Life has unusual ways of leading you to your passion. That’s how one might describe wedding planner-turned-baker artist Ruchi Grang’s life. She recently whipped up a colourful, delicious cake for actor Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli’s younger son, Akaay Kohli, on his second birthday.
“Anushka’s team got in touch with us more than a month ago. Then, for the final details, like ingredients and design, I had a call with Anushka, who was in London at the time. It just happened like that, very organically. The ask was a pretty simple cake with a happy, colourful vibe. I won’t say something very extra, over the top, or something like that,” Ruchi, 36, who began Grangs Kitchen in 2018, told indianexpress.com. “Their team sent us a message saying that everyone loved the cake.”
While this was her first time baking for the Kohli family, Ruchi has been creating custom-designed cakes for several Bollywood celebrities, including Sajid Nadiadwala’s family and Sonam Kapoor. “Somebody once gifted one of our cakes to Sajid Nadiadwala. Since then, they have been ordering from us,” Ruchi shared.
Interestingly, her transition from wedding planning to baking was something she had never imagined, even though her mother, who used to make desserts at home, often advised her to learn baking . “At that time, she used to tell me, why don’t you just go for a baking class? And I used to tell her, ‘No, who’s going to bake a cake? I don’t want to do that’. Oh, life has come a full circle that way,” she said.
When her wedding calendar was empty, Ruchi gradually turned to baking. “And that’s when I realised I actually liked this. So, in 2016, I enrolled in a diploma course in . After returning, I got married and didn’t get much time until two years later. With the support of my family and husband, I started Grangs Kitchen as a tiny studio with just one helper in ’s Bhandup. Slowly, business grew, and now I have a proper professional kitchen with a team in Chembur. We dispatch cakes across different parts of Mumbai from our centralised ,” said Ruchi, who describes herself as a shy baker who loves experimenting.
On what makes her cakes different, she shared that she doesn’t use premixes. “I like to use only couverture chocolates. Couverture chocolates are really good-quality chocolates, like Swiss or Belgian chocolates. With pure cocoa butter, it makes the mouth feel much nicer. They are very expensive compared to the other compound chocolates that you get. But I do not want to compromise on the ,” said Ruchi, who bakes cookies and makes chocolates apart from cakes, and also designs gift hampers.
From ideation to the final product, some of these premium bakes can take anywhere between 24 and 48 hours. “Sometimes, some element or some structure is not available, so you have to order that in advance. The process of collecting things starts 10 days prior. So, it does take a lot of time. Some flavours are so delicate that you can’t make them in advance. You have to make it a few hours just before the cake delivery,” said Ruchi.
As a passionate baker, her plan is to keep expanding and see where life takes her.
