The pandemic may have led to a rise in baking but one Dubai resident is taking her love for the sweet stuff to a whole new level.
Ayesha Nemat Khan, who hails from India but was raised in Saudi Arabia, has spent the last few months experimenting with desserts that are almost too pretty to eat. And, being a big Harry Potter fan, she decided to celebrate July (which she considers Harry Potter month as his birthday falls on July 31) by whipping up some truly magical desserts.
"I've always had a lot of ideas when it comes to Harry Potter-themed desserts, and this year, since we were all at home anyway, I decided to start creating," says the 24-year-old.
It began with Sorting Hat chocolate tarts that “sort” those eating it into the four Hogwarts houses. Each tart hides a coloured jam filling within – strawberry for Gryffindor, lime for Slytherin, lemon for Hufflepuff and blueberry for Ravenclaw.
She followed this with a Golden Snitch cake, which took her two days to complete – one day to make and another to decorate. The intricate creation features a tempered chocolate sphere, filled with Nutella mousse and salted caramel and topped with wings made from meringue. Fellow Potterheads will also appreciate the fact that she went the extra mile by making a “resurrection stone” out of sugar, using a hexagon silicon ice tray, and placing it in the centre of the dessert. (If you don’t get the “resurrection stone” reference, it’s time to brush up on your Potter trivia!).
Her latest creation is the perfect tribute to the boy wizard's birthday; the “Butterbeer Cake” is decorated just like the one Hagrid gets Harry for his 11th birthday when he tells him that he’s a wizard – complete with the misspelled text and the bright frosting. “It’s a brown sugar cake with brown butter Swiss meringue frosting and butterscotch sauce,” she explains.
Khan works as a marketing executive at a technology startup, and has never had any formal culinary training. However, she has always had a penchant for baking, and has a family business called Cake Away located in Silicon Oasis.
“When I was young, I’d make box cakes, and as I grew up, I was looking for new things to try. As the years passed, I kept trying new things and experimenting. Instagram has been a big catalyst,” she says.
Khan says she’s learnt much of her technique through YouTube videos, social media and recipe books, and started “seriously” baking in 2016 after she made a three-layered cake for a friend's birthday.
However, it was the pandemic that made her turn her attention to intricate desserts that look more like artwork – all made in her home kitchen. Some examples are a pistachio mousse and vanilla cake within a sugar globe (a dessert that took days to perfect and gave her sleepless nights) and a chai parfait with Parle-G biscuits.
“The pandemic has been a big reason behind this series. The world seemed to slow down, I had more time to read, and learn. This is a project that has been on my mind for a while now, and I finally got time to do it,” she says.
“I like to create desserts with nostalgic flavours, something we enjoyed as a child, or something that we enjoy eating but would never think of as a dessert,” she adds.
So what happens when she completes her scrumptious dessert? “We eat it, of course,” she says. “Breaking it up and savouring it is as satisfying as putting it together! I stay with my brother and his wife, so we just polish off the entire thing.”
With July 2020 wrapping up, we may not get to see any more extraordinary Harry Potter creations, but Khan has already set her sights on her next challenge – desserts inspired by Disney movies. "I'm super excited," she says.
Superliminal%20
%3Cp%3EDeveloper%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EPublisher%3A%20Pillow%20Castle%20Games%0D%3Cbr%3EConsole%3A%20PlayStation%204%26amp%3B5%2C%20Xbox%20Series%20One%20%26amp%3B%20X%2FS%2C%20Nintendo%20Switch%2C%20PC%20and%20Mac%0D%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
GOLF’S RAHMBO
- 5 wins in 22 months as pro
- Three wins in past 10 starts
- 45 pro starts worldwide: 5 wins, 17 top 5s
- Ranked 551th in world on debut, now No 4 (was No 2 earlier this year)
- 5th player in last 30 years to win 3 European Tour and 2 PGA Tour titles before age 24 (Woods, Garcia, McIlroy, Spieth)
