We often don’t realize that when we buy handmade products, we are not just supporting a person, a small business, a family or the economy, but taking home a small part of an artist’s heart. On one side, there are big production houses and larger-than-life manufacturing units and on the other side, there are ventures that believe in creating handmade happiness; however competitive it is for them to survive. ‘Haathmade_Happiness’ blog series is our attempt to give these budding brands a chance to tell their story out to the world. It is the anecdote of brands that create handmade products and adhere solely to authenticity.

Let us introduce you to our first brand that is synonymous with the brewing smell of home-baked, healthy goodies. It is aptly called Bakeology!

What is Bakeology?

Bakeology, as the name suggests, is a brand that offers home-baked, egg-less, scrumptious, and immensely healthy cakes, cookies, and snacks. It started as an experiential journey by Aaisha Gupta who wanted to bring in a wave of change in the way people consumed baked products while denoting her work for some greater good rather than just making a profit. Her brain-child, Bakeology strives to bring in healthier substitutes of almost all the traditionally baked goodies, so that health becomes priority without compromising with the delectable taste.  

What’s the Inside Story?

Bakeology stemmed from Aaisha’s experiences at the Bake Sales of London, where she had studied business management. When she came back to Surat she realized how the baking industry, here, was filled with refined sugar, creams, and white flour. The ingredients everyone were using were loaded with a detrimental amount of calories, but neither the seller nor the buyer cared. That’s when she decided to make healthy goodies that people can have to celebrate or simply treat themselves with from time to time. Most of the items that Aaisha makes is made up of whole wheat flour. She tries to use brown sugar wherever possible or substitutes sweetening agents with real, fresh fruits like bananas. Take for instance, the cookies she bakes – she puts half the required amount of butter and instead adds flax seeds which are a rich source of omega-c. This way she keeps the buttery taste alive but with low fat and calories. In 2015, she skeptically organized a Private Bake Sale on Valentine’s day and tested out her first lot of healthy goodies. To her pleasant surprise, her entire assortment got sold out within three hours and she realized what people here need is awareness and healthier options.

What are its Showstopper Products?

Aaisha originally started Bakeology with the drive to experiment with the baking procedures and conventional ingredients to make the entire business of yummy cakes as healthy as possible, while keeping the utter delectability alive. Although there’s an array of unique items that Bakeology has to offer, a few that stand out are Chocolate Popcorns and a variety of Granolas. The popcorns are popped with zero fat; no oil, no added butter. It only contains calories equivalent to what a handful of corn kernels would contain. Since basic popcorns wouldn’t be appealing, Aaisha coats them with dark chocolate and sea salt. People with sweet-tooth craving can now enjoy this crunchy chocolate popcorn that doesn’t even contain half the calories of what a cake or a chocolate bar of the same quantity would have. Added to that, this snack also provides a lot of fiber to the body, becoming the healthiest counterpart of a lot many sweet munchies available in the market. Aaisha also gets a lot of orders for homemade Granola bars that she makes. Instead of Sugar, it is sweetened by Medjool dates, honey, and maple syrup. One of her famous Granola is known as ‘Ferrero Minus Guilt’. A pure delight that is made up of dark chocolate, hazelnuts, oats’ biscuit and Amaranth. Aaisha explains, that Amaranth is an underrated grain which is a rich source of proteins & calcium. So the combination of oats and Amaranth makes a super healthy version of Ferrero.

What’s Next?

Aaisha plans to start E-commerce for Bakeology so that she can market & supply pan India. She explains that since everything will be done through the online network, it will cut down the cost of each product. Added to that, it will result in a good amount of savings that would have been spent on marketing or setting up a physical store, otherwise. Now she aspires to use that amount of savings in providing regular supplies of goodies to the orphanages. She is glad that a lot many people celebrate their anniversaries at orphanages and treat the kids there with cakes & snacks. But she feels that it is only for one time and often the quality of treats that the kids are consuming is overlooked. Therefore, rather than opening her branches around different cities, she would love to tie-up with orphanages and supply free delectable treats to them on a regular basis, so that even these underprivileged kids could enjoy sweets that are nutritious as well.