Celebrity Cakes Maker : Bunty Mahajan
Nothing impresses guests more than a delectable cake- be it at a casual birthday party or an extravagant wedding. Bunty Mahajan of Deliciae lets us in on the most happening wedding cake trends, and how to go about picking the perfect wedding cake.
Nothing impresses guests more than a delectable cake- be it at a casual birthday party or an extravagant wedding. Bunty Mahajan of Deliciae lets us in on the most happening wedding cake trends, and how to go about picking the perfect wedding cake.
Tell us a little about your foray into this business.
It was in 1985 that I first started making cakes at home, mainly for kids– my own, and for relatives and close friends. With the appreciation and encouragement that I garnered, I decided to take it up on a professional level– I started preparing cakes for my clients in South Mumbai. To promote the business further, I hosted a couple of exhibitions at Mayfair and Taj President, after which I was approached by Out of the Blue (Bandra) in 2004, to set up a Patisserie.Wedding cakes are something we started just about five years ago, and it’s already our strong focus. We’ve got more than 100 designs to choose from. Besides, we even customize these cakes as per the client’s needs. The Luxury Collection of Wedding Cakes is the latest addition to our portfolio.My son Suchit joined Deliciae in 2009, after a stint in Private Equity & Investment Banking.
What are the top wedding cake flavors today? Do you get requests to match the cake to the decor or the bride’s outfit?
Our best-selling flavor is the Belgian Chocolate. It is a moist, dense chocolate cake with a surprise crunch. Other popular flavors include the Chocolate Truffle, Red Velvet, and variations of the Belgian Chocolate like the Belgian Mocha, Belgian Raspberry, Belgian Strawberry, Ferrero Rocher cake, the Valhrona Chocolate cake, etc.
The designs are usually decided by the customers. We show them many designs, or let them give us a design of their choice. And yes, we often match the cake colors to the decor or the bride’s ensemble. But again, it all depends on what the clients want.
Tell us about the current wedding cakes trends.
Many clients don’t want simple, tiered wedding cakes. They want something that is remarkably extravagant and truly different. They want the cake to be both impressive and delicious– something they can relish and the guests can rave about… get the drift? And this is exactly what we strive to provide them with. The use of different techniques ensures we have plenty of design options for the finishing of the cake. Currently I’ve been seeing a demand for a lot of cakes in a beautiful combination of White with Gold (flowers, stenciling or molding).
How many wedding cakes do you create in a month?
The wedding business is a seasonal one. During peak season, we end up doing anywhere between 10 and 50 wedding cakes in a month.
What tips would you like to share with a bride-to-be on how to get the best out of her baker?
A cake should not only be delightful to the eyes but should taste great too. A beautiful looking but bad tasting cake can be a disaster. So make sure you know of the quality of the product, sample the cake before you decide on it. Also, don’t try and get too experimental– select a base design for the cake, and then make changes. I personally prefer something simple and elegant. Lighter colors usually look better on a wedding cake.
