By Leigh O’Connor.
Hetal Vasavada grew up in New Jersey in a family of wonderful Gujarati home cooks who raised her on chai, cardamom-spiced shortbreads and sweet puddings.
After a cross-country move, Hetal started to recreate the flavours of her childhood – this time in her own style – which eventually landed her a spot on Gordon Ramsay’s MasterChef, where she was the show’s first Hindu vegetarian contestant.
Author of ‘Milk and Cardamom’, Hetal now has a successful Instagram channel, blog and online pop-up bakery and has just released her second book – ‘Desi Bakes’ - with 85 recipes bringing the best of Indian flavours to Western-style desserts.
This book offers a new world of over-the-top glamour and bling to home bakers and industry pros alike as one of Hetal’s favourite parts of baking is how structured and unstructured it can be.
The precision and accuracy of baking mixed with the freedom of creativity with buttercream and cookie dough as her medium has brought Hetal, her friends and family so much joy and now she hopes readers will also learn how to embrace their inner artists and bakers.
The recipes are inspired by Indian culture, handicrafts, arts and experience, but are also rooted in American and European recipes – it’s not quite 100 per cent Indian, or American, but like Hetal, a mix of both.
‘Desi Bakes’ also delivers decorating inspiration and delicious recipes to an audience looking to create eye-catching sweets – whether destined to be shared on special occasions or just to satisfy your own sweet tooth.
Learn what to bring to a friend’s Diwali celebration, how to use rose syrup to sweeten chai and how to mimic beautiful Indian textiles with icing on cookies. We have three sensational recipes to recreate at home:
"I’ve actually never been able to have a fresh jamun, but my Mom would always grab frozen jamun from the Indian grocery store! Jamun, also known as java plums, are a sweet and sour fruit that are super popular in India. They have a deep purple colour and almost look like mini fresh prune plums. I added some fresh berries to the mix here since jamun on their own can be quite astringent and tart,” Hetal explains.
"For the decoration, I piped on a simple shortbread cookie dough in a lattice pattern reminiscent of jalis, or latticed screens, that you can find all over India at palaces, temples and mosques.”
"I know these cakes look complicated or like they’ll take forever to make - but they won’t. I promise!”
The cakes take just a few minutes to bake and they are absolutely adorable to look at! It’s a simple vanilla sponge topped with vanilla and cardamom whipped cream and strawberry rose jam in the centre. You can swap out the strawberry rose filling for mango murabba (page 27) or pear and cardamom jam (page 28).
"My maternal grandmother had a love for ice cream that could rival my daughter Elara’s. She’d often use me and my sister as an excuse to eat as many ice bars and ice pops as she could and we loved her for it! When she lived with us, she’d pick me and my sister up from school and walk us home.
"In the Summer, she’d bring us popsicles or strawberry shortcake bars that we could enjoy on our way home. When she moved back to India, she’d sneak me and my sister money to go to the corner store and buy Chocobars and Mango Dollies. This is my little ode to her, taking my favourite part of an American strawberry shortcake bar, the crunch on the outside, and mashing it with creamy Mango Dolly (think orangesicles, but made with mango)."
From cookies to cakes, puddings, frozen desserts and even drinks, ‘Desi Bakes’ brings vivid colour and spice to all the sweet moments in life.
