Bakers opt for vanilla, fruit cakes as cocoa prices rise

The recent surge in crafting chocolate prices due to the cocoa crisis has led home bakers and chocolate inventories to promote products that aren’t purely chocolate-based. Many have revised their menus and are experimenting with Indian cocoa.


‘Cocoa price surge has impacted our menus’
“Many bakeries are introducing more seasonal fruit-based buttercream cakes, tea cakes and even entremets.But, we’re also doing chocolate-based cakes for people who are comfortable with paying a slightly higher price. While the brand we use has doubled its prices, we won’t shift to any other brand to be consistent with the flavour and quality for our clients,” says Ayushi Malhotra Khattar, a baker and owner of a cloud patisserie in Ghaziabad, “Indian cocoa and craft chocolates are finding more buyers now as they are more accessible, considering the shortage of supply of the other couverture brands.”
Tanvi Khera, a baker based in Noida, talks about the challenge of maintaining the quality of her cakes amid the price rise and says, “For a pastry kitchen that thrives on serving quality ingredients, couverture chocolate is the top ingredient to have in the kitchen. Making a shift to compound chocolate (made with cocoa powder & saturated fats) has never been an option as the bar has been set high with the customers already. We had to revise our menus in a short period to adjust to our cost. It has taken a toll on the business. People are asking for discounts more often than not.”

"With the pricing increasing significantly, there is definitely an impact on demand as it’s become increasingly expensive. Passing the cost to consumers would result in the price becoming unaffordable. To offset the increased cost, we increased our pricing by around 8-10%. We improved our manufacturing efficiency by streamlining our manufacturing process and rationalising our SKUs. We also worked on reducing our packaging and supply chain costs to offset the cost. Additionally, we expedited new lines of products as a part of our snacking chocolates which are a bite-size range, including nougat bites, wafer chocolate bites, almond snaps, 5 gm chocolate thins. Weather conditions in Africa becoming better may result in an increase in supply October onwards," says Vimal Sharma, founder-director of a luxury chocolate brand.

‘Buttercream, fruit-based items on the menu’
Tanvi says, “We have introduced more variety in buttercream and whipped cream cakes, along with adding more nuts and fruit-based pastry creations, exploring the fresh fruits that India has to offer.” Akanksha Manchanda, a home baker from Delhi, adds, “Clients prefer vanilla, caramel, whipped cream and buttercream-iced cakes these days. The price of chocolate-based cakes has been raised by 50%. The chocolate cake on my menu was for Rs 1800 and is now for Rs2700.”
“Desserts and cakes with seasonal fruits are a way to go for bakers. However, chocolate cakes are and will always remain a favourite for the clients, so we have raised the prices of our chocolate-flavoured items on the menu,” says a Gurgaon-based baker Vanita Malhotra, who has increased the price of chocolate-based products by 15-18%. “Since chocolate cake will always have a market, cutting down chocolate pastry creations from the menu is not an option,” say bakers.

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(inputs from the British Baker e-magazine)