Meet the bakers - Vaishali Maniar

I'm kick starting the Bangalore Chapter of "Meet the bakers" with the one who has initiated this event in namma Bengaluru. Meet Vaishali Maniar of Crumbs, the Bombay girl, who still hasn't surrendered her Mumbai cell phone number, because she is still clutching the last straw (says her husband - Prithivi Rajaram, a Tamilian,  from whom she claims she's getting all her Tamil accent!)

Excerpts:

D: You've been baking since you were a teenager. What are the memories of your first cake?
VM: My grand mom is a super awesome cook and makes the most amazing moong dal sheera. Her birthday was around the corner and I wanted to do something very special for her.  Being a Jain, she would not eat a cake from an outside bakery.I used to bake brownies then, however had never tried my hand at baking a cake. Hence, my very first cake was ‘born’!

D: What do you miss most about Mumbai?
VM: Oh, I miss everything about Bombay (yes, I still call it Bombay), my family,the liveliness, the buzz, the spirit, street shopping at Colaba Causeway, the chaos, the fact that you could walk on the street at 11 pm and not feel insecure… the list is endless. I am and will always be a Bombay girl :-) (I have to agree with Vaishali on that score, having lived in Mumbai for an year, I still miss that crazy city)

D: How do you find the dessert / baking scene in Bangalore?
VM: Baking is a great stress buster!  It is amazing how simple ingredients such as butter, flour and sugar can result in some amazing creations. The fact that we have 15 home bakers plus others who are wait listed to be a part of the Showcase, shows how popular the home baking scene is in Bangalore. The other day when I met all the participants, there was a feeling of bonhomie. We spoke about how we dreamed about dessert recipes and very often, find ourselves waiting for any occasion which will serve as an excuse to bake!

D: Where do you source your ingredients from?
VM: I source most of my ingredients locally from Nilgiris, IBCA, General Additives and Spar.

D: What's your specialty in baking?
VM: My specialties are the gooey fudgy brownies and the zesty orange cake. The zesty orange cake made without any preservatives, oozes of fresh orange flavour-  it is a must have, if I may say so myself :) (OK, I have started drooling now and the picture Bala posted isn't helping my case - Aug 4th - where art thou - sigh! )

D: What's your theme for this showcase?
VM: I have decided to go with fruit flavours and of course I will be bringing along my famous gooey fudgy brownies (you can never go wrong with chocolate).

Ladies and Gentlemen, presenting Vaishali Maniar - Look at her, proudly drooling at her own cakes! Oh yeah, she hits the gym trying to shed the weight she gains by sampling all her creations. She also dabbles in content writing in her free time.