"Creative, Calm Headed & Passionate"

With more than a decade experience in bakery, Chef Gaurav Motling is currently handling all bakery operations at Taj Santacruz Mumbai. Earlier he has worked with leading hospitality chains like Hyatt, Marriott and more. His passion for pastry stemmed from childhood and he graduated from RIZVI College of hotel management. At a young age he has received several accolades for his culinary prowess. In an interview with Sharmila Chand he talks about his work philosophy and more...

Berry Teeming with Health

Cranberries can be described as a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines, going up to 2 metres in length.

Biscuits and Cookies

A cookie in Scotland is a plain bun and in USA, a biscuit is a quick bread like a scone, but in India, cookies and biscuits have great deal of similarities between them, both in terms of appearance and usage. For example, both can be eaten as sweet and/or savoury snacks, and both are convenient accompaniments to tea and coffee.

Delivering Fast food

The growing trend in the QSR segment is likely to make several enterprising investors want to enter this segment. However it is essential for a newcomer to realize that the fast food industry has seen a rise as never before and there are a number of QSRs now all over the country.

Confecting Confectionery

Indian confectionery market has been showing a steady growth and is, according to IMARC report, expected to touch Rs 485.9 billion in 2028, rising from Rs. 338.2 billion in 2022. This could be attributed to love for cakes and other confectioneries, like chocolates, by people irrespective of their age. Besides this, the trend of gifting confectionery products during festivals or special events like birthdays, anniversaries, et al. is sure to boost up the confectionery market, which, in turn, is sure to prompt would be prospective entrepreneurs to venture into this arena. Ashok Malkani takes a look at the increasing confectionery sales and how a new entrepreneur can venture into this lucrative field.

Coffee: A Primer For All

Coffee is today a buzzword for all ages in India. An excuse to meet for the youth, a quick business chat for the professionals, and a light invigorating drink for those who want a rush of adrenalin to cope with the tasks ahead with concentration.

How About A Date?

When one talks of a sweet date, the younger generation is apt to think of their first romantic date. However, the date that this writer is elaborating on is the date fruit which is as sweet as sugar but much less harmful, health-wise. This dark brown fruit is not only delicious but also highly nutritious. Believed to have originated somewhere around Egypt, dates are now cultivated in Africa, Middle East, and South Asia. This fruit, now becoming popular worldwide for its health benefits, has been consumed by locals in Middle East for over 6,000 years. Its health benefits are slowly making this fruit a healthy replacement for sugar, which is believed to be harmful to one's health, in desserts, smoothies, baked goods, etc. Ashok Malkani examines the health benefits of the fruit, its replacement as a sweetener as well as the different types of dates available in the market.

"Exuberant & Passionate to Travel Around the World" Reshma Yashwant Bhosale, Pastry Chef, The Orchid Hotel Mumbai

Reshma Yashwant Bhosale is a passionate and motivated individual, committed to learning and experiencing various aspects of the food industry. She holds a diploma in food production and bakery from Hospitality Training Institute and a degree in commerce from Mumbai University. Reshma has been working as a Pastry Chef at The Orchid Hotel in Mumbai since 2018, where she has honed her skills and gained extensive knowledge in the field. Prior to this, she served as a pastry sous chef at The Orchid and Radisson Mumbai and worked as a Chef de Partie and Demi Chef de Partie at The Club in Mumbai. In a candid conversation with Sharmila Chand, she talks about her work philosophy and more....

Decorating Techniques

Every time you develop a recipe your presentation skills enhances its value. It is very important for the presenter to understand the basic skills of presentation.

Health Challenges for Bakers

To better understand the health challenges that the workers in a bakery may face, it could be important to revisit what the job per se entails. In an everyday situation, a worker in a bakery has to mix flour, salt, yeasts, spices, sugar, and other ingredients to prepare dough, batter, fillings, etc., which are then baked in ovens to turn them into bread, cakes, rolls, etc.

Baking Galore

Bakery markets nurturing the requirement of large variety of buyers with new versions of waffles and pancakes. Amongst all the cake varieties, pancake and waffle are not widely acknowledged and still linger in the breakfast menu list.

Healthy Business

Dairy industry is among the rapid growth industries in India. Its fast-paced growth of dairy products can be attributed to several factors like their health benefits as well speedy growth in exports' market. For enterprising entrepreneurs there are various avenues that they could explore and take advantage of. Ashok Malkani delves on several factors which are helping the dairy products' market rapid progress.

Future Trends In Baking

Bakeries, as per the consumers' demands, have to live up to their expectations. The industry has to be aware of the latest desires of the consumers, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. Bakeries - big or small - have to cater to purchasers' whims and wishes for their survival and progress. Thus they have to be aware of the latest trends, for their development. Bakeries are, therefore, to meet the consumers' numerous requirements, are continuing to develop not only new baking methods but also new recipes. Small and new bakeries also have to adopt new methods to reach out to consumers and make them aware about their products. Ashok Malkani tries to assess the future trends in the New Year and the near future.

Pastry Chef: Challenges & Opportunities

Unlike most chefs, pastry chefs cannot throw things together at a farmer's market and expect to have a consistent result. A slight variance in temperature, grams, humidity, or time makes all the difference in the world of pastry.

Patisserie Notes Making Good Pastries de

Pastries are the key product in any bakery or confectionery set up. Good pastries need special attention at every stage. Any good bakery is known not only by the whiff of its freshly baked bread but more often by the quality of its pastries that are the proverbial hot cakes of the establishment. However, there are many imponderables and subtle aspects that influence the quality of these savouries.    Following are some of those essentials.

