” adds Anita who made 50 customised cupcakes for her first order from a school. “The reason women are taking up this profession is they can manage the domestic chaos of daily life and also earn for themselves simultaneously,” admits Anita.