Out with cupcakes in with macarons
View(s):Dushinka Subramaniam of Munchkin home bakery, discusses the latest sweet delight to hit town
By Smriti Daniel
What makes a perfect French macaron? A smooth, firm shell and a soft, melt-in-your-mouth centre is a good place to start. But for something that can disappear in one bite, a macaroon is a lot of hard work, says Dushinka Subramaniam. Dushinka has owned and run Munchkin, a home bakery since 2010 (Their tagline: Let Them Eat Cake) and she turns out macarons in coffee, caramel, chocolate, vanilla and pistachio flavours. They’re surprisingly popular – are macarons the new cupcake? “Yes,” says Dushinka without hesitation.
This morning she’s baked two batches of pale lilac vanilla and dark brown chocolate macarons. Dushinka’s macarons are soft and giving, and she shows me where the macarons ‘feet’ are – the tiny little ruffle around the half shell develops during baking.
Dushinka holds up a plateful of melt-in-your mouth macarons
The shell itself is smooth, without a single crack so common on kisses. An essential ingredient in the macaron is ground almond powder and Dushinka says she likes to blanch, peel and grind her almonds fresh. She imports most of her ingredients, especially the chocolate, which she says is a particularly temperamental ingredient when it comes to the macaron but the richness of her ganache filling is evidently worth the bother.
She counts herself lucky to be widely travelled and her favourite French macarons are not in France but in Switzerland, at the premises of the Confiserie Sprüngli where they serve their signature diminutive but delicious Luxemburgerli. “I loved them so much,” she says remembering the first time she ate macarons there,” and I was pretty sure people here would love them too.”
Munchkin turns out a range of sweet treats, specialising in cupcakes and Dushinka says she owes her inspiration to her mother who loves baking. Growing up, Dushinka was regularly dragged into the kitchen, lured in by the promise of being able to lick the batter bowl. Currently working as a Sales and Markets Executive at KPMG Ford, Dushinka has to juggles her commitments to Munchkin with a full time job – which is why she bakes most often on weekends.
Her macarons are best eaten fresh and shouldn’t be kept for long. Though we don’t get to meet Vishwadhika Perera, she tells us over an email that macarons are wonderfully flexible desserts. “The shape of it, I feel, can be anything you want,” she writes, “I’ve made squares and heart shaped ones along with the traditional circles…the taste for me, shouldn’t be overly sweet and they should smell sinfully delicious.” The secret to making a good macaron says Vishwa is “Patience, patience and lots of patience.”
Dushinka’s macarons: A feast of flavours
At Sweet Wishes by Vish, she offers a range of very adventurous flavours including Virgin mojito, Rose macarons, coffee and nutella, raspberry and coconut and virgin pina colada. Vish does custom flavours and finds her macarons are in demand because she also matches their colour to the theme of the party or wedding they are catering for.
Find Munchkin online: www.facebook.com/Munchkinworld or call on 077 773 1196. Vanilla macarons at Munchkin are priced at Rs. 150 per piece and Coffee/Caramel/Chocolate/Pistachio are priced at Rs.170 per piece. Find Sweet Wishes by Vish online at: http://www.facebook.com/SweetWishesByVish or call on 077 378 0760. Macarons are priced from Rs.95 upwards.
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