Stand alone patisseries by chefs trained in French kitchens and reputed academies are becoming popular in Delhi with crunchy ideas, quirky cakes and freshly baked seasonal goodies. By Divya Kaushik
Bread has got a glamorous makeover and is more than just a silent accompaniment to the main dish. Butter, (the yellow and white kind are so passé!) is often used on quiches and croissants these days. Baked desserts extend beyond cakes to pies, tarts and cupcakes. The credit for this bread and cake revolution goes to brains behind places that could compete with French and Parisienne patisseries.
Earlier, when you wanted cakes and pastries, you veered towards five star hotel bakeries. But now cakes made from exotic chocolate, lemoncurd and cheese are the most demanded. And you can have them all at outlets across the city.
Many places do naughty, romantic and quirky cakes. Just tell them what you want. Jaya Kochhar runs a patisserie at Safdarjung Enclave. She does desserts ranging from cupcakes to cakes for special occasions. “I studied history in college and did a bakery course from Pusa. I also worked at the Oberoi Udai Vilas. Then I went to the Culinary Institute of America in California. After the pastry course, I wanted my own bakery.”
She added, “The number of people doing special products are more now, thanks to stand alone bakeries specialising in different things. To sustain business, you have to think out-of-the-box. So we have innovative idea like our naughty cake with a person on a bed with a bikini clad woman. There were rose petals around that. We also did a proposal cake for a military guy. He was shown bent on one knee in his uniform, a gun in his hand. little hearts were being released from the gun,” explained Kochhar. Patisseries that have grown popular lately include Sugar.Dust in Gurgaon and les Gateaux in Hauz Khas Village.
The latter doesn’t do customised cakes. It is a kitchen doing home deliveries. The spokesperson from les Gateaux shared, “We realised Delhi needs place like Paris has. Small cafes known for bakery goods. We had a few well-known ones in CP but people want variety. Something they once tried in london or Paris. So we got chefs trained in French patisseries. We are famous for macaroons, which are popular in the West as a tea time snack. Delhi has become fond of them too.”
The spokesperson added that the reason for this recent popular of patisseries is owing to the dearth of good bakeries with variety at reasonable prices. Jeneva Talwar, kitchen executive at ITC Maurya’s patisserie agreed, saying. “Hotels will have their classics but today people want to try new flavours.”
Ravi Kumar, the executive sous chef with Shangri-la feels stand alone patisseries play with seasonal flavours, like frozen muskmelon or watermelon pure. Mango pastries are done differently too.
“This keeps the excitement quotient up. Besides, people are health conscious and some of these joints promote gluten free breads. Most of the stuff is freshly baked as well.” He ended with the hope that Delhi will soon have a street where we can do a bakewalk.