Namita Nayyar:
You are popularly known for vegan royal icing, right now veganism is a well-known and most popular diet routine and lifestyle change. Tell us about royal icing and your take on it?
Prachi Dhabal Deb
IN 2015, when I travelled to London to learn from the iconic cake artist, Sir Eddie Spence MBE, it was a dream come true and I got the opportunity to learn from him. Royal icing is one of the most traditional medium when it comes to cake decorating. It’s a fascinating medium and also the name Royal icing comes from the anecdote that when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert got married, the icing that was used in their wedding cake and because it was used for this royal wedding, it was coined as the royal icing. The traditional recipe comprises egg whites or dried albumin powder.
So, when I learnt the basics and fundamentals of royal icing, I realized to make this popular and a hit in India, it is important that I figure out a vegetarian or a vegan version of the same recipe, because then it will be popular among the masses. I really wanted this medium to thrive and that gave birth to this idea of vegan royal icing.
Namita Nayyar:
Baking is more upcoming trend in India with so many home bakers coming up, how do you plan to extend your knowledge bank to them and increase empowerment?
Prachi Dhabal Deb
Baking and cake artistry is a full-fledged industry and it’s been doing well for the past 10 or 12 years and there are numerous opportunities around and the industry has grown really well with a lot of Indian brands coming up and helping artists in a way because when I started, sourcing even a small quantity of good quality ingredients had to be imported from abroad. It was not easily available in India but now everything needed for cake artistry and baking is readily available and made in India to a point where Indian brands and industries are exporting to countries all over the world.
Baking these days in terms of knowledge, material and classes, everything is so advanced now, you have wonderful academic institutions and individual artists who are specializing in a certain art form and are imparting their knowledge to those interested and my specialty being royal icing, I also take a lot of online classes and physical classes and I attend a lot of cake shows where I take workshops. Because of social media, one can stay connected in a way that people can see your work and all your work that you post and can talk to you directly so the reachability has definitely increased.
I am also associated with a lot of institutions and NGOs working for women empowerment and the underprivileged because not just royal icing but also baking is something that itself is an employment generator and those who want to start out can and I’m very fortunate to contribute to these causes in my own little way by imparting my knowledge to them and it makes my heart full that I’m able to contribute even this tiny bit towards empowering these women. So yes, it’s important because even the younger generation, teenagers and even children as young as 8 or 9 years old are interested in learning baking or become a chef and that has happened because of the immense exposure and awareness around them and it’s shows great promise for the baking industry.
Namita Nayyar:
Women Fitness India talks about diet and fitness routines; do you follow any special diet? How do you manage your sugar and calorie intake being a baker yourself?
Prachi Dhabal Deb:
I have always had a sweet tooth and even as a child, I enjoyed my desserts the most , Indian sweets and all thing sweet but as I grew older , I realised the importance od eating in moderation and more importantly eating right and having balance in your diet. I was quite athletic and was inclined towards sports in my school and college days so I paid extra attention to the portion size of what I was eating and what I was consuming in proteins, carbs and sugar intake. So, I used to eat each and every thing that I would bake and make and all the lovely Indian sweets that are available but I kept a watch on my portion size and controlled that to a large extent.
