Pooja Dhingra reveals that Sonam Kapoor is actually a great baker

In a span of eight years, Indian pastry chef and businesswoman

Pooja Dhingra

has managed to introduce the masses to her very own world of French desserts. While the Mumbaikars adore her culinary sense, it is the celebrities who swear by the mouth-watering assortment of sweets she makes on a day-to-day basis.

When TimesofIndia.com sat down for a tete-a-tete with the master chef, Pooja was all smiles as she ordered one of the head servers to bring in the macaroons to get the conversation flowing. She also explained the flavours that she's known for and how one makes them along the way. Here are some excerpts from the interview:

How did it all come into being?

I was always interested in baking. I was baking since I was 6 years old and didn't realise it then that I wanted to make this my career. I went to law school when I was 18 and I knew that it wasn't for me so I went for the hospitality industry cause somewhere I wanted to open a cafe. So I quit law school, I moved to Switzerland and did my degree in hospitality. While I was working with different departments, it was in pastry kitchen that I realised this is it. I kind of knew it but it just kind of reconfirmed. When I was in

Paris

, I knew what I wanted to do when I come back to India.

Tell us about what inspired you to bring the French desserts to India.

When we were raised in Mumbai and the kind of pastries we were exposed to was very limited. Whether it was the black forest cake or the pineapple cake, we didn't know the world beyond brownies. When I moved to Paris and saw this whole new world that I never saw before. I ate my first macaroon, I fell in love and wondered why can't we have this in India. So when I came back to India, the idea was to bring back a piece of Paris with me. The city is divided into 20 different cantons, I lived in the 15, my school was in 15, Eiffel Tower is in 15 so the idea was when anybody walks in here they get the feeling of "take me to Paris". That's the inspiration behind the name Le 15.

What was the first thing you made that you are really proud of?
Oh, the macaroon. If you are a pastry person then you know it is the hardest thing to make. It is very tough. My first many recipes were a complete failure and I was getting a little bit of heartbroken. I was kind of at the point where I was not going to try making them anymore. So this one day a friend of mine came over and both of us tried making a macaroon together. Finally, we had a smooth surface of the macaroon as normally mine was breaking. We made the perfect one, it was shiny and smooth so that was probably the proudest thing I ever made.

How did you manage to get a strong foothold in Bollywood?
My focus has always been on the product. It's never been anything else. Most of my customers are as important as equal, for me it was always focusing on the product and everything else will just follow and when you have a quality product, people will reach out to you. It's just been very organic and it wasn't like I had a plan. It just happened.

Sonam Kapoor, Masaba Gupta are amongst the many celebs who simply adore you. They look no further when it comes to satisfying their sweet tooth cravings.

Sonam is actually a great baker herself. We recently shot a video together for World Chocolate Day too. She came to the studio for us to make something together. It was a lot of fun. And I love Masaba, I love women that inspire each other. We all have hectic lives, we all try to work our best. It's nice to have a support system that understands you and feels the pressures as they go through the same work as you do. She's super funny and I love her.

Is Sonam Kapoor's friend

Anand Ahuja

also a part of your girl gang?

Anand is a friend of mine. He's from Delhi so he's usually not here but when he's here, I meet him sometimes.

Which is that one cake that you made for a celebrity you were star struck by?

I am a big Salman Khan fan. I have been making his birthday cakes for the last six years including his 50th-year birthday cake.