The Raindrop
From Bento modak cakes to lachha rabdi or gulab jamun cheesecake to jalebi caviar the sugar darlings this festive season are flooring tastebuds. Aditi Dugar, founder-director, Urban Gourmet India, is raising the bar by bringing out artfully crafted floral jelly cakes in collaboration with Thai pâtissier Chef Dej Kewkacha.
The Raindrop a 3D and shiny light-as-a-raindrop jelly comes in six variations: sakura, orchid, jasmine, rose, forget-me-not, and chrysanthemum. “I wanted The Raindrop to form the sweet run-up to Diwali. Flowers are celebratory and a big part of our culture,” says Dugar. Her pick? “The Rose is my personal favourite. I love its acidic and tart flavour,” she says.
Not to be left behind, Girish Nayak, Chief Mithaiwala at Bombay Sweet Shop is shaping childhood memories and cultural IPs into lip-smacking sweets. His Biscoff pedas and Puranpoli modaks are monikered festive ingenuities. The peda comes topped with biscoff ganache and hazelnut almond praline.
The Puranpoli modak is filled with an aromatic mix of jaggery, cardamom and chana dal, and is coated with dehydrated puranpoli bits on top. Come Diwali, he has a new line-up ready: “The Kaju marzipan bonbon plays up with the multi-layered decadence of cashew marzipan layered with dark chocolate ganache.”
Nayak’s Kaju and orange roll inspired by the Nagpur orange burfi has citrusy tones tucked inside the cashew roll. “Coffee rasgulla tiramisu is another creation that has found its mark,” he shares. The coffee-soaked rasgullas are layered with mascarpone cream topped with almond brittle and a generous dusting of cocoa powder. What’s his favourite? “The Indie Bar layered with pepper caramel, coconut fluff, patissa and dipped in dark chocolate,” he grins.
For Alisha Shah co-founder of Gold by Ice Cream Works who believes in bringing a luxury experience to even the polar pick, adding edible gold and silver into ice creams was a logical turn. “Gold represents opulence and rarity,” she says. Think vanilla from Madagascar, black cherries from Modena in Italy, cocoa from Los Rios in Ecuador, and more. “It’s all about exclusivity,” she smiles, succinctly summing up the trend.
Shilpi Madan for The New Indian Express