Hey, Sugar!

Like every doting mother, designer Nikki Mahajan was hoping her daughter would follow in her footsteps. But she realised soon enough, that Suhani loved cupcake-baking more than pattern-making and decided to set her free. While Suhani dabbled with design for eight years, her life wasn’t going to be restricted to the preservation of textiles. As far as the girl who trained at Le Cordon Bleu, England, could tell, wedding cakes were an expression of design and creativity, too. “The part where my mother’s talent and profession crept into my interest came much later,” says Suhani. “I was born into a world of textiles and the creative gene passed on by my mother had to emerge soon enough. Aspiring to be just like her, I followed in her footsteps and discovered the magic of weaves and embroideries, and the big, bold universe of fashion design.” Few know that Nikki Mahajan’s stupendous kitchen skills are Suhani’s inspiration. “Being exposed to watching a household member dish out fantastic meals got me hooked and I started enjoying cooking from the young age of twelve,” says Suhani, who launched her own dessert-making company, SUgar.Dust, last year. “The satisfied smiles that followed every meal my mother cooked inspired me to be more like her.” Interestingly, Suhani was apprehensive about setting up her own company. The final push to start at a professional level came after she got married. “My husband Ramit is the wind beneath my wings, he is the one who tells me to keep at it,” she smiles. “Though he works in the corporate field, he shares a passion for alternative professions as well, and since marketing is his primary field, he worked on the name of my company. Our logo, written SUgar.Dust, begins with the same syllable as my name.” Despite hurdles, tears and frustrations, Suhani feels she has come a long way with the support of her husband. “Thanks to him, today, we offer a varied range of chocolates—single-origin, sugar-free, hand-rolled truffles, occasion-based, babythemed or luxury gold-varq truffles for weddings,” she adds. “Our bakery division caters birthday and wedding cakes and even customised gifting.” All the production is out of her kitchen based in Gurgaon. “Our kitchen is built as a one-stop shop for production, packaging and dispatch,” she laughs. Suhani offers personalised service to her clients, which keeps the designer in her happy. She ends up working on all the graphics and packaging presentations on her own. The SUgar.Dust signature line consists of dessert jars, a concept started in India by Suhani. Cookies, cupcakes and chocolate bars are some of the regulars, apart from tarts, such as the salted caramel chocolate tart, which is one of her bestsellers. “I was sure there is a market for our dessert jars, with yummy flavours like red velvet, fudge chocolate cake, vitamin carrot cake, zesty lime oil, cheesecake, banoffee and vanilla bean,” she says. This 28-year-old prides herself on personalised service, creative and smart packaging and innovative ideas. “We have also received a very encouraging response for our chocolate bar collection and cupcakes, which we offer in several interesting flavours, like Indian gulab that is made with freshly dried Indian rose, espresso and Frangelico, vanilla rocky road, masala chai and Earl Grey Tea,” Suhani elaborates. As we drool and ask Suhani about the art of dessert making, she admits it involves patience, precision, love for the sugar rush and oodles of passion. “When you love doing something, you always excel in it because it doesn’t seem like work,” she smiles. “It’s doing what you love to do all day, every day.” We’re ready to order now!

Ingredients 30 Oreo Cookies 25 gm dark chocolate (minimum 60%) 100 gm cream cheese 100 gm melted milk/white/dark chocolate Method 1. Crush the cookies—without separating the cream filling—to a fine powder. 2. Melt the dark chocolate. Cool it and add to the cookies.

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3. Mash the cream cheese into the powdered cookies and the melted chocolate and mix well. The mixture should have a smooth dough-ey consistency. If the mixture does not come together, add a little extra cream cheese.

4. Roll into balls about 1.5 inches in diameter. Refrigerate for half an hour. 5. Take as many plastic lollipop or wooden satay sticks as you have Oreo balls. Dip one end of the stick in the melted chocolate and then push into your Oreo ball. Let rest till the sticks sit firmly. If you’d like, add some sprinkles, too. 6. Dip the Oreo balls in the melted chocolate and leave to set.

Three simple ingredients, one decadent result. Oreo Pops “I was sure there is a market for our dessert jars, with yummy flavours like red velvet, fudge chocolate cake, vitamin carrot cake, zesty lime oil, cheesecake, banoffee and vanilla bean.”