ChocShop by Srish

Picture this, a naïve fourth standard little girl walking up to her parents, sitting them down and telling them that it’s time. It’s time to leave school now, for she has figured out what she wants to do in her life. That naïve girl was me and what I wished to become was a professional baker. You may say that I have a flair for the dramatics but that’s how I remember it starting.

My love for baking only grew after that. With every batch of the ever-so-slightly imperfect chocolate-chip cookies, the kitchen became my safe place, a place where I could create whatever I wanted and be in total control of the chaos. It wasn’t always a rosy picture though. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have had squabbles with my mother over kitchen time or unwashed cookie dough bowls. These were the experiences that surprisingly taught me the most. I have a long way to go still especially when it comes to taking aesthetic pictures of my very tasty food.

I had already decided that I wanted to become a pastry chef and open a quaint bakery. It would have rose gold fairy lights and wooden beams and would sell the most delicious baked goods to make everyone’s lives just a little bit sweeter. The why, the how, the when along with the other imponderables weren’t clear to me then. It still is not, but I want to at least try and make that little naïve girl’s supposedly unachievable dream come true. So I started my own home based bakery and dubbed it ChocShop by Srish. Sidebar:Follow @chocshopbysrish on Instagram for latest additions to the menu.

This side hustle of mine is not only my baby,that I hope will give me my monthly pocket money, but also an attempt to preserve my sanity during this dire pandemic.  Maybe the kick-starter was the paucity of TV serials to binge watch or maybe I had enough of the taunts about how I had squandered weeks of my life that I would never get back.Anyhow, here I was, finally determined enough to scratch my creative itch. What followed was me making a playlist, wearing my favourite blue and teal apron and starting to bake.

Although I am restricting delivery to Delhi for safety purposes as of now, I wish to take the sweetness back with me to the hostel. Hopefully, I can help fill empty drawers of people desperately searching for munchies. Not only is the food dreamy level of tasty but also reasonably priced, for I truly understand the woes of a perpetually broke college student.

The cookies and cakes can be shared with friends in the ‘Mughal garden’. The hot fudge sauce is perfect to give a turn to your boring old toasted bread from the mess. The granola bars are a great healthy post workout snack for people who are fitness conscious.

I don’t usually brag but I wouldn’t be wrong to say that the recipes that I’ve perfected over the years are truly to die for. It’s not something you would want to miss out on. An imperfect chocolate heaven is what I want to give to my customers. (My obsession with imperfection is a story for another time.)

In all modesty this wouldn’t have been possible for me to even think about had it not been for super supportive friends (Read: Food samplers), my mother teaching me everything she knows about baking and being thrifty in the kitchen, my social media manager and constant boost of confidence, Khushi Singh and of course my super awesome baking skills.

You can follow ChocShop by Srish @chocshopbysrish on Instagram!