Bakery vs Home-based Bakers: Meet the women who bake the talk on healthy cakes

Home-based bakers are gearing up to give commercial bakeries a run for their money. The reason: COVID-19 pandemic has hit hard and consumers are forced to pay heed to healthy eating habits. And according to experts, the humble pie, or cake features prominently while choosing what food item to order from and where.

After successive waves of the pandemic, home-based bakers are now engaging with their consumers more effectively in the whole process of baking and icing. Home-based bakers are available to connect with regularly and provide a personalised experience of what they have to offer.

Apart from the benefits accorded to the consumer, home-based baking has also helped aspiring women entrepreneurs become financially independent by turning their kitchen into a thriving workspace. Pratibha Tiwari, Krutika Kandade and Akanksha Verma are just some of those in metropolitan Mumbai who have left no stone unturned in establishing themselves as women entrepreneurs by starting their respective home-baking businesses.

While working in the Research and Development, Quality department in one of the leading bakeries of Asia, Pratibha Tiwari was exposed to things which turned out to be an eye-opener. She says she was heartbroken when she came to know about the numerous chemicals and preservatives that were used in the business of baking cake. The unacceptable practises followed in the bakery turned out to be a kick starter to her home-based baking business Choco D’lite.

Pratibha Tiwari says, “Commercial bakeries start degrading the quality of ingredients once they gain popularity and understand the buyers. The low-price policy tends to attract the consumers who pay no heed to the quality of ingredients. The health of the client is always the first priority for home-based bakers. Also, home based bakers focus on the quality and science behind the ingredients instead of earning profits.”

Krutika Kandade, the proprietor of Kandy’s cakes, believes that “creative activity isn’t the icing on the cake, human creativity is the cake.” She throws light on how clients should look at the healthier side of the confections that they order. Today, bakeries play with the health of consumers. Drawing attention to the home-based baking era, she believes that baking is not just a process rather it is an emotion.

According to Krutika Kandade, today, cakes are not just a birthday feature, rather it has become a token of love. “Cakes are infused with health benefits and loaded with love and happiness,” She says.

Adding more to the positive aspects of ordering a cake from a home-based baker, Akanksha Verma, who owns Buttercream Rosette says, “When you visit a bakery, you are not completely sure whether the cake is really fresh or not. Also, while transporting cakes from the manufacturing bakery to the commercialised shop, the temperature of the cake changes from one to another. These variations in the temperature level are not suitable for the cake’s shelf life.”

Being a home baker, she delivers a cake which comes straight from the oven. “A home baker is more hygienic than bakeries or cake shops. Especially when it comes to kids, a home baker is aware that the confection has to be 100% healthy and hygienic,” adds Akanksha Varma.

Edited By: Mohammad Sajid