Freshly-Baked 'Bake Fresh'

Do not talk to the Pink Tarha ladies when we're high with the sweet stuff. The girls and I are so out of this world when nibbling desserts that you can only talk to us sensibly an hour after we devour the last morsel of chocolate we're addicted to. (Right now, we're currently addicted to 7 Days chocolate croissant.) While we're not eating anything sweet at this moment, indulge us by reading about our undying love for everything sweet.

We're always craving for desserts after a meal. Without one, it's like not having a happy ending to a fairly tale spun by the main course's glorious texture of meats and delectable flow of sauces. To cap our meal perfectly is an obsession that we put to heart every single time we eat. And we also snack on pastries. Don't even start talking about cakes, petit fours, croissants, cupcakes... wait, did someone say cupcakes?!

I, Sundrenched, am an advocate for cupcakes (if only they can run for the presidency). Yes, cupcakes. They're so overrated - simple looking small wonders that spell expensive in every bite - but for some reason, I like sinking my teeth into butter cream frosting and yellow cake. Must be the cuteness factor. I'm looking for the Cupcakes by Sonja variety but I could not find them in Riyadh. Only Munch Bakery in Jeddah seems to get close (but oh so far away from me that I haven't tried 'em though I'm a very willing taster). Too bad huh? The good thing is, The Pink Tarha ladies found somethingone better... a passionate home baker who turns butter, sugar, eggs, and flour into wonderful cupcakes and a whole lot more!

Nadia Tariq Baig is a Pakistani who arrived in this desert five years ago. She's a super woman who balances taking care of her husband and daughter, working on an online research job, and baking in her, must we say, very lovely IKEA-furnished home. She started baking as a hobby but it eventually became a passion that she put her heart into. The stuff she bakes awed us the first time we saw them on her Picasa and Flickr albums that we ordered immediately. Excited much! I am partial to the cupcakes of course.

A basket of flowers...

for The Pink Tarha Ladies!

Love the creativity.

It was so sweet of her to surprise us with this basket of flowers. We haven't seen this design in her online album and we were so envious of her creativity and artistry. (Why are we so deprived of such artistic hands?! Haha! Our photos did not do them justice!) With delicate petals made of pink and purple butter cream and letters of white and yellow fondant, please don't ask us how we even mustered the guts to ruin this beautiful creation by eating them. We're guilty! At first, we were seriously considering placing it at the center table and stare at it with admiring eyes for as long as we want but the freshly-baked aroma beckons like a SALE sign we couldn't resist. Lol.

The cupcakes are a sight to behold but what about the taste? So sorry folks that we had to ruin the flowers! A good thing to do or else we couldn't have tasted the soft dense cake beneath that icing. Nadia's cupcakes create a diversion of texture veering away from the usual moist baked confections. You may not want to gobble up all that icing in there, unless you're like Shoegarfreeruby who didn't hesitate to eat a rose even if it wasn't sugarfree! (She did it only once though, hehe.)

Cream cheese marble cake.

Chocolate and cheese in a swirl.

The marble cake is a subtle hymn to sugar. It has the right sweetness, enough for it to become indulgent. (Enough for my diabetic father to enjoy it and not feel guilty about the sugar overload.) It was moist enough to unify both flavors but crumbly enough to allow each flavor to shine. You get our drift? We all liked this best!

Fudge brownies.

Rest assured, anyone with a sweet tooth won't resist a brownie. Eyecandy ordered this bunch and found Nadia's brownies to be sweet and chocolate-y enough.The walnuts does wonders for her brownies. The key to a great brownie however, is to have the right balance of moist and chewy-ness. Eyecandy would prefer to rate this brownies a 7 out of 10.

Dinner rolls.

Nadia doesn't only bake sweet pastries. She also has this soft dinner rolls better served hot. They're the perfect partner to curries and sauces. A simple butter, like what I put, is also adequate enough to enjoy these irregularly-shaped rolls. With each breaking of the bread, a whiff of fresh from the oven aroma permeates around us. The glazed outside sprinkled tenderly with sesame seeds covers a soft, fragrant center.

We can only eat this much but if we can, we could've ordered more from her menu. The French macaron creation she recently blogged about looks mouthwatering. It looks professionally done even if it's the first time she baked macaroons. Amazing, yes? Her cinnamon rolls look seductive while her cakes are oh-so-pretty! She can decorate the cakes and cupcakes with designs you want - from roses to cartoon characters. Told you, she's artistic! And very accommodating too.

We are so enthralled to meet a home baker in Saudi Arabia,(and an expat of another nationality at that)! Now, we don't have to resort to commercial bakeshops alone for special occasions. And aside from eating all these delectable goodies, the best part about discovering Bake Fresh is knowing Ms. Nadia who's as sweet as her pastries. We encourage you to order from her. You will not only satisfy your sweet cravings, you'll gain a nice friend too.


Bake Fresh
Ms. Nadia Tariq Baig
Suleimania, Riyadh, KSA
nadia.tariqbaig@gmail.com
Order two days in advance

PS. We didn't even know other nationalities are reading our blog until we received her email saying she's been a fan of the Pink Tarha. To say that we're overwhelmed and thankful is not enough to show what we felt upon reading her email.