Loving your cake and baking it too

BAKING IN INDIAN HOMES is moving beyond plain vanilla, with people trying out recipes and spending on appliances and ingredients. TV shows such as Masterchef Australia on Star World and Fabulous Cakes on TLC are helping out. And when the neighbourhood baker has goodies that look as tempting as they are delicious, it encourages people to make them at home. With top-of-the-line raw materials available, the scene is hotting up.

“Learning new crafts is catching up, especially with baking,” says Saloni Nangia, president of consulting firm Technopak India. Many people are signing up for baking courses, such as those by Sugarcraft India and the Culinary and Cake Decorating School in Delhi, with fees ranging from Rs 16,000 to Rs 75,000. “In 2006-07, there would be one class in two or three months. Now I hold at least two a month, in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bangalore,” says Swati Jain, owner of Sugarcraft India.

When interest in baking rises, so do appliance sales. Ajit Joshi, managing director and CEO, Infiniti Retail, which runs the consumer electronics chain Croma, says there is a continuous demand for menu-driven OTGs (oven-toaster-grillers). “In the past 11 months, we have seen around 40% growth [year on year] in revenue from the OTG category.”

Some implements such as dough mixers, springform tins, and plunger cutters are available online. “When I started selling KitchenAid products a year and a half ago, I would get one or two enquiries a month. Now I get at least 100,” says Archana Doshi, owner of Archanaskitchen.com. Some of the appliances cost up to Rs 52,000.

From talks with customers, Neerja Mittersain, founder of Gourmet Company, an online food products and cooking implements store, realised many people wanted to try baking at home. So the company launched a section named Baking Shelf. “It has a wide range, from sugars to cake decorations. We want buyers to find everything under one roof.”

As home bakers get more proficient, they upgrade to fancier ingredients and implements. Earlier they would make do with the flour available at hand. Not anymore. “They insist on the flour specified in the recipe,” says Mohit Khattar, managing director and CEO, Godrej Nature’s Basket, a food retail chain. Ditto for filo pastry sheets. “Two years ago, we didn’t stock any. Now we keep running out.”

Home bakers are also looking to monetise their skills. “They serve a niche [of] high-end customers,” says Pradeep Gopalan, director, Hospitality First, an event organiser for the food and tourism industries. In November, Bakery Business, an annual trade fair it organised, drew around 130 exhibitors.

But Jain has a word of caution for those shopping for baking kits: Beware of Chinese fakes. Then again, Chinese goods floating around are a sign that a trend has hit home.