Meet the bakers - Part 4

In today's special, we'll be meeting another interesting bakeraani - Sangeetha Potty of Lil' Delights fame. She is very responsive (as were all the other bakers), that is making my life a lot easier in interviewing these pretty ladies.

Sangeetha has represented the state and country in Badminton, and now satisfies her craving by attending live events for tennis or cricket. She has recently started running, and did a 10km marathon in Chennai. She hopes to do a half marathon this year - Go girl ! (What a way to burn off those calories ! )

What I really loved about Sangeetha's goodies are the names she has given to some of her creations - Match made in heaven, Southern belle, Blue Eyed Beauty (reminds of me some ranch in Texas with all hot cow boys - *drool drool*). The customized cup cakes are to watch for. Choose your cake, choose your topping and icing and lick away to glory !

Excerpts:

D: I read that you source your ingredients from around the world. Could you elaborate please?
SP: I do source most of my ingredients from around the world. However, I don’t import them. It is usually brought in by my husband who travels out frequently to Singapore, Dubai, Europe and other parts. My friends have also helped me out when they travel and I need something brought in. Regarding cost effectiveness, most of these materials are not available in India(now Passionate baking have started to stock some of them) but for the small quantities required for a home baking store, I think it makes more sense to pick it up when you travel rather than import.

D: What's your thought on this bake fest? How far do you think it's going to help you as a home baker?
SP: Firstly, I think the HBG is a fantastic initiative from Bala and Nanditha. Kudos to both of them for coming up with this idea and more importantly pursuing it by creating up the FB page & coming up with events such as these. I am still smiling thinking about how Bala’s blog reviewing work done by the 4 of us started this initiative. Some hilarious comments flowed that day on the warrior girls and their costumes leading to this fantastic initiative HBG.

Lil’Delights has been operational for the past one year now and a lot of our orders come from people seeing our work and hearing feedback on social networking pages like CFG. I have come across multiple talented bakers in the past year with whom I have interacted who have provided encouragement as well as motivation to improve. I think HBG is a natural progression from something like CFG which is food centric to something which is Baking specific. The additional big plus for all of us home bakers is the inputs that we receive on any baking question / supplies / whatever! All the girls are prompt and this is akin to a Google guide now.

D: Do you specialize only in cup cakes? 
SP: No. Apart from all kinds of cup cakes, our specialities include celebration / character themed cakes, tarts, cheesecakes, trifles and so on. Cup Cakes are my favourites though. Even though they are bite sized, they absolutely let you express yourself!
(My personal favorite is the baptism cake :D)


D: What's your theme for this showcase event?
SP: We are doing a combination of the existing all time favourites such as the Ferrero Rocher Cupcakes and couple of eggless cupcakes as well as our newer creations such as the baked yoghurt tart as well as Bailey’s Cheesecake. It is going to be a day for meeting friends, partying, having fun, learning and interacting with Chennai’s best home baking talent. Can’t wait for the big day to arrive.

That's the pretty lady here and wishing you the best for completing a full marathon some time ! :) And good luck for the fest !