Meet 22-year-old Shivesh Bhatia, a Political Science graduate from Hindu college who started baking at the age of 16 and later choose it as a hobby that finally turned into his full-fledged profession at the age of 21.
Delhi-based Shivesh recently launched his debut cookbook ‘Bake with Shivesh’ that offers a glorious collection of interesting and accessible recipes. The book has gorgeous photographs of foods cooked by Shivesh and styled by him as well. Shivesh recalls, “It all started at the age of 16 when I and my cousins were missing cupcakes that our grandmother used to make. I took the charge and prepared a batch of vanilla cupcakes and burnt it all.” “My very first encounter with baking and ingredients is what forced me to come back and since then it had been a tasteful journey”, adds Shivesh who started his journey with an Instagram account that further lead to the creation of food blog in December 2014.
With more than 50 media appearances and 4 awards, Shivesh has built a niche for his work and content that is being followed by more than 141k people on Instagram. He affirms, “After completing my graduation in Political Science, I realized where my passion lies and rest, as they say, is history.” He adds, “I decided to continue with baking as the only medium of cooking because the concept of playing with basic ingredients and observing them turn into delight gives me an inner happiness.”
When asked about the most difficult part of writing a book at this age, the young chef said, “It was challenging to manage my time amidst book writing, blog, and Instagram. I created 100 recipes for the book and shortlisted 54 finally. All the recipes were shot and styled in continuation of my blog and travel work. It was truly painful but at the same time satisfying, as my dream came true.”
His website ‘Bake with Shivesh’ features simple and easy-to-make recipes ranging from almond muffins to yogurt popsicles. According to Shivesh, the most exciting and exhausting recipe to date had been Choux Pastry. He shares, “It took me too long to get the hang of the perfect Choux Pastry. Every day I experiment in the kitchen and trust me, every time it’s a new learning lesson for me.”
Shivesh loves sharing baking tips and magic of ingredients. When we asked him to share one tip for perfect baking, he divulged, “Make sure you follow your heart, because, when it comes to cooking or baking, you need to give that personal touch to let the magic happen.”
At present Shivesh is busy with his book launch in different cities of India and is excited to hear the feedback of his extended family (read Instagram followers). Happily juggling between his travel plans and new recipes for Christmas and New Year, Shivesh feels that it is the time to extend his venture and that is why he is planning to expand his team. He signs off as “I am in process of expanding my team and work more on video content and start a YouTube channel. Also, I’d definitely want to start working on the next book very soon.”
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