Stop Hunting for the Perfect Recipe and Worrying if Your Cake Will Rise, These Easy Bake Premixes Can Make Yummy Deserts and Snacks in Minutes!

• Q. Tell us about yourself and your background.
• BawiWhisk is the loving and careful creation of a passionate cook, baker and entrepreneur based in Bangalore, who opened India’s first specialty churros brand “Gobble Up Churros” in 2015 and went on to open more outlets in the years that followed.
  
  Born and brought up in old Bangalore, I worked in corporates for about 15 years before I had my first taste of churros in a beautiful setting in Spain. From that first bite and for nearly two years I could not get the idea of introducing churros as a concept to India out of my thoughts. But, I had just had my daughter and I needed some more time to venture away from the stability I had. It was in early 2015, when the team I worked for was restructured and I was forced to take on a role that I had no interest or like for. Here, instead of seeking other corporate opportunities, I decided to take a leap of faith and created Gobble Up Churros. I launched at the end of 2015 with a 10x10 foot kiosk set in a mall.
  
  As I grew fairly quickly and the popularity increased for the product. In my pursuit for perfection and to make the process of churro making easy, I developed my own churro premix.

• Q. Why did you create BawiWhisk and how did you go about it?
• In the wake of the pandemic, as the economy slowed and the reality of business standstill set in, I knew that I had to pivot my business in another direction. The premixes that I had developed for my franchises were already a sitting inventory, and so I started sending out the premixes to friends and family and my community.
  
  From these beginnings I developed a wider range of dessert mixes to bring the baking experience to every home. I am fondly called “Bawi” a colloquial term to refer to a Parsi woman, and thus BawiWhisk was born.
  
  BawiWhisk has created premix desserts that every Indian family would crave. We have also been conscious to keep in mind that every Indian household may not have ovens hence we have designed the premixes and recipes to be made using everyday household cooking utensils like a pressure cooker, idly maker or chakli maker.
  
  Our first steps involved creating a wider range of mixes, during which I had a great time experimenting with recipes with my daughter and this remains my favourite part! My husband is my sounding board and supporter in all my efforts. He helped me in the initial branding effort, while I worked on recipes, production, contracts and channel sales and marketing.

• Q. What is your process and how do you introduce new products?
• My daughter is my inspiration, she is the foodie that I am, only 10x more. Our churros and cake mixes were developed for Gobble Up, the doughnuts mix was a personal challenge for me. And the other range of products - cookies, mug cakes and pancakes were developed with her by my side. The process takes me back 35 years to a single memory of when I was a toddler. I watched my grand mom making a cake, I was seated on top of the dining table at one far end, and she was set up at the other end. And I would watch her, the whiff of enticing smells drifted my way, I watched the meticulous way in which she would measure, it was all too exciting for a 5 year old. I relived this memory with my mom when she baked the most amazing Swiss rolls, and once again I recreated this moment with my daughter. We are always excited to try something new.
  
  But maybe, not everyone has been exposed to baking in their life. Many people are scared of the failure, don’t have the appropriate equipment or don’t understand the nuances of baking. I was sure that deep inside there must be a desire to make the memory without the mess and the wash up! So every dish/mix I create keeps this in mind. What would one desire to make that could be done easily, quickly and taste yummy at the end.

Where Can You Find Them?
www.bawiwhisk.com

• Q. Your premixes can be made without an oven and using traditional Indian cookware. What was the challenge of developing such products?
• Development of recipes that are doable in the traditional Indian household was a necessity. Many homes do not possess ovens, in fact the modern day oven itself is a phenomena only in recent years in India. In the 90’s Betty Crocker entered the Indian market and they were quick to release the “cooker cake” version because of this very reason. The challenge I faced here was mainly to get the right recipe. There is no difference between the cake mix for oven and cake mix for cooker in terms of composition.

• Q. How do you ensure quality?
• All BawiWhisk products are made using quality ingredients, bought from reliable sources in the industry that are as per the food quality standards. We have obtained a FSSAI certificate. Our products don’t have any egg or egg bi-product so shelf life is stable. We do not add any colour either.

• Q. What are your interests?
• I have an eclectic interest range. Apart from being an entrepreneur and a full-time mom and daughter, I love eating out and exploring new spaces, trying out new vegetarian recipes. I also spend some of my time rescuing or caring for dogs and cats, I have fostered puppies, and I am an active environment enthusiast and advocate of reforesting and environment friendly practices. And I love documentaries on Netflix!

• Q. Which premixes would you recommend to someone trying BawiWhisk for the first time?
• A first time BawiWhisk customer should try the doughnut premix and the pancake premix. These are super simple and fun to make. We have created recipes that are quick, easy and yum keeping in mind a wide age group. Which means this could be a fun activity with kids too.

• Q. What are some common mistakes new bakers make and how can they improve?
• There could be many mistakes, but mainly I can point out 2 very common ones that are fatal for the end product!

• Pre-Heating the Oven – People often forget or don’t preheat their ovens. And sometimes people put the item they want to bake in the oven while preheating it. Both of these are a no-no. If the recipe calls for 10 mins in the oven – it means 10 mins in a PREHEATED oven. Any change in the time will mess up the end product.


• Using Proper Measuring Tools – Yes, measuring spoons and cups. That’s what I mean. Use them for exact measurements, you cannot just scoop and shake it off. Pick up the scoop into the measuring cup, then, level off the top with a straight-edge, like the back of a knife.

• Q. Please can you give some tips on giving baked goods as gifts.
• Baked cookies and biscuits are one of the oldest gift ideas in the book. You can even customise a decoration on top of the cookie or use fun stamps that you can press on the top when they are hot out of the oven. Tie them up in pretty strings or boxes. You can get creative even by adding some creams or fudges in-between two cookies or biscuits and make them into your own version of a Choco Pie treat. Any of these will suit any occasion, especially Christmas which is just round the corner.