Designer Cakes

Couture cakes arrive of age

Delectable/By Hoihnu Hauzel

Prashant Anand, the talented pastry chef at Westin Gurgaon, put me quite in my place, literally. The chef whom I met recently made me realize that I must either go to a baking school or stop baking!

At 35, he has introduced what the hotel has positioned as designer cakes. These are couture cakes made especially to satisfy your whims and fancies. If that’s too hard to digest, take a look at the range of cakes Anand can bake for you.  Each cake is a piece of art. There’s one that looks like a fluffy bed that is actually a miniature version of the Westin’s very comfortable 'to-die-for' beds. Imagine, another cake in the shape of a Ferrari automobile with every precise detail including the spokes on the wheels. Yet, when you see the blue polka dotted cake in the shape of a gift box, you wonder if they are for real.

But that’s what Anand and his team will be delivering to anyone who wishes to gift their loved ones with an edible piece of art. The brand new hotel that literally popped up in the middle of a busy junction in Gurgaon plans to redefine the way we eat our cake. They will go a step further and incorporate every detail and specification you want in your cake.

You can go for any design in dark chocolate mud cake, lemon ornamental cake, chocolate marble cake, fresh fruit vanilla cake, or pineapple cake.  Not only will they have funky and unique designs, they will be baked using different techniques of baking. Most importantly, Anand will insist on the use of the finest and freshest ingredients in order to get the best texture and taste.  And this is how it works. You need to sit with the chef prior to your order and give him detail information of why and when you need the cake, specifying the occasion and the person for whom it is being baked.

Even if you come up with a vague idea of what you want, chef will help you conceptualize with the final product.  You can even get your own design or choose from a range of designs from Treats Cake Album. Anand will happily let you choose from an ipad album. Pricewise, they come for anything starting from Rs 1,400 per kg with taxes. Not bad, considering the effort Anand has to put in.

(Hoihnu Hauzel is an author and a journalist who writes on travel, food and people.)