Every city needs a place with tranquil settings, where you can sip a hot cup of tea or coffee in peace, along with a generous serving of your favourite dessert. The Sugar Butterfly café is just the answer to that. Run by internationally trained Pastry Chef, Mandakini Dass, the café has gained a loyal base of customers for its freshly baked desserts and cakes, in an almost fairy tale-like set-up. It is a compact enchanting place, done in pretty pastels and white, sitting on a hilltop.
Mandakini has undergone training at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and has further honed her skills by interning at Kate Sullivan’s cake store called Cake Power. She specializes in celebration cakes. A complete hands-on baker, you will most likely find her in the kitchen, working on her cakes. A year and six months into running her café, she has had her share of challenges, but finds it extremely gratifying to be able to do what she does, without compromising on the quality. With respect to sourcing ingredients, it has not been very easy ride.
The Sugar Butterfly’s hallmark is its old-world charm. Cakes that take you back in time, when life was simple and peaceful, and when indulging in afternoon tea was an elaborate affair. You will be compelled to take it easy, sip your tea/coffee slowly, watch the trees outside shed leaves, and just enjoy the bliss of good food.
What should you pick? That may be a tough question, as everything looks tempting and you will want to taste all. The decadently rich Chocolate Truffle pie, sinful-looking Bailey’s Chocolate Dream, are stuff you may not have tasted before. The rich creamy chocolaty laced with Bailey’s is indeed a dream. I ate my way through more than I ever do and still wanted more.
Its Fairy’s Garden cake has alternate layers of vanilla, chocolate and red velvet all held together by a heavenly butter cream and then swathed in some more baby pink butter cream.
If you do visit this café, don’t leave without having a slice of its Apple Walnut Breton. It’s not too sweet, and has a soft layer of apple and walnut ensconced between two layers of buttery pastry – something like a flan and a tart. None of her cakes have the usual cream or artificial non-dairy cream frosting. The café uses real butter, eggs and sugar, and fresh ingredients–just how cakes and desserts are meant to be.
There are impressive savoury accompaniments too, such as Farm house pizzas, chicken puffs and sandwiches, along with olive oil and rosemary cookies, classic old favourite Choco chip cookies and many more.
However, the best discovery for me was its house-made ice cream, which allows you to be a kid again. Ice creams are made in the traditional way, without additives or chemicals. It is made from proper Cream Anglaise. There is Coffee, Kaffir lime, chocolate and many other flavors to choose from.
Her forte lies in custom celebration cakes. Each cake is a labour of love and hours of hard work. No matter how fancy the cakes are, there is no comprise on the quality. She shares how challenging it has been her so far, from sourcing ingredients to handling manpower and creating awareness for proper desserts. Most clients come to her through word of mouth and it has been a very exciting one and half year journey.
The Sugar Butterfly is indeed a charming place that will take you back in time with its cakes and desserts.
Kashmiri Nath Barkakaty
Kashmiri Nath wears many hats. She is a Guwahati-based home chef, baker, food appreciator, blogger of Foodology by Kash and Guwahati Reservation, recipe developer and food consultant.
