Decorating a cookie requires high amounts of patience-Pallavi Jain

Pallavi, as an owner of ‘Cake Box’ and a baker, how do you manage to keep your bakery products for long without using preservatives? In fact, how do you preserve the gateau prepared by you?

Pallavi Jain:The first precedent of being a home baker for me is to use minimum to zero preservatives and absolutely no chemicals. As I only bake on order, the products I use are always fresh and hence my cakes only have a shelf life of 3-4 days under refrigerated conditions. In my Gateau, I always prefer to use seasonal fruits and homemade compote. I glaze the fruits placed on top with an apricot jam to keep the freshness intact.

What are the flavours given by you for the cakesicles and the cake pops till now? Which has been the best design as responded by the customer?

Pallavi Jain: The main demographic for cakesicles and cake pops are majorly kids and the most popular option among them is chocolate. You just cannot go wrong with chocolate !! But the flavours that I do provide include red velvet, vanilla chocolate chips, chocolate mint, chocolate oreo, coffee, etc to name a few.

How did you get an idea of making kesar pista macarons? What was the feedback from your loved customers on the innovation of kesar pista macarons?

Pallavi Jain: I was brainstorming ideas for my Diwali hamper when the concept of Kesar Pista macarons came to me. The macarons were inspired by my rasmalai cake, which was a hit among my clients and hence I decided to incorporate it in my macarons. My clients were quite impressed by the macarons as it was a blend of a traditional and a western delicacy.

How do you most often decorate the cakesicles and how is it different from decorating a cake?

Pallavi Jain: Decorating a cakesicle is different than decorating a cake. With a cakesicle one has to be precise about the temperature of the cake dough and melted chocolate, to get a smooth and perfect coating without any cracks. Also, cakesicles are usually part of a dessert table hence their decoration has to be done in accordance with the theme of the party, so you have a very limited space to play around and show your creativity while staying within the theme’s boundaries.

How can you define your love for a bakery in one line?

Pallavi Jain: Baking is my therapy.

Where did you get an idea of making Eggless royal icing cookies and how much time do you take to decorate it? How different is the icing of the cookies as compared to the cake?

Pallavi Jain: For a long time, I had tried to learn royal icing on my own but the efforts were to no avail. I finally decided to attend Swati Jain’s royal icing class and hence am now able to create these beauties. The decorating process is extremely therapeutic and calming to me. The total time it takes to decorate a cookie depends on the intricacy of the design and also takes into consideration the drying time. Decorating a cookie requires high amounts of patience and precise hand movements hence it is much more time-consuming in comparison to decorating a basic cake.

As a baker, which is more significant according to you for cakes, decoration or quality?

Pallavi Jain: Decoration and quality go hand in hand. The client judges your cake based on the whole experience which includes how it looks as well as how it tastes. Maintaining consistency and quality is of paramount importance, but having a good looking cake with that is like a cherry on top. Hence it’s always a priority to ensure that whatever I bake matches my standards of quality as well as looks amazing in photographs.

Your rasmalai cakes are like must try in your menu. How did you come up with this idea of fusing Indian mithai with the bakery?

Pallavi Jain: Taking inspiration from other bakers and testing different flavours that worked well together I tried creating my version of the rasmalai cake. The cake is infused with real saffron, cardamom, dry fruits and of course, rasmalai. The sponge is soft and moist and soaked in rasmalai syrup. It’s a modern take on a traditional dessert and hence is perfect for all age groups.

How do you make sure that the ratio you decide for ganache will be perfect? Did you ever spoil a ganache and try it for the next time?

Pallavi Jain: Ganache is an extremely basic yet integral component of baking. It consists of only 2 ingredients i.e melted chocolate and cream. The process of making ganache is relatively the same every time, what differs is the ratio of chocolate to cream. For frosting or filling cakes the ratio to be maintained is 2:1 to get a pudding-like consistency. For decoration/piping work the ratio is 2.5:1 to get a fudge-like consistency and so on.

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