Birthdays in Baroda are not celebrated without a cake specially designed and baked for the occasion by Aparna Parikh, that�s de rigeur in the old city.

She is a young and attractive woman, not really a housewife � though she functions from a cosy little flat, who started out adulthood as a software engineer, was based in the Middle East with Rajen, her software husband, and two young sons, and then decided to give up work and look after her family when they relocated to Baroda in 1996.

Fortunately for Aparna, she had a hobby to fall back upon. �Cooking was my hobby,� she explains. �When we returned to Baroda (Aparna is a Bengali and Rajen a Gujarati), my husband started his own business, and because our sons were young I chose to stay at home. My cooking used to be always appreciated by friends. And three years ago, I decided to go professional. I did not really learn cooking or baking or pastry-making, but abroad, whenever I travelled to the US, Canada, the Middle East and even to Bombay, I did make it a point to do those short-term cookery courses. I also read a lot and followed recipe books and picked what I could about desserts from them.�

Her husband Rajen gently suggests that she must have been naturally talented because whatever Aparna cooks at home for their meals, though normal food, is exceptionally different from other housewives� cooking. �People have been saying I should start a small eatery like they have in Europe, that serves pies, tarts, quiches, desserts and other kind of savouries,� says Aparna wistfully.

She finds its easy to cook Thai, Chinese and Indian food. �I follow recipes, I mix and match, I read whatever I can lay my hands on and when I am experimenting with food... I know from the start, that this will come out well! I have a huge library of cookery books at home that I frequently refer to. Cooking is my passion, baking cakes, creating exotic desserts are what I find most interesting, but I also like to follow new trends in bakery and pastry making by reading about them,� says Aparna.

Among her exotic desserts, what is most popular according to Aparna, is the chocolate brownies. �Every day, I get orders for the brownies. They can stay for days on end. My son, who went to China on a trip with his school, was appalled to find the food they were served included such adventurous items as fish head stew! For 15 days, he refused to eat anything but the chocolate brownies I had made and sent with him. He survived!�

And because she is based in Baroda, and the Gujaratis are sometimes strictly a vegetarian people, Aparna makes several eggless desserts as well. I have to adapt recipes to make eggless desserts because I have a huge clientele that aks for them. Indians are by and large fond of desserts. We go abroad, taste some exotic thing, and come back and want it here. I have Gujaratis back from the US who ask me to bake them a pecan pie! Indians are passionate about Western desserts. But I am trying to introduce a line of fusion desserts now. Things like malai kulfi triffle. I don�t make traditionl Indian mithai, things like rasmalai and rossogulla, even though I am a Bengali. Well, actually I do, but only for home.�

The material for most of her desserts is available at Crawford Market in Bombay, Aparna says. She has tie-ups with the traders and only demands the best from them. �I don�t compromise on quality. Whatever is not available locally, Rajen gets for me when he is travelling abroad. It is more expensive, but I don�t cut corners. �

The Who�s Who of Baroda is Aparna�s client. �I have never done any publicity for myself, the popularity of my desserts has spread by word of mouth,� she admits. �People from as far as Ahmedabad, Delhi and Bombay as well have asked me to bake them cakes and make them unusual desserts.