Aqeedah Hakim believes in good, rich and exceptionally delicious desserts and baked goods such as cake and cupcakes.  Owner of Couture Desserts, she has been baking and cooking since she was 11 years old.

Blaming it on her ‘cooking genes’, Aqeedah says she grew up eating delicious and comforting food cooked by her mother. She has been baking cakes for important occasions such as engagements and weddings for the past 8 years but she started up Couture Desserts properly 2 years ago, after her parents pushed her to do so. Initially, she created a page on Facebook and via word of mouth, business picked up and she hasn’t regretted the decision at all.  

The menu has decadent written all over it. Couture Desserts does 6 cupcake variants (chocolate, vanilla, mint chocolate chip, toffee nut, red velvet and kesari). If you’re wondering what a kesari cupcake is, it’s inspired by a popular Indian sweet and it’s baked using rose essence, cardamoms, saffron and pistachios. Cake is something that Aqeedah loves so she included a few variants on the menu, such as love cake, rich cake and basic favourites such as chocolate, butter, date and honey and red velvet.

She also makes black forest and fruit gateaux. Tiramisu, individual cheesecakes, cake pops (dark chocolate, brownie, red velvet) and Arabic sweets (baklava with a nut filling, crispy vermicelli squares). Aqeedah does customized desserts and cakes/cake structures for special events, and this includes the packaging as well. Desserts in jars are the newest thing for Couture Desserts and this is rather innovative for weddings. 

Basic ingredients are sourced locally while other ingredients such as sprinkles and chocolate discs are brought from Malaysia and the UK. She is opening her own store in a few weeks, with a dessert counter and a separate section selling foreign baking essentials and ingredients. She also makes her own fondant icing.

A busy mother of two, Aqeedah works everyday, including weekends. She handles all the work by herself and if required, her mum and aunt assist her with orders. She is especially grateful to her husband and family, for their unending support.

A minimum order for cupcakes is 12 and for the minis, it’s 24 while for cakes, it’s 1kg. She requires 24 hours notice for small orders and two weeks for larger orders. Couture Desserts is on Facebook and you can email Aqeedah on [email protected].

By Sarah Kellapatha

Photos by Kushan Pathiraja