Sweet things of life
View(s):The women in Take 3 this week are sculptors of cream and cake. Their artistry is all in the delicious, imaginative detail. Each works from home and is largely self-taught, but when it comes to creating a birthday cake, they’re professionals in inspiring delight. Here’s what you need to know:
Petit Pot Cakes Battaramulla. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Petit-Pot-Cakes/273179972748297
Nipuni Sangakkara’s cupcakes are quite out of the ordinary. Laced with real alcohol, she serves up Baileys, mojito, rum and chocolate and even cosmopolitan cupcakes on request but that’s not her only selling point. She also creates beautiful cupcake baskets that could rival any floral centrepiece. “That’s where it all started, I just wanted to do cupcakes in a different way,” says Nipuni.
Nipuni Sangakkara
An ex-communication manager, this home baker says she enjoys being a full-time mum to her two little girls aged 5 and 3. ‘I never thought I would become a home baker,’ she writes on her site, ‘However, now that I am one, I am loving every minute of it and the transition from the office to pantry has been one that is challenging yet rewarding!’
Nipuni makes her own fondant icing at home (sometimes producing 5kg a week), and says she’s learnt a great deal about her art simply by spending time on the internet.
(She likes to post helpful videos on her Facebook site for other home bakers.) She says the trick is in getting her figures right and while she relies on moulds for human faces, the rest of it is just sculpting the figures into life.
Nipuni charges between Rs. 100 – Rs. 200 per cupcake, for which she requires two days notice. Her cupcake baskets cost Rs. 1500 (7 pieces) and Rs. 2,500 (15 pieces). Her cakes are priced at Rs.2,000 per kg and upwards depending on the design and flavour. She suggests you book your cake at least a week in advance.
Gorgeous cakes and desserts Nugegoda. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gorgeous-Cakes-Desserts/139961322714083
The precision and the finish of her cakes set Vyomi Latiff apart. Her skill is the result of two very different career choices: the first and more obvious is a Prima baking course, and the second is a course in animation. “That background that I got, the technical skills I learnt in animation, helps me with the moulding,” says Vyomi. “You’re taught to think in shapes.”
Vyomi Latiff
When it comes to her cakes, she indulges her imagination. For instance a Gucci inspired ribbon cake handbag comes with a lipstick, a small compact holding several shades of eye liner, a brush with a feathery blue tip and an open tube of mascara – all made of fondant, all edible. “I map it out in my head,” says Vyomi of her cake designs. While she does draw a little, colours and additional details are evolving right up until she starts moulding the fondant.
Vyomi makes her cakes to suit her own palate, which is not overly sweet. Her most popular flavours are the chocolate fudge and the ribbon cake, but her soft, delicious brownies fly out the door too. Gorgeous Cakes and Desserts has been up and running since 2008, but Vyomi built her reputation on word of mouth as a home baker several years ago. Working without assistants, she takes on few orders. Her priority? Wrapping up by 4 p.m. so she can spend time with her young son.
Vyomi charges Rs.2000 per kg for her cakes and her brownies are priced at Rs. 45. She recommends you contact her for a booking one month ahead.
The Cupcake Carousel Nawala. http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Cupcake-Carousel/126546267367151
“I’m a little bit of a kid at heart,” says Sudharshini de Silva, explaining that with lots of children in her family, she learnt early to make cakes as “as exciting as possible.” She tells stories with her cakes – encouraging you to look before you cut. Can you see the shark about to devour the pirate in the water? Do you notice the perfect red bow on the gift that Lolsmurf is holding out? What about the rippling pond the three little ducks are swimming in?
Sudharshini de Silva
When dealing with pint sized clients, Sudharshini often begins working on her cakes not in the kitchen but in front of the T.V – watching the movie they love before she begins designing.
“Lots of people don’t realise how much of time goes into making those little characters out of icing,” she says, explaining that it can be a feat of engineering to, say, carve out a pirate galley. When she incorporates inedible props, such as the flag, she still makes them herself.
“I have no experience in baking, it was just something that I did off the top of my head,” says the one-time lawyer, explaining that she began The Cupcake Carousel two years ago and still sees it as a hobby, in part because she manages alone.
Accordingly, she’s opted to keep things simple, baking cupcakes for most part in chocolate and vanilla, and creating novelty items out of ribbon cake. Her recipe for the latter isn’t anything unique, she says, the trick is that it’s fresh and is still moist when you blow out the birthday candles.
Sudharshini works with minimum orders of five pounds and her prices, which begin at Rs 1,200 a pound, are decided entirely on the design. Her cupcakes, typically adorned with a fondant figurine cost between Rs.100 – Rs.125. She suggests you contact her three weeks in advance to place an order.
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