Although Swathy S. Soman and Ann Vijo are no football buffs, they are down with ‘football fever’. Both Swathy and Ann have launched a range of football-themed cupcakes in connection with the ongoing FIFA World Cup. While Swathy plans to introduce cupcakes topped with the logos of various teams participating in the World Cup, jerseys of individual players, each team’s flags and the like this weekend, Ann has already delivered two football-themed cakes and is expecting a fresh set of orders.
It was a recent order of cupcakes Swathy received that sprouted the seed of idea of introducing such cupcakes. “A customer ordered cupcakes for her son’s birthday. As her son is a Chelsea (football club) fan, she wanted me to make cupcakes based around that theme.” And so with the help of fondant and edible print sheets, Swathy created Chelsea-inspired toppers for the cupcakes. “There was the Chelsea jersey, a football on a football ground, the Chelsea team logo... as toppers,” she says.
Although you can choose your favourite flavour, red velvet is Swathy’s speciality. While there will be a few boxes of cupcakes available for sale over the weekend, Swathy says the cupcakes will be prepared on order during the rest of the World Cup period. Swathy can be reached on her Facebook page, Red Velvet Bakers.
A homebaker, Ann is known amongst her customers for her customised theme cakes. “I love challenges and making themed cakes fits the bill.” So, when a customer sent her a picture of a round black-and-white chequered cake shaped like a football, she decided to go a step further. “While surfing the Internet one day, I saw a dome-shaped cake and have been itching to make one. When my customer told me the cake was for her husband, who is a die-hard football fan, I decided to make the dome-shaped cake and turn it into a football-themed cake.”
The cake with vanilla and chocolate as a base and whipped cream and chocolate ganache topping was a success.
Once she posted the picture of the cake on her Facebook page, Ann’s Patisserie, Ann received another order, from a daughter who wanted to pick up a cake for her father, who is fan of the Argentinian team. The customer wanted a similar cake but with the colours of the Argentinian team’s jersey — blue and white.
“From birthdays to get-togethers to pre- or post- match parties, football themed cakes and cupcakes seem to be a hit with the public, especially with Malayalis, who are fond of the game,” says Ann.