Inheriting Natural Ingredients

What unique techniques and flavour pairings have you learned that you’ve incorporated unexpectedly into your baking?

Payal Potdukhe:- For my daughter’s birthday, I wanted to bake some unique flavour. So, decided to try out rose cake in combination with pistachio cream. This combination is not very common so I was not very sure, yet decided to go ahead with it. I tweaked the traditional recipe and added dried rose petals in the cake. I also used pistachio powder for the cream. The layered cake looked good and was loved by everyone right from the small kids to elder members. The cake was over in matter of minutes. One of my friends, who attended the birthday liked it so much that she asked me to make the same combination for her kid’s birthday.  

Learning never stops. I always keep trying and learning new techniques.
I also learnt new techniques and recipes during Entremet workshop. I try to incorporate whatever I learn in next cakes. 

What is your flavour process for developing a new dish? Does it differ whether you’re developing something sweet vs. savoury?

Payal Potdukhe:- I am all into sweets. I prefer to use local and natural ingredients and experiment around them. I try out combinations, ingredients, textures and recipes until I get the desired results. At times recipe or combination does not work as expected and then I retry after making required changes. I like this experimenting and exploring process. Challenging myself to deliver better and better is the prime motivation for me to try out different things.

Tell us about Cakey Bakery Doo?

Payal Potdukhe:- I have been assisting my mother in kitchen since my young days. She used to make absolutely delicious pound cake for birthdays. My baking journey started in Oslo, Norway where I started baking for family and friends. They liked my cakes and then request started pouring in from kids, which deepened my interest to create something new and exciting. I stared learning baking and new techniques, and attended few formal courses. While continuing to bake for every opportunity in my circle, I started baking commercially and that’s how Cakey Bakey Doo started! I love baking and making the cakes. Every cake excites me, I think of it all my waking and sleeping hours. I try to make every cake special for the person who orders and innovate around so that the person cutting, eating and seeing it is equally delighted. Cakes are my medium of expressing and no less than an art for me. Now we specialize in designing and baking customised cakes. In all these years, I have got opportunity to work on some very innovative designs for such wonderful clients. I consider myself fortunate to be able to make people happy by doing what I love. Cakey Bakey Doo is all about spreading happiness and making people feel special!

What’s one piece of advice that you would give to Home Bakers looking to experiment with different flavours on their cake designs

Payal Potdukhe:- Never give up. It’s a difficult journey and to continue enjoying the process you have to innovate, try different flavours, combinations and techniques. Don’t stop, keep experimenting and try out combinations that work for you best.

Who were some of the mentors that had an impact on your career as a Home baker?

Payal Potdukhe:- I have a learnt a lot from others and the experiments I keep doing. My family and friends have been a big support system and critics whom I credit for making me better. Also, Prachi Dhabal Deb and Veena Mahamuni have always guided and encouraged me to continue improving. I have always admired their work and they are more a support than mentor. I have learnt many new techniques from Prachi and she is generous to share the knowledge, skill and expertise. I also learn from baking communities and sharing with them is very rewarding.

Which cake design has been the toughest for you to make?

Payal Potdukhe:- Hmm.. Though each cake is challenging- sometimes its tricky flavours, combinations or sometimes its design. Also I try to make every cake unique and artistic. For me it needs to communicate with customer and express what they would like to feel. So every cake is challenging and takes efforts to get right. Just to pick a tough one that I can think of at this moment, is the cake I made for collaboration – Incredible India International cake collab.  The idea was to represent essence of India and bakers across the globe participated in this collaboration. And as India is full of diversity, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari, east to west, everything changes every 100 kms, I could not choose one state, region, culture or belief. So, I thought of representing a design about “A tourist admiring India”. My work was appreciated by family members, friends, my clients and also lot of fellow baking community members. Sharing picture of this cake.

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