The art of cupcakes

Rubina of Hyderabad Cupcakes at Red Hills, Hyderabad, break the monotony of regular cupcakes with their customised cupcakes and innovative toppings like Angry Birds, Raksha Bandhan and Independence Day

Askari Jaffer

How did you hit upon the idea of making cupcakes?
It was pretty accidental. My older daughter Farozan lives in the US and while on a trip there in March 2011, I noticed how designer cupcakes and cakes were popular with the people. There was no one in Hyderabad who was doing cupcakes then and when I returned to Hyderabad in April 2011, I started Hyderabad Cupcakes - home of custom gourmet cupcakes, cakes and more! I also introduced cake pops, which are really popular in the US, through Hyderabad Cupcakes, as well as custom designer hand-decorated cookies.

Do you specialise only in cupcakes?
We do custom cupcake bouquets which are like flower bouquets, but made of delicious cupcakes that are decorated to look like flowers with icing. They have been popular with customers for festive occasions, including wedding gifts and birthday gifts, instead of presenting the usual fresh flowers. They are exclusive to Hyderabad Cupcakes.

Do you run this business by yourself or you have partners?
I started off on my own and soon, my son-in-law, Hasan, who has always been artistically inclined, left his former job and joined me as a partner and fondant artist. We set up a professionally equipped workshop where we have employees and delivery boys who work with us to deliver our custom creations to customers. We have home and office delivery.

What is your unique selling proposition (USP)?
Our USP is customised designer cakes and cupcakes. We interact with each and every customer personally to incorporate their ideas into making a custom gourmet creation especially for them. The personal touch is evident in every single cupcake, cake, cookie, cake pop and dessert that we make.
For example, there was a customer who sent us a picture of her pet cat and wanted an edible fondant replica of it. When we delivered the cake to her, she was overjoyed to see her idea come to life. The hand-sculpted edible cat that we made has not been cut by the customer and she has it saved with her!

What flavours do you have?
We have exotic flavours like banana split, pina colada, orange cardamom, blueberry, boston cream delight, neopolitan, german chocolate, turtle, and more!

What kind of response do you receive from people in Hyderabad?
We started off on a small scale and soon had to build a workshop and hire employees to handle the demand. We have not used any form of paid advertising and a majority of our business has been through word of mouth references. It has been an honour to bake for Tollywood movie stars and corporate companies like Google, Facebook, Oracle etc.

What kind of cupcakes are more in demand?
Cakes topped with edible handmade decoration to represent their interests, hobbies, makeup, designer handbags, shoes, movies and more!
Cupcakes made for kids birthday parties usually have their favourite cartoon character or TV show depicted on them.

What is the price range of cupcakes you sell?
Our cupcakes start from Rs 600/dozen for regular American-sized cupcakes, and Rs. 400/dozen for mini cupcakes. The final price depends on the flavours that a customer chooses, as well as the custom design and decoration done on it.