A slice of divine cake is all we need to brighten up dull, dreary days and we know for a fact that one of the hallmarks of any great cake is a moist, tender crumb. Any celebration, be it a birthday, a wedding or a dinner party, is incomplete without a cake.

One of the most delicate culinary arts, baking involves careful and precise measurements, ingredients and cooking techniques. While we all have our favourite go-to bakeries, where we get some of our favourite baked goods, in more recent times we have seen home-based baking businesses flourish and thrive. Social media is flooded with options and you will come across a number of women entrepreneurs who are doing well in this business. They not only offer wedding and birthday cakes but also have thematic cakes as well as other scrumptious desserts.

If you’re looking to order a cake for a special occasion, here are 5 of Karachi’s top options…

Auntie Munaver Desserts

You haven’t lived in Karachi if you haven’t had or heard of Auntie Munaver’s cakes. Though she’s been in the baking business for quite some time and specialises in all kinds of desserts and savory items, it’s her 3 Milk Cake (Tres Leche cake) that literally takes the cake! The famous Tres Leche three-milk cake comes with a variety of toppings, including chocolate and fruit, but it’s the classic milk chocolate topping that we would vouch for. Auntie Munaver opened a tiny outlet in the Bokhari Commercial area earlier this year but her shop suffered damages due to the July rains and she took her business back to home operations until the commercial area got renovated. We have to say that whether you’re ordering from her private or commercial outlet, the Tres Leche is worth going after.

Sugar Mama by Aisha Bandukda

It’s Aisha Bandukda’s love for desserts that got her in the business and after training at a culinary institute in Dubai, she returned to Karachi and took her passion into professional baking territory.

Sugar Mama officially took off at Karachi Eat in 2018 and you have to be following the Sugar Mama Instagram page to understand what the hype is all about. “I wanted people from all over the city to try the desserts I had in store for them,” Ayesha recalls, speaking to Instep. “It was a great platform to increase reach, awareness and widen the customer base. So it’s been almost 2 years to this home based business of mine.”

Aisha deems home based businesses to be a better way of keeping a closer eye on the quality and having a better relationship with customers. “If the quality and taste can be maintained, a small scale business can do wonders in a short span of time,” she stressed.

Since she uses a lot of imported ingredients and with the prices sky rocketing, it’s been quite a challenge to provide the best of taste and quality at a price that lies between the normal and high range. “Most of the times ingredients are out of stock and when they are available, it’s usually triple the price as compared to the stores abroad. Despite that, there certainly has been a rise in my sales. Since the restaurants/bakeries were closed due to lockdown, people were open to other options and also probably because there is minimal contact. A lot of new customers have tried desserts during this time and have eventually become repeat customers,” Aisha shared, adding that she doesn’t have any plans of opening an outlet anytime soon.

Meanwhile, what to order? We’d highly recommend the classic brownies, profiteroles and the cheesecake!

Wild flour by Natasha Kazmi

Natasha Kazmi started baking when she was just 15 years old and her claim to fame, at that young age, was the super popular, infamous Caked Alaska served at Copper Kettle.

“It was the opening day of Copper Kettle and they didn’t have a baker,” Natasha recalled, in conversation with Instep. “Because I was always fond of baking my mum came to me and asked me if I would do it for 10,000 rupees. Back then it was a big deal so I agreed. I was studying at St. Josephs and my routine was quite hectic, I would go to college, come back, and bake; weekends used to be insane. So that is how it kind of started,” added Natasha.

Having lived abroad for 25 years, Natasha just recently returned to Pakistan with culinary expertise, including a degree from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and dived straight back into the business.

“It has just been a few weeks that I have started selling my products and the response has been amazing,” she shared. “I am getting great feedback on all my products, way more than I expected.”

As far as the scope of home based bakers is concerned, Natasha shared that it is tremendous. “I have just recently started my new venture and I am already chockablock full for the next 2 or 3 weeks.”

Natasha further revealed, “I went off to Paris for three years and went to Le Cordon Bleu and another school there, which is locally very recognised. However, I would not open my bakery only because I think that the last 4 months that I have spent here, everything seems to be a hassle be it the rain affecting the stores, electricity, water and gas issues etc. So I am very happy to be baking at home. Even in the near future I don’t have any plans of opening up a business in Karachi, because to be honest it is not easy.”

The pastry chef stated that baking is her passion and she’d work as long as she enjoyed it.

“There is a large market for it,” she spoke about culinary businesses. “My sales have not been affected due to Covid, in fact I’m getting more and more customers every single day, way more than I can handle. There are times when I have a break down and I think I can’t keep up with the demand, but otherwise it has been incredible. I am very fortunate and am quite enjoying it so far; I am exhausted but that is my own doing.”

Sam’s Cake Factory by Sumaira Waseem

Sam’s Cake Factory, established by Sumaira Waseem with the support of her husband, has been around for almost eight years now and is famous for its meticulously crafted creative cakes. Sumaira came up with the idea to launch her own venture when she ordered a designer cake for her daughter’s birthday, but it wasn’t what she had expected it to be. Not only was it pricey but the taste wasn’t out of this world either. So she decided to take up baking classes and start her own venture. Sam’s Cake Factory provides exclusive and customized designs as well as a variety of fondant and non-fondant cakes with several delicious flavours that will surely make your special event better.

The Batter Half by Alina Amir

A dentist by profession and a baker by passion, Alina Amir of The Batter Half started her venture almost one year ago as she was an avid fan of baking and loved replicating cake designs. The Batter Half offers an exquisite range of floral cakes along with a variety of thematic cakes, cupcakes as well as chocolate bombs.

Speaking about the scope of home based bakers, Alina told Instep, “I think there is a lot of scope in an era where social media has so much value. Most people have switched to online ordering. So not having a physical store is actually a good thing, since you save up on rent and maintenance and this is the main reason I don’t plan to open up a bakery soon. It’s a lot more convenient as I manage everything at home, allowing me to pursue my main career as well.”

She went on to say that since she’s started, the response has been great. “I think if you’re good at what you do, there will always be people willing to choose your brand,” she shared.

On how the pandemic affected her business she revealed, “Initially I had stopped taking orders as there was risk of contamination. However, I resumed a while ago, and Covid has actually increased the demand since physical bakeries are viewed as riskier options.”