A stallholder arranges some of the chocolate items at her stall. — White Star
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.