It is Really Hot

Hotdogs, a snack delight for many. sounds like a puzzle that needs to be solved at once. When we talk about popularity of a dish a gourmet delight how far can one go in praise for it? May be by giving it a name that throws light on its importance; or naming it after a personality that gives it a new dimension; or can be stretched maximal to make it a dish for a particular occasion.

Smell the Coffee

Tea, once India's favourite brew, is being given run for its money with resurgence in coffee-drinking habits. With the advent of the twenty-first century, India has embraced myriad global influences in its culture. One of those influences to touch India in recent years is the coffee-drinking culture. Who would have thought that land which is famous for its heavenly teas from Assam and Darjeeling would fall under the aromatic spell of a primo, semi skimmed cappuccino? But it is true; the coffee-drinking habit, especially among the upwardly mobile populace of India, is growing rapidly and is here to stay. Over the last two decades, the café culture in India has gained not only momentum but also maturity. This can be attributed to the increase in disposable incomes among select but sizeable pockets of urban India, the growing influence of western culture, especially among our young demographics, and the increase in working population. Thanks to the changing habits and lifestyles, and the healthy disposable incomes, we now have a plethora of coffee shop outlets across the main cities of India.

Designer Cakes

Whether you are organising a party for birthday, wedding, anniversary, or for an official. celebration, you always add a cake to the plan. A cake is a priority to make the event more pleasurable and memorable. Regardless of the event being organised, people of every age expect a delicious cake, making the event complete. There are different cakes to satisfy the sweet tooth, but custom-designed cakes make event extra special.

Chocolate The Perfect Sweet

For the New Year, Valentine Day or for any other occasions one food product that will bring an expression of glee on the receiver's face is Chocolates! This sweet has proved popular over the years. Its popularity is expected to increase in the coming years. Indian chocolate market reached $ 2.4 billion in 2022 according to IMARC Group. The global chocolate market attained a value of $ 127.7 billion in 2022, driven by the impulse purchasing behaviour of the consumers. Aided by the new product launches, the market, according to EMR, is grow further in the years to come. What has made chocolate a popular sweet, at Valentine time? Ashok Malkani takes a deep look at the industry to gauge several factors like how it is made and also whether this product, which is also used extensively in bakery products, is healthy.

Rising Popularity Of Coffee Shops

Coffee consumption and trend is undergoing a rapid change resulting in the rise in growth of café chains. Several individual coffee shops have also proved popular. The popularity of cafes has been on the rise due to various reasons. India has become a popular destination for several coffee chains due to the increasing demand from the populace. This, in turn, has encouraged several entrepreneurs to venture into this field. Ashok Malkani examines the reasons for the growing popularity of cafes and tries to enlighten an enterprising businessman seeking to venture into this field on the pros and cons of café business.

Shape of Your Cake

As a consumer different shapes of cakes attract diverse individuals. While some individuals are happy to play around with flavours and icing, they remain faithful to the regular shape of round or square cakes. Shape of the cake still draws attention and if it was a mundane pineapple cake, some would rather take a slice from a guitar shape cake, or indeed the one shaped like a teddy bear, as compared to a plain round or square!

Packaging Bakery Products

Packaging is a priority for all processed foods. Attractive packaging helps the food to move off the shelves. But in the case of bakery products the packaging has to take several factors into consideration. The bakery products could get rancid or soft due to water vapour, and thus the packaging has to ensure that the water vapour neither enters the packaged products nor does it escape from it. There are several forms of packaging material used for biscuits and breads, based on various factors.

Mixing Intelligence with Dough

The liberating forces of machines have always been celebrated, and could never be overstated. For a business enterprise, machines with advanced technology perform two principal functions of saving labour costs and time consumption.

Just Doughnuts

Like everything else in this continually changing world, the Indian bakery industry is also changing. Thankfully, many of these changes are in the right direction. One of the welcome new-age features of this expanding and evolving Indian bakery industry is the growing popularity of doughnuts, which are often called donuts.

Aromatic Plants in Desserts

An herb is a plant that is appreciated for essence, aroma, or other intrinsic worth. Herbs are used in cooking, baking, as linctuses, and for pious functions. Gastronomic herbs are distinguished from vegetables in that, like spices, they are used in small amounts and provide flavour rather than substance to food.

Sweets for the Season

It is the festive season. Time to present and consume sweets! Diwali the festival that reminds one of victory of good over evil, right over wrong, also witnesses the exchange of sweetmeats among the happy celebrants. However, sweets or mithais are slowly being replaced by bakery products like cup cakes, cookies, biscuits, chocolates, et al. Ashok Malkani finds that there are various reasons for this. The shift in preference for bakery products over sweetmeats, could be attributed to, among other factors, people becoming more diet conscious. The trend definitely seems to be towards gifting of bakery products.

Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates Unveils Fabelle Finesse

Fabelle Exquisite Chocolates, the homegrown luxury chocolate brand from ITC Ltd., acclaimed for creating unparalleled chocolate experiences, introduces Fabelle Finesse the world's finest chocolate, crafted in India.

Speciality Workshop by Euro Foods

As the world is rapidly changing, there has been a paradigm shift when it comes to food preferences and eating habits.

Devyani Launches its 1,000th Outlet

Devyani International Limited (DIL), the fastest growing quick-service restaurant (QSR) operator in India, announced the milestone opening of its 1,000th outlet.

Slow Burger Opens in Bandra

After launching The Bandstand Pantry, Ranji Trophy Cricketer Sinan Kader is ready to take it slow when it comes to burgers.