There is nothing more endearing than sumptuous gifts like cakes and other small sweet goodies such as cupcakes, muffins, pastries, to linger the heart of your sweethearts. The delicious flavour, the lip-smacking creamy frost and the unsurpassed designer decoration will leave your loved ones spellbound. Chocolates have become a mainstream thing for gifting your loved ones because cakes are a favourite amongst both men and women. People are now taking professional classes to bake different types of cakes like travel cakes, cakes with various flavours, fondant cakes, etc. Gifting a basket full of cupcakes, muffins, pastries and self-baked cakes is...

Hobby is a great way to relieve stress. It brings joy and enriches our lives. It is a stress-reliever and engages an individual for relaxation. Hobbies help an individual to become more patient and composed. It lets an individual to relax and indulge in activities, that aren’t associated with work or other responsibilities. Baking is a great therapeutic activity for a person who loves to cook new recipes. Activities liking baking pastries and cakes stimulates an individual’s sense of taste and can also be a pleasant surprise for others too. Baking not only gives pleasure but it also helps to...

The human tongue can sense four flavours; sour, bitter, salty and sweet. Half of us have a tendency of not eating sweets at all and half of us have a tendency of being addicted to sweets. I feel having a sweet tooth is the best thing; one has a variety of options to soothe their tongue. Some of us crave for sweets when we’re not well or when we feel low; they act as an energizer for us. For some of us, sweets are the best gift for our loved ones, be it lovers, friends or family, sweets bring a...

This existence is fleeting and if one had to hold it by the reigns, the task would be as humongous as Hercules, moving the mountain. Yet as a part of human nature, we are prone to test our waters and perseverance, to achieve the unthinkable. And such is our hunger for life that it surpasses every other aspect of existence- we are beasts guided by the fancies of our senses. With eyes we view our acquisitions, with ears we pick up the cues to safeguard ourselves, through nose, we guide ourselves out of unpleasantness and through skin we comfort ourselves...

Cooking is something which most people think as an easy process. Cooking, however, is one thing that involves lot of mental as well as physical stamina. It involves lot of grinding, pounding, cutting and cooking. One has to decide about number of factors such as the spices, flow of heat, amount of salt etc. And these decisions have to be taken instantly. Cooking is as old an art as civilisation. In the earlier times, cooking was done by heating the food on conventional ovens. However, as time passed by and men gained controlled over heat, cooking techniques improved, and food...

“ There’s no love sincerer than the love for food” …and that specifically holds true in the life of all living creatures. I mean, just peek into the life of any middle class households, in India, for instance, and you will find that food is one topic that rules our life. The normal day in the life of a common man begins with “ What to cook for breakfast ?” Then, this is followed by deciding the menus for lunch and dinner. Food is a requisite of not only the body but also the mind. After all who will disagree...

The Academy of Pastry arts has all the qualities that a good baking institute should have. This school can be defined as a baking institute with a difference. This school boasts of chefs and pastry makers of national and international repute. This is one school where the enrollees can learn everything by practical means. In other words, here baking is taught by complete hands on training. There are various cake making and decorating courses available in these institute from where the students can have their pick. The courses are both in the form of short term as well as long...

Recently, I visited a big fat wedding. It was one wedding that left all the guests speechless. The ambience was simply ‘wow’ and the food out of the world. As for me it was the food that bowled me over. The platter was both, vegetarian and non vegetarian. The chilli chicken, the achari baingan, the pullav, the biryani and I could go on…were simply lip smacking. The chefs had done a marvellous job. Everything seemed to have been done with an eye towards detail. Best spices were used, the vegetables were finely grated, and the food seemed to have been...

It’s the battle of the sexes revisited. And the battlefield is the kitchen. So, the question that interests us all. Men or women, who are better cooks? Feminists will declare that it’s women who dominate the kitchen, and men would definitely beg to differ. So, what’s the verdict, who wins ? Let’s do a case study. Historians believe that most of the cuisines in most of the cultures in the world have been developed by women. Infact, there’s no arguing the fact that women have always dominated the kitchen area of the house, in most middle class and lower income...