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Meet the baker behind the viral Kolkata patisserie where you can paint on cakes

Young entrepreneur, 27-year-old Khadija Malik, is living her dreams with her cafe-bakery on AJC Bose Road

Khadija Malik, owner of Sweet Escape Patisserie introduced Kolkata to the paint your own cake concept Images by Soumyajit Dey

Jaismita Alexander
Published 21.01.25, 10:29 PM

Did you know that there’s a patisserie in Kolkata where you can paint on your cake and eat it too? And you don’t need to be a trained (or amateur) baker or painter! Reels of Kolkatans painting on cakes at Sweet Escape Patisserie in Maulvi Mujibur Rahman Sarani on AJC Bose Road started popping up on social media at the close of 2024. The interesting endeavour has drawn the attention and participation of the city’s foodies and artists (trained and novice). So, on a winter morning, My Kolkata dropped by Sweet Escape Patisserie to meet the mind behind the concept. Khadija Malik, is all of 27 and pursuing a dream that she has nurtured since she was in school.

The tiramisu girl

The patisserie on AJC Bose Road opened its doors in November 2024

When My Kolkata received Khadija’s number, it was shared as ‘Khadija Malik Tiramisu’. She began her entrepreneurial journey as ‘The tiramisu girl’ during the pandemic years. “When I started with my home bakery during lockdown, Tiramisu was something people loved. Then it was the eclairs, which were a hit, and now they have been replaced by mini macarons,” said Khadija. The young baker, now an entrepreneur, nurtured the dream of having her own bakery while she was completing her schooling at Loreto House. When Khadija was a preteen, a neighbour introduced her to baking, and she remembers them making a heart-shaped cake. That’s when the little girl knew what she wanted to do.

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During her school and college days — as a Sociology graduate at St. Xavier’s College — Khadija never missed a chance to set up stalls of baked goods at fetes and carnivals. “I thought of the name Sweet Escape when I was in school. That’s when I had my first business card made. My mom (Nafisa Malik), who is a graphic designer, made those cards and she has been making my logos ever since. I am her toughest client!” Khadija started with baking cupcakes and took part in pop-ups and exhibitions throughout her college days.

One of Khadija’s bestsellers is Tiramisu that has been on the menu since lockdown when Sweet Escape was a cloud kitchen

The stalls not only got her some profit, they also gave wings to her dreams, and Khadija decided to pursue baking seriously. She enrolled at the Academy of Pastry and Culinary Arts in Bengaluru and then went to Malaysia for training. She returned to India and started Sweet Escape, the cloud kitchen. “When I returned, I had to work from home because of COVID. A little while after the pandemic, I wanted to explore making macarons, which I had not made before. So I decided on the cloud kitchen format, just to sell macarons.”

A ‘sweet escape’ into indulgence and art

Besides PYO Cake, Sweet Escape has other fun activities like indoor games and handmade clay Tic-tac-toe set

After the success of her cloud kitchen, Khadija opened her patisserie on AJC Bose road in November 2024. The intimate five-seater space has a cute, almost dreamy setting with a faux cherry blossom tree against the wall and round wooden tables by it. We chose the table right by the tree, of course. The young entrepreneur has envisioned Sweet Escape as more than a patisserie, creating a quaint immersive cafe where people can spend some quality time with their loved ones or even by themselves with baked treats and engaging activities. To make the time spent here interesting, Khadija has stacked up a shelf with books and indoor games like cards and a handmade clay Tic-tac-toe set she made herself. The base is a plate and instead of noughts and crosses, there are clay coffee beans and mini macarons.

Sweet Escape has a modest menu offering different flavours of macarons, cheesecakes, creme brulee, tiramisu and beverages like coffee, tea and hot chocolate

The menu is modest with options for sumptuous confections like cheesecakes, brownies, creme brulee, macarons, cookies, and more, with choices of beverages including Dalgona coffee, hot chocolate, and a range of teas.

The crowdpuller, however, has been the PYO (Paint Your Own) Cake ever since Sweet Escape opened. The idea, Khadija said, was from a dream. “Most of my ideas come to me in my dreams. However, I think I saw somewhere on the internet that some cafe outside India was doing it. So when I thought of opening my own space, I knew I had to introduce it to the City of Joy,” she added. The PYO Cake — a slice of vanilla sponge coated with white buttercream — is like a cake canvas. It comes with ‘paints’, which are dollops of the buttercream mixed in with food-grade colours, along with some brushes and a palette knife. You are free to decorate or paint on your cake as you please, and then get to dig into your masterpiece or carry it home, all for Rs 350.

For the PYO Cake, one is given a slice of vanilla sponge, buttercream paints and painting tools

Doing a demo for us, Khadija picked up a brush and painted a little landscape with an orange-cloudy sky and a bright sun. “I have always been interested in art. After all, a baker is also a cake artist!” smiled the artist.

The sweet journey of a mother-daughter duo

Mom Nafisa Malik helped Khadija set up the patisserie

While Khadija had dreams, her mother Nafisa fuelled them with her support and love. Juggling her graphic designing career, she put her mind to setting up the space with her daughter. “This space has been mostly done by my mom. She has put in most of her effort. Both of us have done it together. My dad left this to us. I think he wanted us to have that experience to do things on our own,” said Khadija.

When asked about her reaction to her daughter’s choice of profession, Nafisa, who is in her 40s, said, “I feel that you need to equip — both boys and girls — with the right skill sets. So, at any point of time, they can do what they want on their own. I never thought that baking was not for her to do. It was what she loved and she was happy with it. She enjoyed it. I found that she was very passionate about it. She worked for hours and never got tired. I saw that she was getting happiness out of that and that’s important. When you love your work, it’s never work. She is also excelling in it. People are congratulating us for her business wherever we go. I’m super happy, feel blessed and thankful to Allah.”

What’s next?

“A bigger space maybe?” Khadija said in response to what’s next. Apart from that, she also wants to make Sweet Escape an immersive experience for the people who visit. “I want people to come here to have a good time besides enjoying the food and beverages. In most places, people sit for an hour or so, eat, talk and leave. I want them to engage in activities and make memories.” Signing off, she had a sweet message for girls like her, especially from her community. “It is important to take the big step towards your dream. No matter what your idea is, you have to bring it forward for the world to see.”

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