‘The queen of hearts, she made some Tarts’.
Founded in 2019, Dessert By Aarushi, A home bakery, is run by Pastry Chef & Le Cordon Bleu Alumni- Aarushi Garg.
After working with brands like Trident, Park Hyatt and La Folie based in 3 different countries, Aarushi found that use of authentic ingredients and flavourful desserts are not easily available in India. Desserts by Aarushi is a home bakery which is soon looking to convert into a cloud kitchen. Aarushi finds pride in the flavours of her cake and doesn’t fall into temporary trends to keep the flavours and quality intact. Specialising in Tarts, Desserts by Aarushi serves a variety of desserts you have to try! We are glad to have worked with Aarushi for her first pop up on M2M ferries. Her new menu is out too!
Read Aarushi’s journey in our conversation with her below
What made you start Desserts By Aarushi and how did you come up with the idea?
I started baking when I was around 15 years old. I still remember the first cake I tried making was a pineapple upside down and it turned out bitter, which we had to throw away. I have come a long way since then.
After I graduated with a BBA I joined a basic marketing job with no clue where I was headed. I had my heart in baking but had to convince my family. Only way to convince them was to take up a three month culinary internship to prove that this could be the right path for me. After completing a 9 month diploma from Le Cordon Bleu London, I took up a job at Trident BKC, unable to cope with the tedious work hours and busy work environment, I had to switch jobs that led me to working at La Folie and oh that experience! We worked with the best ingredients, focused on flavour and I got to learn from one of the best in India!
After having experienced the market in India, I moved to Dubai and was fortunate to work with Park Hyatt. Post that I got to experience working with the Village bakery in San Francisco. Having had cross cultural exposure in my field thanks to the 3 different countries I could work in, I wanted to put my knowledge to use providing my clients the best, one of the most important things that I felt was a miss here was the cakes were either too creamy, sweet or no flavour and I knew what my target market was and how to bridge the gap!
After coming back from San Francisco, I had 2 options - starting my own brand or continuing working under someone and I had this gut feeling which was me being ready to take a risk of working for myself. Thus, here I am with Desserts by Aarushi.
The start of Desserts by Aarushi was unplanned. It started when a close friend wanted me to make Diwali hampers for his family. I had no clue this was the start of my entrepreneurial journey.
What are the challenges you faced in the initial stages and now?
Since I started just a few months before the first lockdown in 2020, no one was prepared for what was to come. My main challenge was beating the competition that arose during the lockdown, every baker started to sell their dessert and every consumer preferred homemade dessert over anything more commercialised. It was a great way for me to kickstart my home baking business but I also had to overcome the challenges of delivering cakes - finding the right delivery portal was a long and a very important step because we had to make sure the cake remained intact till the time it was delivered.
How do your products stand out from any other?
Having worked with few of the best brands, locations and my cross cultural exposure, I have tried to entrust my experience to deliver an extremely good quality product which is made using the best ingredients and very rich in flavour. Small things like using good quality butter and flavours from trusted brands makes a huge difference in the dessert. In today’s times, trends are changing with a blink of an eye. Baking trends such as pull me up cakes, piñata, fondant cakes etc. are not something I offer as I like to deliver a cake that is rich in flavour and the upcoming trends are making desserts more attractive and interactive but lack the flavour it needs.
What's your vision for Desserts by Aarushi and where do you plan to take it?
Currently Desserts By Aarushi is an Instagram store. People can place orders via our social media channels. We aim to get an online ordering platform soon and then the next step would be to set up a space for a cloud kitchen. This would take me a step further and scale the business as well. I would like people to remember Desserts by Aarushi as a place that sells authentic flavours and unforgettable cakes.
Get your tart today!
Desserts by Aarushi Instagram Link : https://www.instagram.com/dessertsbyaarushi/
Phone no. : +919833306812
Delivering across Mumbai.
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