JOIN USFrosting her journey to fame
Baking has become a popular pastime among many and enthusiasts in the City can learn a lot more about the art from ace patissier Pooja Dhingra this weekend.
Pooja, who is also known as the queen of macaroons, heads ‘Le 15 Patisserie’ in Mumbai and her baking talent has drawn clients ranging from Bollywood stars to famous sportspersons, to corporate czars and politicians.
“I have been baking from the time I was seven. Though I was always passionate about it, I had never thought of it as a career,” she says. It was only when she enrolled into a law school that she realised her love for it.
“Within three weeks, I was out of the law school and joined a hotel management course,” she laughs. When she was 21, she moved to Paris to study at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and since then, there has been no looking back.
Post the launch of her book in the City last year, she is incredibly excited to impart her knowledge to the baking enthusiasts here.
“The response was just great last year. This time, I plan to teach everyone three of our most popular cupcakes and frostings to match those. I want to teach them things that can be easily replicated at home and will keep the programme interactive,” she explains.
She will be making the lip-smacking red velvet, chocolate and vanilla cupcakes and also show the tricks to create the perfect cream cheese frosting, chocolate ganache frosting and rose butter cream frosting.
Ask her about the sudden spurt in the number of bakers and she says, “It’s striking to see the changes in the industry. The best part about baking is that it can be easily done in a small set-up.” According to her, “the key lies in finding your niche.” “You just need to realise what you are good at and specialise in that. Just understand your customers and their requirements. Since most people love sweets, there is space for everyone in the industry,” she adds.
She has plenty of food-related memories from her time in Paris. “Once we went to a restaurant run by blind people. Not only were the servers blind, but the place was also totally dark. So with one of our senses not working, all the others were working overtime!” she exclaims.
“The food was good even though we had no clue what were eating. But it was a great experience,” she laughs.
An ardent admirer of French pastry chef Pierre Herme and Korean-American chef David Chang, she feels the reality shows on cooking have done their fair share of good to the industry. “I honestly feel the ‘Masterchef’ series has changed the perception of cooking. It has made cooking more glamourous. Of course the competition for kids is a little extreme but ultimately, more knowledge is always good,” she says.
Pooja Dhingra will conduct a two-hour workshop (from 3 pm to 5 pm) on February 21 at Foodhall, Level 4, 1 MG Road Mall, Trinity Circle. The registration is free. For details, call 22086533.