I have met a number of home bakers on my journey as a food writer and something common with them is how each of them strive to do something different and sometimes a little better using the best ingredients unlike the cakes and pastries produced in mass quantity which taste below average. 

This week we met up with Keshiya Noyahr the young lady behind Keshiya Bakes. Having a passion for baking she would bake various goodies for her school mates. She spent a lot of time researching on various recipes and combinations and decided she wanted to enhance her baking skills and enrolled at the Sri Lanka Institute of Tourism and Hotel Management where she followed a pastry and baking course followed by a course in professional cookery. She then went on to gain some hands on experience and joined the kitchen at Waters Edge for a six month training stint. Upon completion she decided it was time to set sail on her own and take up orders so she could allow people to taste her delectable items. 

Taste and value for money - 4 stars 

Her number one item from what I tasted was easily the Brownie Layered Cake (Rs 3,000). This gooey delight is a chocolate and brownie lover’s dream come true with the cake not being overly sweet and allowing the strong chocolate flavours to pop in your mouth make it a wonderful cake. Topped with bright red strawberries it is as stunning to look at, as it tastes. Her Brownies (Rs 90 per piece) are also fantastic and are a must try in her repertoire. 

An aspect that stood out is that her chocolate cakes are that they are gooey and fudgy – the perfect combination for a chocolate cake as far as I am concerned and her Chocoholics Delight Cake (Rs 2,000) didn’t disappoint in the least. 

She also bakes a range of cookies from decadent to simple tea time treats like the pretty Stained Glass Cookies (Rs 25), Shortbread Cookies (Rs 50) and a slightly less sinful but delicious, Raisin Cookies (Rs 50). Among the more decadent range are her absolutely chocolaty Chocolate-Chocolate Chip Cookies (Rs. 100), Chocolate Chip Cookies (Rs 100) and Chocolate Fudge Cookies (Rs 200). These large cookies are the perfect combinations of soft on the inside and crunchy on the outside. 

The only items that fell slightly short for me were her Chocolate Éclairs (Rs 75) which were a little hard while the frosting on the Chocolate Cupcake (Rs 110) and Funfetti Cupcake (Rs 120) were a little stiff and lacked the softness that butter brings to icing. Her éclairs however were stuffed with a generous helping of chocolate pastry cream and topped with oodles of chocolate ganache, which to a great extent hid the shortcoming of the hard choux pastry while the cupcakes itself were soft. 

Note: 

Cookies are priced per piece as are the éclairs and cupcakes. 

A week’s notice is required for speciality cakes and two to three days notice for other items. 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/KeshiyaBakes/ 
Address: 54, Watarappola Road, Mount Lavinia 
Tel: 077-390-3061 or 077-115-7586 
Email: [email protected] or [email protected] 

By Natasha Fernandopulle 
Video and photographs by Kanishke Ganewatte