Baking Delights from Radhika

There are many who step into the food business, but only those people are successful, in the real meaning of the word, who get a high by simply watching their products being enjoyed by their patrons. Meet one from this rare breed…

The first desert prepared by Radhika was way back when she was in Grade V and it was the blissful joy which she experienced that made her realize that baking was her forte. And at the school leaving decisive age of 18 she had made up her mind to take-up hospitality as a career and don the chef’s apron. The ultimate joy for Radhika is observing people enjoying her cooked or baked offerings and this was what set the ball rolling for her home bakery too.

 

Learning is a continuous process

This food entrepreneur has graduated in culinary arts from the Welcomgroup Graduate School of Hotel Administration, Manipal – Karnataka. And as this field is in a state of continuous flux she continues to attend workshops - on preparing different delicacies and adopting varied culinary styles - as and when she gets an opportunity to. Then again the internet, books, experience sharing on social media platforms and practical experimenting are modes through which Radhika has picked up the art of cake decoration and learnt to whip up exotic desserts. 

Work-life balance

Initially when she started it was just Radhika handling everything with the family pitching in. Right from resourcing raw materials, baking, decorating and logistics and other backend work everything was independently looked after by her! After a year, once the business stabilized she on-boarded two extremely hardworking women who’ve been a major support and have helped Radhika maintain a decent work-life balance. 

Products

Radhika has a rich product spread comprising of - customised cakes, tart cakes, cupcakes, brownies, macarons, cookies, savoury breads, crackers, dips, etc. Some of the best seller desserts have been - macarons, brownies and cupcake bouquets.

Sharing about the product which she loves to prepare Radhika says “I simply love to prepare macarons – it’s a sweet French meringue-based confection. The reason being it was a herculean challenge to master this recipe and in fact it took me a lot of trials and a good amount of time to perfect my recipe. But then, good things don’t come easy, do they! Now we have around 15 flavour options and the best part is that we hand paint these treats too! So it’s like a proud feat for me to have learnt how to prepare macarons…perhaps that’s why it’s close to my heart.”

Diwali hampers

Understanding that people are turning more-and-more to gifting baked goodies instead of traditional sweets on festivals like Diwali, Radhika generally curates around 4 to 5 types of hampers every year during Diwali. The concept is to incorporate a few savoury items along with desserts that are decorated keeping the festival theme centric. Some of their Diwali pièces de résistanceinclude - hand painted macarons, taash cookies and hand rolled truffles. 

So that’s Radhika for you … a successful home baker who relishes her work…! 

Best Seller Recipe - Brownies

 

Ingredients:

 

Butter – 375 Grams 

Dark Chocolate (good quality) – 375Grams 

Eggs – 6

Sugar – 500 Grams 

Flour – 225 Grams 

Vanilla Extract – 1Teaspoon

 

 

Method: 

 

1. Melt the butter; add chopped chocolate and whisk until it dissolves
2. Add eggs and sugar to this mixture and whisk for a minute
3. Add flour along with the vanilla extract and fold in until the flour is incorporated well
4. Line a tray with baking paper, pour the mixture into this pan and bake at 180 C for 30minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean
5. Allow it to cool down, de-mould and use a sharp knife to cut into squares
6. Enjoy these gooey delicious brownies with a scoop of ice cream!