Muffin talk!

with budding entrepreneur Sanjana

Meet Sanjana Galada, final year Electronic Media student at a reputed college in Chennai and definitely one of the finest bakers. From the good old fashion vanilla cakes to exotic red velvets and neon colored delicacies, name it and the cupcake lady bakes it.

Having converted her passion for baking into a business idea, Sanjana is a nascent entrepreneur today. A baker with small cakes and big dreams, she says “Follow your heart, your dreams and you will go a long way”. Read from some inspiration.

While taking time off a humdrum evening, she entered the kitchen to help her cousin in baking and to her surprise, stumbled upon her alternate passion. The lady who had set out to master scripting and multimedia fell in love with aroma of freshly baked cakes. It is true that life changing events come in simple disguises. Today, Sanjana runs ‘The Cupcakery’, a humble venture to redeem the city of its muffin needs. The Cupcakery operates from the kitchen of her house in T-Nagar and it is amazing how she manages nearly a score of orders each month.

It has been almost 3 years, since she began baking. It started as a pastime. She baked for fun and for family get-togethers. Her cupcakes were demanded on every occasion. It was a family friend who encouraged her to take it commercial. After some thought and deliberation, she decided to take the plunge. Well-wishers spread the word and Sanjana began to get orders. That is how modest the beginning was. Her reputation spread in close circles by word of mouth. She took party orders, baked all night long. The biggest order she has done till date was for a school farewell party when she baked over 600 pieces. Quite an ordeal it was when a single person has to do it in an unprofessional domestic kitchen. Recently, she created a facebook page and much to her delight, finds the responses overwhelming.

Sanjana’s cakes are one of a kind. Her cakes are eggless. Delectable icing blooms into a rose, thus crowning the cake and she tops it with colorful sprinkles.

She customizes them to suit the occasion of her customers. She fondly remembers a bunch of cakes she made for a baby shower. The icing had teddy bear and feeding bottle on it. Her cool cakes can even pull off small placards with hand written wishes or photographs on them.

If you thought only pizzas come in 3 sizes – small, regular and large – you have mistaken. Cupcakes do too. Tiny little two bite delights are irresistibly cute and you just can’t have enough of them. Well, cupcakes are not her only speciality. She has diversified into cake pops (lolly pops upgraded) which are trending recent times. She has also tried her hand at bigger cakes and cupcake cakes. Aligning herself with fashion trends, she took a shot at neon coloured cakes and guess what, they became cakes of present times.

Her cakes are not only fancy looking and delicious, but they are of high quality too. She buys ingredients from Bangalore and Mumbai. For food colours, most often she opts products from the US. Delightful cupcakes come from a hygienic kitchen.

Speaking off ingredients, the most important element that goes into a cupcake is motivation. Cramped with college projects and exams, Sanjana says that she has thought about giving up baking many a times, but the response she gets from customers, keeps her going. That is quite an alien feeling for those of us who cannot even find enough motivation to hit the gym every day.

We have all come across a whole bunch of creative people in our lives or we are creative ourselves, who have put our creativity to rest as we grew up into busy adults. But you can’t use up creativity. The more you use the more you have. Opportunities out there are plenty and all that it takes is a little courage to make the choice between working for someone and being your own boss. Launch ideas from your heart.

Sanjana’s success is a rich example that there is no luck in business; there is only determination, determination and more determination.

Having found her true passion, she hopes to become a professional baker soon. She has dreams of setting up her own bakery and even going multinational someday. She is looking forward to the festive season this year and is all set to please our taste buds. As Sanjana chases her baking dreams, her cakes redefine the idea of sweets, gifts and celebrations. One small step for muffins, a giant leap for the muffinkind.