The varieties offered on Phatter Life’s dessert menu make it an all-day, any day treat for those with sweet cravings.
For this writer, chocolate fudge is the order of the day. It’s the classic with the contemporary, the sweet with the savoury; fudge which has the melt-in-the-mouth experience highlighted with the flavours of almond and pistachios.
Astha fell in love with baking and every concept that’s attached to it. This passion for baking and cooking triggered Phatter Life during the lockdown. She started making fudge for family, friends and gradually started getting orders.
“It started with me wanting to post pictures of the food that I loved cooking. As I was putting up pictures on Instagram, I got my first order and just to see whether others like my food as well, I said yes. This has been a journey that has evolved on its own,” says Astha Agrawal, Founder of Phatter Life.
Astha is a big chocolate fan which is quite visible on her dessert menu. “Chocolate is something that goes well with sweet and savoury ingredients and liqueurs, which allows me to experiment a lot,” she says. The chocolate fudge needs the right consistency or else you land up with just powder or a gooey liquid. And Astha knows the knack of it. No doubt, her chocolate fudge is a masterpiece and sells the most. “It was also my first selling dessert,” she quickly adds. “The whole idea,” explains Astha, “is to create a combination that works out well and at the same time is unusual in terms of taste and character.”
Of course, in addition to experimenting with tastes and textures, presentation also goes a long way in attracting customers online, satiating curiosity as well as the sweet tooth.
“Presentation matters a lot. It is the first thing that attracts a customer. Moreover, I pay great attention to packaging as well. It has to look pretty at the same time make sure the desserts are delivered without any damage,” she shares. To make the pricing as low as possible, Astha often delivers herself. “I don’t want customers to pay extra for the delivery,” she shares.
The next pick from the dessert menu was chocolate cupcakes. These bite-sized treats are getting their due at long last. Earlier dismissed as ‘sponge cakes’ wrapped in butter paper and sold over the counter at neighbourhood bakeries, cup cakes are now turning into gourmet delights.
Evenly textured with delicious icing, Astha’s cupcake is a must try for chocolate lovers. Astha tries to keep the cupcake cake simple with a dash of drama and a flourish of whipped cream, chocolate garnishes, etc. “Cupcake presentations almost always nudge the individuals to tuck into a sweet treat even if they don’t want to,” she smiles.
Ask her what is special about her desserts and pat comes the reply, “They are baked with love. I bake for my customers just the way I would bake for myself”.
There are many who are in the cookie business, but Phatter Life definitely makes the cut. Phat Chocolate Chunk, the recent addition to the menu, is wholesome yet decadent with big chunks of melting chocolate and without any industrial additives. With its delightfully flaky crust topped with chocolate pieces, the cookie is crunchy yet chewy and overdoses on rich melted chocolate experience. Also, the size is huge as the name suggests and quite filling. Oh and that taste of butter… it just makes everything better!
Chocolate fudge priced at Rs 790 (for 200 gms)
Chocolate cupcake priced at Rs 90
Phat Chocolate Chunk priced at Rs 135
Available via the brand’s page on Instagram (@phatterlife)
