This week, we attempted the DIG IN desserts from The Gourmet Cuisine. You may have seen the dessert show up on your Instagram page on occasion and it really piqued our interest because of its incredibly time-suitable concept of an “on-the-go” dessert. At the risk of exposing ourselves, we must say the dessert is perfectly catered for lazy people who wish to do everything in a hurry.
Before we go any further, we can guarantee that the DIG IN desserts, essentially a chocolate cake base topped off with a filling, are delicious, no matter what flavour you chose to go with – even in terms of the heathens who choose the mint chocolate option, we can say with certainty that they too have taste and you don’t have to be lazy like ourselves to enjoy this multilayered, creamy, crunchy, fudge concoction.
Speaking with the owner and person responsible for coming up with this tub of happiness, Hasna Rizwan, who in addition to being a self-taught home baker, is an early childhood teacher by profession, she shared that The Gourmet Cuisine was initiated as a small-scale catering company back in 2013. “My husband ran the show then and I did the desserts. However, we had to take a break from it for some time,” she said.
Fast forward to November 2020 when Hasna got The Gourmet Cuisine going once again, with a whole new idea – enter the “DIG IN” premium dessert tubs. 
About kick starting an entire business, especially coming out of a pandemic, Hasna commented: “Getting things started all over again hasn't been easy – all the while managing a household, online school, and running a business!” She added: “None of this would be possible without the help and constant support of my husband, family, and friends.” She shared that there have been some logistical difficulties, particularly when it comes to sourcing ingredients, and given the unprecedented rise in home bakers, the competition has been immense. However, undeterred, she stated that she is grateful to have a loyal customer base.
Hasna shared that she has always been a very driven person with many goals she wishes to accomplish; one such goal being the “DIG IN” desserts becoming a name originally associated with The Gourmet Cuisine.
The DIG IN desserts
Currently, the desserts come in four flavours – The Double Chocolate, The Nutella Indulgence, The Mint Cookie Crumble, and the Red Velvet Twist. Hasna did however mention that more flavour combinations are in the works and you can soon expect a new range of DIG IN dessert flavours to choose from.
The desserts come in two sizes – 500ml, which could ideally serve two to three people (can confirm, possibly more), and the 150ml, which serves one. For the purposes of our review, we chose to go with the single serving, with the intention of attempting more than one flavour option, and can reliably declare that unless you are suffering from an uncontrollable urge to gobble down one full dessert all by your lonesome, two people can comfortably make this work – but we don’t want to judge, so by all means, enjoy this one by yourself.
When Hasna first introduced the dessert to us, she said that the whole concept behind DIG IN desserts is “a tub of premium dessert that allows you to just grab a spoon and dig in”, and really, they do deliver. With the exception of the Red Velvet Twist, with last-minute notice we were able to get our hands on the rest of the menu and let us just say, while we are not in any way picky eaters, we’re personally not huge fans of mint-flavoured anything and in this case, we really didn’t mind it, especially considering the clever pairing of mint filling with the darker chocolate crumble at the top. The filling is really the star of the show and the moist chocolate cake base complements the full package beautifully.
An honorary mention goes to another one of their best-sellers, the Signature Chocolate Fudge Cake with toasted cashews, and Hasna shared that their chocolate cakes can be customised with different toppings like strawberries, Nutella, and chocolate shavings. However, the signature chocolate cakes require one day’s notice.
The Signature Chocolate Fudge Cake and DIG IN desserts can be pre-ordered, ideally a day ahead. All of The Gourmet Cuisine desserts and cakes can be delivered via Uber Eats or direct delivery within Colombo.