Join Sweta Vikram as she satisfies her visual hunger with her actual one as Niharika Bhasin’s baked bouquets bring some beauty to the cupcake.
I have been a lover of cupcakes and cakes for as long as I have known food. No kidding! In my makeshift, pandemic home office, I have a picture of my mom feeding me cake on my 2nd birthday. I look calm, focused, and delighted. One look at that picture, and you know that the kid (that is me) would grow up to travel the world in search of the perfect cupcakes and cakes.
Who knew two hours north of NYC, in spring of 2021, I would discover one of my favorite cupcake finds? Niharika Bhasin is the owner of Floured based in Glastonbury, Connecticut. If you ask me, the owner is a superstar: She is married and has a full-time job in technology while also being a mother to a very active three year-old daughter and 7 month-old baby girl. “I make cupcake bouquets and floral cupcakes as a side business,” she says.
Bhasin launched Floured in mid-March of this year. The first time I saw one of Bhasin’s floral cupcake arrangements, I thought they were flower bouquets. Like a centerpiece for a wedding. The designs were intricate and colors so vibrant. I almost didn’t have the heart to bite into them. That says a lot because one of life’s extraordinary pleasures is that moment when the cupcake and frosting touch your lips and melt into your mouth like a poem. Okay, maybe it’s my singular joy. Hah!
When I asked Bhasin who and what was the inspiration behind Floured, she simply said, “Cakes and flowers are two of people’s favorite things.” She came across a few UK-based bakers on Instagram who specialize in cupcake bouquets. “I found their work very fascinating and ended up spending all my time on Instagram looking at pages of similar bakers. Soon enough, I tried piping some flowers and loved doing it,” she added.
Bhasin, who is a lover of cakes herself, used to be an occasional baker. “Because I didn’t want to end up eating the entire cake myself.” She started baking cupcake bouquets for multiple reasons. “Firstly, I love piping flowers. Cupcake bouquets are a new idea, which is fairly common in the UK but not so much in the USA. I didn’t come across any bakers in Connecticut that were doing this.” Bhasin prefers baking cupcakes over cakes. “It’s a creative outlet for me.”
One of my best friends (who had been following Floured on Instagram) asked me recently how Bhasin gets it all done. Marriage. Kids. Day job in technology. Blooming cupcake business. I figured I’d ask the owner-founder herself. “You can’t do anything in a marriage without your spouse’s support,” quipped Bhasin. “I mostly bake on the weekends when my husband can tend to the kids. When I do take on that occasional order during the week, I work after putting the kids to bed. All this requires a bit of planning and works out well when I stick to the plan.”
If you are juggling responsibilities and wondering how to make room for passion in your life, Bhasin has some sage advice, “I would say don’t put your dreams on hold. Start small and make adjustments as needed.”
Word of mouth has been a huge boon for Bhasin and her business. I follow her on Instagram and Facebook, and it’s been incredible to see how much her customers love what she does. When you see Bhasin creating the floral cupcake bouquets, the process looks meditative. When I asked what her future plans for Floured are—you can’t fault me for wanting them to start shipping to NYC—Bhasin said, “I have just started this and am yet to find that proper balance between my family, job, and baking. So that’s the first thing I want to do. Next, I’ll work on creating a website and enable online ordering. Taking baby steps.”
You can email floured.bb@gmail.com for your next customized, delicious, and pretty cupcake arrangement. I have had the pleasure of interviewing while devouring Bhasin’s floral cupcakes, and I now know what heaven tastes like. You can follow Floured on Instagram (@floured_bakedblooms) and Facebook (@flouredbakedblooms).
