About Me
Welcome to my freshly baked page, IA BAKEHOUSE. Here you will find a selection of customized handmade cakes and bakery products sprinkled with lots of sweetness and warmth for your loved ones. While my passion for baking was born in a regular kitchen you will see in every household, the spark and the motivation came from my beloved family who constantly believed that my comfort is not just in blending the flours and eggs, but to find a way to add those flavours in someone’s joyous, sad, or struggling moments. I take a lot of pride in preparing bites of delight for my customers who wishes to celebrate a special or a regular mundane day of their lives relieving their cravings and taste buds.
For me, baking is like a special therapy that helps me to relieve stress, to concentrate better as I put my heart and soul into my hands to prepare special moments for people from all age group and backgrounds. To me, it is a way to communicate happiness when they slice a bread or bite a cake. To me, it is a way to create sweet memories for you and your family members.
“Baking may be regarded as a science, but it’s the chemistry between the ingredients and the cook that gives desserts life. Baking is done out of love, to share with family and friends to see them smile.”
~ Pratibha Singh
My Story
My name is Pratibha Singh and I live in Bangalore with my dear husband & two lovely kids. I wake up every morning to the hustle and bustle of an IT city where everything is fast paced. Like any other homemakers, I have the same routine of cooking, getting my kids ready, looking after my house, kid’s homework and the list goes on. Being a woman from this part of the world, has always been difficult for many who were assigned the job of just looking after their families without being able to voice out their hobbies or interests. We grow up watching our mothers cook for the whole family and in the process, it becomes an assignment for us to learn cooking for our future would be in laws.
When I was young, I liked to draw but never gave it any attention. I didn’t realize what my interests were, and cooking was definitely not on the list. But, as I grew up watching my mother and my elder sister cook passionately, I started to develop a liking towards it. I would often watch my sister spend hours just to make a dish perfect. She would decorate them as if it was for her customer in a restaurant. I liked the way she presented, the way it put a smile on her face when people enjoyed her food. I started to take interest and cook, I would spend a lot of time in the kitchen shaping my cooking skills just to see that million-dollar smile on everyone’s face in my family, when they ate. But I was never appreciated for any amount of time and affection I put in my dishes. It just seemed like a job for us without any acknowledgement.
But then there came someone. Someone who wanted to light up my passion. Someone who gave me the freedom to pursue my emotions. Someone who recognized my dream. My husband. He is my emotional framework. In 2014 when my kids started going to school, I had some spare time. I would often invite my friends and neighbours for lunch or dinner, and I started to share my cooking with them. Somewhere somehow, it gave me inner satisfaction to develop delicacies for everyone who visited me.
I wanted to experiment, be my own chef, create my own style. So I decided to learn baking. I joined few basic baking classes and I found myself executing my lessons into practical with great results. I would like to thank my first mentor Jalpa Barai, who helped me in my initial learning. My drawing skills helped me and that’s when I realized, baking is my thing. Since then, I have been polishing my baking with my family. All these years, my husband and my kids were my main source of inspiration. They always motivated me, especially my son & daughter, who were big fans of my cakes. I never had to order any dessert from outside as according to my kids, I am the best baker. They instilled that trust in me to bake more. As time passed by, my neighbours started to flood me with orders. It created a special bond whenever I baked for them. What I shared and what I received in return helped me evolve and here I am, with my official website to share with more and more people, the labor of love. It is not just recipes; it is a way to describe life and share it with the people you love.
My family were my first customers. I would like to add more members to my family by baking, by creating, by teaching all the ingredients for a rich delicious story.
“Every moment of a bite into sweetness is therapeutic. Come, taste it with us. ~ Pratibha”
How I work
I am a self-taught baker. I grew up in a mundane kitchen of spices & curries. But, baking inspired me to cultivate myself into a happy wife and a mother. I want to spread the same joy I discovered in my kitchen with the rest of the world. I want to share my knowledge with aspiring bakers around the globe. I work from my sweet little home, with my kids and husband giving me a hand. You see, dreams are born and they succeed in your own comfortable abode.
I started with very basics, but slowly felt joy and happiness in every bits and pieces of learning, teaching and spreading sweetness in and around me. When I get into deep dive in this baking world, I understood this is my pas sion, and I started working more and more to make all these things simpler and effective which definitely people started liking and journey started and still I am enjoying this wonderful trip, which is on and on….
