'Tis the season of giving

Christmas is a season for giving. Actually all festivals have an aspect of giving to them. Friends and family meet over Diwali, Holi, Id, Lodhi to share happiness, offer prayers, shower blessings, give thanks. Christmas, though, is especially symbolized by the spirit of giving. Whether it is piling gifts under the Christmas tree or kids waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve to see what he gives them or people donating to charitable organizations – giving is an integral part of Christmas.

In my previous post regarding the arrival of the festival one of my best blogging friends asked me what i was giving her. Since I am saat samundar away from most of my readers, I have had to think long and hard about how to give gifts. I know, I know, you all think my writing is gift enough but phir bhi gift toh dena padega na. So this month, I want you all to go call/email this woman I am going to introduce to you. For now, you will have to pay for your gifts yourself but when I come to Mumbai next, I promise you all a big box of her goodies.

Everyone, meet Kamini. When I first met Kamini, over 2 decades ago, she was this itty bitty thing with 4 massive, heavy backpacks. I wondered how she managed to stay upright under all that weight. She was coming back from some trek. She was and is an environmentalist and I had imagined her future would consist of staging protests and dharnas ala Medha Patkar. However, what she does today and does incredibly well is something I would have never imagined her doing. Now make no mistake, she was and continues to remain passionate about the planet we inhabit. Although today she combines that passion for the environment with raising two adorable kids and the biggest collection of cacti I have ever seen, collecting owls and capturing and releasing snakes in her spare time. All this is not even the reason I am introducing you to her. The following is why you need to get to know her better

Spiderman & Batman cake for a little boy’s birthday

A cute little elephant made from Fondant, I think. It was one of the decorations that went on one of her cakes.

A North Pole cake with the cutest penguin to boot

A mermaid cake that she baked for her daughter’s birthday. She also had pearl in oysters cupcakes to send home with the kids once the party was over

Just in case you thought popular characters were not her thing, she nails this Dora right down to the last strand of dark hair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only does she do birthday cakes beautifully and so prettily that you’d have a hard time cutting into them, she does cakes for grown ups that immortalize their objects of affection in cream, butter, sugar and icing (well, they are immortal until you start eating them)

 

A designer purse in chocolate!!

Run a marathon recently?? Want to thank your shoes??

Flowers for the lady, please

Love the movies?? Look at the clapper she’s embossed on there and tell me this isn’t art

Want to give the (wo)man in uniform a cake that stands for honor, integrity and service, well, here you go!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only is she a good baker or cake maker, like DD likes to call her, her repertoire extends to baking cookies, cupcakes, breads, garlic rolls, vegetable buns. You name it, she does it.

 

Garlic bread….yum yum!!

Hungry for a snack??

These are my personal favorite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In her own words, “I am congenitally shy about promoting myself” – she puts up pictures on Facebook and relies on word of mouth to build her business. She does all the baking out of her house. Hers is not a big, impersonal store where they have some standard cakes that you have to pick from. She will actually take the time to call you and figure out what kind of ingredients you want, what colors your child would like etc. For instance with the Batman & Spiderman cake, the little boy was unable to decide between his 2 favorite superheroes, so she did both for him. She’s the only baker I know who will stay up until 11:45 PM so you can pick up your cake and surprise your loved one at the stroke of midnight. She does marvelous eggless cakes if eggs are not your thing.

Let the emails fly, she can be reached at 22bakest.gmail.com. She’s doing some awesome fruitcakes for Christmas plus cookies that will make wonderful gifts for friends and family and coworkers. Go forth and enjoy her creations, let those waistlines widen. We can then legitimately make losing weight a New year’s resolution.

I am leaving you with a couple of more pictures to drool over

 

Cookies for a child’s 3rd birthday

Awesome fruit cake, the fruits have been soaking in rum for 6 months

P.S: Kamini operates out of Mumbai, right now she’s able to provide service to most parts of Mumbai. With all your support and patronage we hope she will soon be able to expand her business nationally and internationally. Amen!!

All pictures here are the property of 22Baker Street – Holmemade Cakes and have been used with permission from the owner. Please do not copy or reproduce.

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