From finding affordable delivery services to sourcing ingredients, the home bakers say they also face myriad challenges with their new ventures.
The Brownie Stories/Nathaniel Dias
Desserts are an emotion to many. The rich melt-in-your-mouth goodness combined with decorative frosting renders an experience that is epicurean. And more often than not, baked goodies bring a smile to your face. With many young professionals working from home since March this year, several of them have turned to baking and selling their baked goodies on social media, including Instagram and Facebook. Bengaluru too is buzzing with home bakers offering myriad options. From the basics like cakes, cupcakes and cookies to more intricate tarts, babkas and layered desserts, the city’s bakers offer many a delectable confection. TNM spoke to several bakers who have started small ventures, baking out of their homes and marketing their goods on social media, primarily Instagram. While home bakers rave about the satisfaction they get after receiving positive feedback from customers, the challenges they face are aplenty. Cheesecake by Suja Ranganathan of Just A Mouthful Baking to kill lockdown blues Samera Kumar, a 28-year-old creative movement specialist with a preschool in Bengaluru, was faced with the uncertainty of going back to work after the pandemic struck India. Her profession includes combining dance and yoga, which is taught to preschool children. But Samera was passionate about baking and was always the one to bake cakes, especially brownies, for special occasions for her friends and family. Photo courtesy: Nathaniel Dias “Recently, one of my friends suggested that I start selling my brownies. With the lockdown, I wasn’t sure when schools would be allowed to open and I needed a way to earn money. So when my friend suggested it, I decided to start right away,” Samera said. View this post on Instagram Because life's best enjoyed with a pinch of salt! . Have your tried our dark chocolate & sea-salt brownies? . Full menu coming soon! . : @nathanieldias #brownies #fudgybrownies #chocolate #seasalt #darkchoclate #fudgy #dessert #freshlybaked #browniestack #choco #sweetooth #bangalorebakers #bakes #bangalorebrownies #bangalorefoodies #thebrowniestories A post shared by The Brownie Stories (@thebrowniestories) on Jul 22, 2020 at 9:12am PDT Thus was born The Brownie Stories, with Samera deciding to start by taking orders on Instagram. The business was up and running on May 22. Samera’s menu is small and mouth-watering. She has sea salt and dark chocolate brownies, fudgy brownies with chocolate ganache, brownies with chunks of chocolate in them and, of course, they all have add-on options. Laveena Deepak, a 25-year-old customer success manager working with a startup in the city, has always found happiness in baking. In 2013, she had briefly started a venture called Mad Batter in Chennai selling baked goods, but had to shut down after she got a job in Bengaluru. “I quit my job in Goldman Sachs and joined a startup in March this year. I was inspired by a friend Khushboo, who I had started Mad Batter with. She went to a baking academy in London and her posts on Instagram inspired me to continue doing what I loved,” Laveena said. View this post on Instagram This one is for all the coffee lovers. A moist cupcake infused with coffee and topped with a bitter sweet coffee caramel Swiss meringue buttercream icing. Get your caffeine fix with these coffee cupcakes!! #coffee #coffecupcake #caffeinefix DM, call/message on the number in the bio to place your weekend orders. #cakesmadetoorder #homebakersbangalore #whiskedwithlav #bangalorecupcakes A post shared by Whisked with Lav (@whiskedwithlav) on Aug 11, 2020 at 3:08am PDT In mid-March, she started Whisked With Lav, selling cakes, cupcakes, cookies and babkas. Her Nutella and salted caramel cupcakes are every dessert lover’s dream. “My Nutella babkas were an instant hit,” she recounts. She also bakes dessert jars, and her chocolate mousse jar has become a hot-selling item. Challenges with delivery Veena Gundurao, a 50-year-old personal assistant to the CEO of Reliance Trends, started baking at home when the lockdown resulted in her working from home. In June, she created a WhatsApp group of residents in her area and another for her colleagues and began taking orders for eggless cakes. However, she only delivers within Hampinagar, where she currently resides, as customers are reluctant to pay exorbitant delivery charges. She has around 50 loyal customers already and is currently mulling expanding delivery services across the city. Veena Gundurao at a baking livestream event for her colleagues Talking about how customers are disappointed when the items are not delivered properly, Laveena said, “For people staying far off, the product delivery doesn’t happen as you expect. I had a few orders sent via Dunzo. When the orders were delivered, the cupcakes were found to be squashed. When this happens, customers will hesitate to reorder. Finding the right mode of delivery is difficult.” She maintains that getting customers to pay for higher delivery charges is difficult as home bakers have to work with available options. “Delivery is a big challenge because it needs to be specialised. Otherwise it can spoil the cake. Most bakers are dependent on Uber or Ola as bike deliveries can end up smashing the cakes. You can send dry goods via Dunzo but not anything with icing and frosting,” said Suja Ranganathan, a 37-year-old former marketing professional who has started her own home baking venture, Just A Mouthful. The pictures matter When Laveena began baking earlier in March, she struggled to market her goods on Instagram as her pictures were somehow not as eye-catching as she wanted. She ended up taking a course on food styling and food photography. In just a few weeks, she began witnessing a drastic increase in the number of likes and followers for her Whisked With Lav Instagram page. Rainbow babkas by Laveena Deepak “The pictures really matter. The right background, adding touches with ingredients used, all make the picture look good. Earlier it was just about clicking pictures on the dining table and uploading it. Now, I take a lot more time to think about what can go into making the pictures better,” she said. She also started uploading promotional videos of her baked goodies, which were also instant hits. Picture courtesy: Laveena Deepak Samera, on the other hand, said she had foreseen these problems before her business went live earlier in May. “My friend Nathaniel Dias, who is a photographer, helped me click pictures of the brownies. Another friend, Sooraj, who is a content writer, helped me with the content for the Instagram page. These elements are important as they add credibility and make customers want to buy the products,” Samera said. Availability of ingredients Suja, who quit her job two years ago after she faced problems during her pregnancy, decided to attend the six-week baking course at Lavonne Academy of Baking Science and Pastry Arts. As a professional home baker, she loves baking layered desserts, cheesecakes, tiramisu, and even replicates recipes from international pastry chefs. However, she laments the unavailability of certain ingredients in Bengaluru, stating that home bakers have to make do with the options available. “The availability of ingredients is a problem. Baking supply stores are limited in the city. It eats into your cost, especially if you end up paying extra for items like the fancy sprinkles, gift boxes or packaging material. Even the baking paraphernalia that are needed to make amazing desserts are hard to come by. Hopefully, this will change in a few years,” she said.
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