Five home bakers talk to Jasmine Jerald about how satisfying it has been to ditch the suit and take to the oven
Samyuktha Vale
21-year-old Commerce graduate - Bake My Day (Chennai)
Orders per month: 75-80
This 21-year-old business student turned home baker declined many job offers that came her way in order to take up baking full time after her graduation. Completely self-taught through YouTube videos and tutorials and ideas from Pinterest, she started her venture while she was still in school, with a small loan from her father, which she was able to pay back in a few months.
Did I mention that she was the ‘Best Outgoing Student’ of Stella Maris College in 2015? She could have taken the traditional route by writing a bunch of competitive exams and getting into the top business schools, but she chose to take a leap of faith and follow her passion. Today, she has no regrets for doing so. In this day and age, when customisation is the need of the hour to make a loved one’s day more special, Bake My Day sells like hotcakes, literally. She was also recently bestowed the title ‘Cake Queen’ and her cakes won the first place in the ‘Bake Off’, which was a battle of desserts between the top 50 bakers in the city. She even does party orders like bridal showers, engagement parties with pastas, quiches, wedding cakes and colour-coordinated dessert tables.
Must Try: Chocolate chunk blondies and caramel popcorn cake
Reach Out: 9884695954
Manasi Deshpande 23-year-old Psychology graduate - Tricks ‘n’ Treats (Pune)
Orders per month: 80-85
She knows how to observe and analyse the human mind but she says that making people happy with her cakes is what she does best. So, when she was forced to choose between pursuing her master’s in psychology or taking up her self-taught hobby as a full time career, her mother gave her the support she needed to follow her heart. “I started in 2014.
It was exciting and scary at the same time. But I always knew I would never look back and wonder if I should have done things differently,” says Manasi with a smile. Most of her work is very intricate and requires a lot of patience. “It’s quite common for a home baker to get orders like the Harry Potter open book cake or a designer jewellery cake, which involves minimum two days of effort but I enjoy decorating cakes and always try to experiment with new designs,” she explains. She intends to start conducting workshops in the future.
Must Try: Biryani cake and barbecue cake
Reach Out: www.facebook.com/tntdelicacies/
Smriti Iyer
24-year-old architect - Smriti’s Special (Delhi)
Orders per month: 10-15
Workshops per month: 5-6
After five years of pursuing an undergraduate degree, you would think that one would try to get a job in one’s field of study. Smriti Iyer isn’t one of them. She wanted to do something different in life. After her degree in architecture, she worked for a big corporate firm, but three months ago she quit her job and decided to take up baking and conducting workshops for desserts as a full time career. “I made it to the top 30 on Masterchef India. That’s when I realised it would be a crime if I don’t follow my passion.
I love baking but I enjoy teaching people to make desserts more, so that’s why I try to conduct at least five to six workshops in a month,” says Smriti. I am not making this up but tomato pizza, chilli cucumber, masala chai, beetroot mint and nimbu mirchi are the top five flavours of vegan ice cream she churns. She says that many people prefer to learn wacky flavours nowadays. “I also specialise in making vegan French entremets desserts that looks like a fruit but is actually a layered dessert,” says the talented baker. She plans to open a dessert studio where she can take classes on a regular basis.
Must Try: French entremets desserts and masala chai ice cream
Reach Out: www.facebook.com/smritis.special/
Lakhan Bhounsle
21-year-old graduate - The Big ‘O’ Bakes (Bengaluru)
Orders per month: 30-36
In a predominantly female industry, 21-year-old Lakhan chose to break a lot of stereotypes when he started his venture in 2013. “I was pursuing my Chartered Accountancy course when I started baking. I knew CA wasn’t for me, so I quit and spent all my free time baking. I won’t say it is easy to ignore all the sexist remarks people make when they hear a guy declined job offers to take up baking as a career, but it’s been totally worth it,” says Lakhan. He’s a known name in the city already and he gets a lot of orders from celebrities like Anil Kumble and actor Sudeep quite often.
He says that he’s been successful in the past three years only because he’s never said no to any order, even if it’s something he’s never tried before. He is willing to experiment and make his customers happy, which he believes is the key to any business. He plans to pursue a course in the same field to get professionally equipped.
Must Try: Drip cakes and upside
down wedding cakes
Reach Out: www.facebook.com/thebigobakes/
Priyanka Pawar
24-year-old MBA graduate - Sugar Therapy (Mumbai)
Orders per month: 30-35, Workshops per month: 2-3
You get into one of the top B schools and you manage to finish your degree with a good job offer. Now would you imagine declining an investment banking job offer that tons of people would kill for to bake cakes at home? “I was inspired by Yolanda Gampp’s show How to Cake
It, which pushed me to experiment with baking and I absolutely loved it. So after some thought, I felt that I should put the entrepreneurial skills that I picked up at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies to good use. That’s how Sugar Therapy was born,” smiles Priyanka. She says that she gets a lot of funny orders quite often like Hike stickers or cheesy emoticons. Also, she’s noticed that many people do not prefer the taste of fondant so she uses a technique of making chocolate-like icing, which tastes almost like ice cream, to decorate the cake. She hopes to start a cake studio soon to conduct workshops.
Must Try: Burger cake and customised macarons
Reach Out: www.facebook.com/sugartherapymumbai/