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Indian regional delicacies get a cake avatar!
The pandemic has led to many avoid street food, and that made certain foodies try out Raj Kachori Cake. But that’s not all, there’s also Butter Chicken Cake and many others to relish! Delhi-NCR based home bakers and foodies share how they are satiating their taste buds with such innovative bakes.
Who doesn’t love to devour a chatpati Raj Kachori or good ol’ Butter Chicken or the ever favourite Motichoor ladoo? When in India, do as the Indians! But now, even while being within the country, many are opting for a cake themed on their fav Indian regional dish. Such cakes, themed on Indian delicacies, are gaining an increased fan following especially via social media. And as denizens satiate their taste buds with these innovative creations that look drop dead gorgeous, we find out what’s spiralling a heightened interest in such bakes inspired by regional foods.
Oodles of green mint chutney topped with pomegranate seeds, and you’d surely be fooled to believe that it’s a raj kachori! It is, however, a Raj Kachori Cake by a Gurugram-based baker Divya Sreeji, which recently went viral on food groups online. “It’s a sweet cake, made using Belgian chocolate ganache cake with dairy whipping cream and handmade fondant decorations. The bhujiya and pomegranates and all are made with sugar paste... I thought some people are avoiding to eat their favourite street food at present because of the Covid situation and are craving for it big time, so they would like something that’s themed on street food. Many families and friends have been ordering this cake as a gift to those who love to relish raj kachori.”
Talk of street food, and how can the favourite Indian snack samosa be left behind! Divya Malhotra, a Gurugrammer who ordered the Raj Kachori Cake recently, has a Samosa Cake next on her mind. “My aunt upon receiving one such cake thought that it’s actually a giant raj kachori made on special order by her daughter-in-law,” laughs Malhotra, adding, “We all had an awesome virtual party to celebrate over this cake, and it was only when she cut it that she realised that it’s a cake! The entire lockdown and this pandemic has made me realise one thing, and that is how each one of us should celebrate any small or big moment in our lives.”
And it was to celebrate the recent Father’s Day that Greater Noida-based budding chef Vaibhavi Mehrotra, recently surprised her father with a Butter Chicken Cake! The 14-year-old made used homemade pineapple crush and a sponge cake with whipped cream frosting, to create this marvel that is leaving many awestruck! “It’s been 18 months or more of this pandemic, and we are all mostly confined to our homes to remain safe.This has taken a toll on our mental health, and while trying new things to keep my mind positively engaged alongside our taste buds happy, I made this. I’ve been innovating with colours, shapes and flavours while cooking most of the dishes at home. But it’s always that something new and different that we crave for that drove my passion to create something that compels, and what better could it be than an innovative spin to a butter chicken dish,” says Mehrotra, who isn’t selling the cake commercially, yet is overwhelmed by the requests coming in from her friends and extended family, to make the same for them.
Foodie and food critic, Pushpesh Pant, however says that such cakes get temporary attention only because they trigger an “association of savoury or a non-vegetarian” dish with a cake. “I don’t think these cakes can ever carve a niche for themselves. You can have a Gulab Jamun Cake or a Halwa Cake, but let there be an essence of the cake to call it one. Those who love butter chicken will like the cake themed on it. But if you have a cheesecake coming into your mouth as a boneless chicken tikka, then there is no originality or creativity. The novelty fades, but you’d still like a rasgulla as a rasgulla,” he opines.
Author tweets @Nainaarora8
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