“I’m so happy and proud that my childhood hobby has now become my business” - Hafsa Ilyas, Buns and Muffins
Life Online chats to Hafsa Ilyas about her baking business Buns and Muffins. Hafsa’s love for baking started off as a hobby and it was only a matter of time before she took it on professionally.
Read on as she speaks about her inspiration, her success and future plans.
What do you like the best about baking?
Baking is very interesting! It creates a lot of excitement and brings your talents out while enabling you to provoke your creativity.
When did you start Buns & Muffins? What motivated you?
Being the eldest daughter in the family, I loved cooking and baking. I started helping my mom when I was very young. I learnt cake decorating at the age of 10 and from that time onwards I was making cakes for my family and friends. They loved my cakes and their appreciation took me more into cake baking. As a hobby I kept continuing and started taking orders at the age of thirteen.
I got a good response and started baking more and more as the orders started pouring in. My brother, Ashkar Ilyas and the family encouraged me to start this as a business and that’s how I started Buns & Muffins on the 14thof August 2011.
How do you select your recipes?
Well..I love to try out new recipes. Most of the time, I follow my mum’s recipes as she is equally good at baking. Sometimes, I change the recipes here and there just by adding in a few more ingredients. I do it with an intention of inventing new flavours. I’m so happy when everything works out well at the end J
What’s the secret behind your success?
I guess there are number of reasons behind it. J Ingredients, quality, freshness, presentation, giving out the best with good packing and safe delivery are some of the prominent criteria behind my success. With God’s grace, I have a big family which is the main secret behind my success as their support is always there for me. Dedication and God’s blessing is what brought me to where I am now. My customers and the facebook friends who have liked my page have been a great strength to me. The feedback and comments I get from all of them encourages me more and more. I’m so happy and proud that my childhood hobby has now become my business.
Your favourite cakes?
My favourites are chocolate cakes, chocolate fudge cakes, chocolate brownies, chocolate tarts, chocolate gateaux, chocolate mousse and chocolate cupcakes. They mainly are all chocolates.
How do you price your products?
I price my products at a very reasonable rate.
Out of fondant and butter icing, what do you like the most to decorate your cakes with?
I love working with fondant as it gives a good and neat finish.
What are the groups that you target with your bakery items?
I target my bakery items for kids, teenagers and adults. I love to try out new cake designs depending on the requests of the target groups.
What are your hobbies other than baking?
I do embroidering, pot painting, mehendi art, tailoring, costume jewellery making, metal embossing, screen printing, glass painting, oil painting, hand crafts, clay work and much more.
I also conduct cake decorating, cookery, embroidery and mehendi classes for the ones who wish to learn from me.
Out of all your sweets, what’s the most popular item among your customers?
Chocolate session éclairs, chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes, chocolate mousse are few of the most favourite items.
You can see these delicate wonders for yourself.
Article by Kalhari Pitigala
0 Comments