Sweet Story of Healthifying the Unhealthy

Only if you can taste articles, this one must be the sweetest, for we got in conversation over a plate of dessert with Utsavi Bhatt, who walks on the riverfront to keep herself sane, and is a cozy indoorsy person who’d rather stay indoors in Goa than go out partying. Yes, that’s none other than the proud owner of Sugar Rush and Docè Handcrafted Chocolates

But the most important is the fact, that, unlike the popular opinion that cakes and confections are unhealthy and unfit for diabetic patients and ones with lactose intolerance, the smell of Utsavi Bhatt’s freshly baked cake and the healthiness of it can render all these myths into compound chocolate, i.e. inside the trash bin.

The batter leading to better today

Take a cup of MBA from S.R. Luthra, an HR executive from an electronic firm, a sweet tooth with a knack for baking and pampering her friends and families with cakes during occasions and events. Now mix it all well, to find the sweat meat that is Ms. Bhatt.

“I never planned to enter this field, I just jumped into baking.”

She attended a workshop to learn basic baking. But then there was no stopping her. This led to many workshops and lessons, even from major cities like Mumbai.

Healthifying the unhealthy

Bakers largely use compound chocolate to make the cake, which is basically vegetable fat, and not edible. Long-run consumption of the compound can clog your arteries.

“In foreign countries like the UK, they don’t even sell compound with other baking components.”

So the healthier alternative of the compound is couverture chocolate, which is pure chocolate that is brimmed with cocoa butter, which is a natural butter and a healthier component of fat.

Such things, she sighs, are unknown to the general mass and they end up comparing the price of her products with that of the bakery and not the quality of it.

“And no one is surat taught me that. I learned all the healthy alternatives and methods from mentors in Mumbai two months before covid. And after that, there was no going back. Initially, even when the customers would ask for bakery taste, I’d deliver them in couverture chocolate at compound prices, for I wanted them to know the difference! And now they all order as much twice a month, all in couverture chocolate. Even the nuts the bakery sells are covered with compound, but I like to sell them couverture itself.” Ain’t it sweet?

Couverture chocolate needs to be processed at a certain temperature to set it. Hence, it is almost three times more expensive than the compound.

“The fillings of cakes are loaded with colors and sugar, which again are not friends of your health. That’s why I like to make all the fillings at my home, and I make only as much required for the particular project, rather than bulk storing it, to keep it fresh and healthy.”

In cities, people also use jaggery powder instead of sugar, but since both sugar and jaggery have the same GI (the Glycaemic Index, which rates food as per the carbohydrates they contain). She wishes to shift to coconut sugar, stevia, etc. which has a better GI index.

Even the vanilla essence of the market is all diluted with flavors, hardly containing 0.1% of vanilla.

“That’s why I cut the vanilla pods and store them with sugar, which seeps in the flavor of vanilla and is ready to use in desserts instead of vanilla essence.”

My work and My designs are my passion, and for me, baking is like Yoga, it gives me the utmost peace!

Whipping Future Plans

“I wish to shift to cloud kitchen.”

Being a one-man army and handling all the tasks within the walls of her house can be hectic at times. Hence, Utsavi wishes to shift to cloud kitchen, so she can hire at least 1-2 help. She also wishes to make her cakes as much healthier as possible.

Hello Fitness Magazine wishes to continue covering such amazing journeys every edition and keep inspiring!