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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.)
