ISLAMABAD: A two-day chocolate festival ended at the Pak-China Friendship Centre on Sunday in which residents of the twin cities were treated to chocolate flavoured foods.

There were macarons, doughnuts, waffles, brownies, chocolate lasagne, pies, cakes, truffles, cupcakes and other chocolate flavoured foods, most of which were made by home-based bakers.

“One of the best parts about the festival is that most of the stalls are taken up by people who love to bake and run small, home-based businesses and who want to share their love of baking with others.

“We have homemade ice-cream here which is made with organic ingredients and have no artificial colours or sweeteners,” said Asim Mushtaq, one of the organisers of the festival.

He said most of the products at the festival cannot be found in stores and bakeries.

One of the stallholders, Sabrina Shigri, has been baking for seven years and started doing it professionally last year.

“It started at random. There is this happiness you derive from making people happy,” Sabrina said, adding that she now bakes for all sorts of events.

Another stallholder, Shakila Umair, has been baking for nine years.

An environmental engineer in Sweden, Ms Umair bakes as a hobby and all the desserts at her stall were made from Swedish chocolate that she brought with her.

The chocolate pops at her stall, made from crumble cake mixed with ganache and coated with chocolate, were very popular with the guests as well as the red velvet cup cakes.

“There is nothing to not like about the festival because everyone likes chocolate,” said Uzma Amjad, who was attending the event with her seven-year-old daughter.

A father of two, Zubair Chaudhry, said the chocolate festival was a good place to spend a Sunday evening.

“I am probably a bigger fan of chocolate than my children. There is so much chocolate here, it is difficult to hold a single thought in my head,” he said.

Though the organisers claimed the festival was bigger and better than last year, some visitors had higher expectations and said the festival did not live up to the claims.

“The space is small and cramped and there are just two small corridors for hundreds of people,” a visitor said.

However, the reasonable prices made up for some of the shortcomings. Baramda was the only outlet also offering a savoury dish, a plate of fried fish and chips, for Rs200.

Items such as the Ferrero waffle, a slice of chocolate cake, Nutella waffles and similar products were being sold for between Rs150 and Rs200.

Walls and Sweet Treats from Gujrat were some of the better known brands at the festival.

Published in Dawn, December 18th, 2017