Lil Baker is the collective effort of Hannah and Jana Pickering – sisters who have turned their love for baking, which, at first started off as a hobby, into a bona fide bakery and blossoming new business. Both girls started out in their trade as passionate bakers at a youthful age – as young as 12 and 16. “Lil’ Baker” is aptly named and the logo they created way back when remains the adorable little calling card for their flourish new venture. We spoke to Hannah Pickering about what draws them to baking and she said: “It’s a change from my other occupations, and I just love baking sweet things. Baking reminds me of my childhood when my mum would do catering and we’d watch in awe at all the delicious things that would come out of the oven.” Hannah is also an avid advocator of fitness and healthy living, and she has a social media page which is dedicated to just that – where she portrays a healthy and balanced life. However, when asked about how Lil’ Baker factors in to this way of life she said: “Alongside eating good food and working out, I enjoy indulging every now and then, as anyone else would. I’m only human.” Here’s what we tried at the Lil’ Baker: Original chocolate chip cookies [gallery columns="2" link="file" size="full" ids="16785"] The bakery offers a variety of cookies: double chocolate, chocolate nightmare, nutella pockets, mint n’ chocolate chip, oat, almond and raisin, chunky monkey, and dark almond and orange, but they recommend their original chocolate chip. It’s a massive cookie, merged with chunks of chocolate, with a chewy texture and it tasted fantastic. It was moist and soft, and the chocolate melts in your mouth. It’s quite big, certainly not something to be had by yourself, and despite being an obviously professionally made cookie it feels homey and that’s a great touch. (Nine pieces Rs. 1,600, 18 pieces Rs. 3,100, 27 pieces Rs. 4,700, 36 pieces Rs. 6,100) Banana walnut muffin [gallery columns="2" link="file" size="full" ids="16782"] We finally learnt the difference between cupcakes and muffins – it would seem that muffins are the moist base of a cupcake. Once again, amongst quite a varied selection – funfetti vanilla, lemon and blueberries, raspberry white chocolate, apple n’ cinnamon, banana walnut, coffee break, chocolate chip, and chocolate nightmare – we went with the banana walnut. A fluffy vanilla muffin with bananas, walnuts, and dark chocolate pieces – this one was a real surprise. It was a lot less sweet than we expected and it was certainly a welcome surprise because we could have a few muffins without feeling guilty or suffering a headache. However, the lack of sweetness wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea as several others grumbled about it being a little too mellow, but if you’re not up for a diabetic coma, then this is a great choice. (12 pieces Rs. 1, 600, 24 pieces Rs. 3,100, 36 pieces Rs. 4, 700, 48 pieces Rs. 6,100) Whipped berry blast [gallery columns="2" link="file" size="full" ids="16781"] We were informed that this is their fastest flying item and most commonly ordered option. Amongst the cakes that are available – vanilla rosettes, whipped berry blast, cookie cake, and brownie cake, all of which can be customised on request – as their fastest moving item, we chose to try the whipped berry blast. A super light cake with homemade strawberry jam, raspberries, blueberries, and crushed almonds all sandwiched together in fluffy layers of whipped cream – the cake was a fun ride. It was a little too sweet for our liking however, but that didn’t really take away from how delicious and soft it was; it only prevented us from eating our body weight in cake. (This cake is 6” in diameter – one cake (600 g) Rs. 2, 300, 2 kg (8” height) Rs. 1,800) To get yourself a customised order message @Lil.Bakerr on Instagram or Facebook