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Baking her way to the ‘perfect’ brownie

Venessa Anthony

Everyone loves a good brownie, and because it’s so versatile and can be baked with a gooey centre, crunchy exterior, fudgy exterior – however your heart desires – it makes the perfect treat. Over the years, Zuhara Fajardeen, a home-based baker, has perfected her brownie recipe and eventually began her small business, The Brownie Jar (@the.brownie.jar on Instagram).

Zuhara’s passion for baking took shape during her teen years – age 14 to be precise – and ever since, she’d be found in the kitchen, oven mitts on, whisk in hand, and dusted head to toe with flour. She began The Brownie Jar back in 2019, and when she’s not busy baking, she tends to blog whenever she gets the time, and also loves travelling around Sri Lanka and exploring the unknown.

Brunch had a chat with Zuhara about brownies, baking, and more. 

Here are some excerpts from the interview:

How did you get into baking? 

Baking is something that has been running in my family, I’d say; I think I got the passion for baking from them. I even took a cupcake-baking class just for one day out of curiosity, probably eight years ago, which was my very first baking class. From then onwards, I had to watch a lot of YouTube videos on baking, and I’d say I am a self-taught baker.

When was the first time you remember baking something?

Right after I finished the one-day cupcake class, I just wanted to give it a try and I did succeed, but I never had a huge liking for cupcakes. However, I had to go through much trial and error to create the best brownie. I had to bake several batches of brownies in order to get that perfect slice.

What skill would you say is most important for you to have in your line of work?

Professionalism. As a home baker you might not have a huge team to handle your products, or even have access to certain items; but I think being professional in what you do matters.

What are the products you offer? 

I offer a range of homemade brownie slices, jars, and cakes. These brownies come in boxes of 12 and also slabs. I also cater to special functions and corporate events. We have also introduced goodie boxes, which contain brownies, homemade cookies, and also brownie bouquets.

Do you have a best seller?

The best seller of all time is the assorted brownie box, which has a range of toppings, and the customer gets to have a taste of each brownie we feature. 

How do you think you are able to stand out among your competition?

For me, quality matters over quantity, and it’s something that I have always kept in mind. It’s also important how you present your brownies. Most of my brownies are made with top-quality ingredients, so it’s more fudgy and gooey than any other, and I think the presentation of my brownies stands out more than the rest.

Have you faced any challenges along your journey? 

Plenty. But I learn as I go. At the very beginning of my brownie business, it was quite hard to source the exact ingredients I needed. It was even harder to find the materials to fit the brownies. It was also not easy finding delivery companies, despite living in Colombo. I had to basically message a lot of online pages in order to get the exact ingredients and materials, since I always wanted the taste and presentation to stand out.

One of the biggest challenges was Covid-19. Due to the pandemic, I had to pause and not take orders for a while, which was really hard for me since I had to turn down many orders at that time. However, with time during the Covid-19 period, my sales also boosted, since a lot of people would order desserts and sweets online rather than walk into a store. That was a plus point.

You work all by yourself for the most part, so what happens if you get overbooked and have too many orders going at one time?

Yes, my business was a one-man-show at that time. But now I have my husband to help me out with marketing, and my little sisters help me out with stocks and accounts, which is a huge help. On days where I have more orders, specifically for weddings where we make around 250-400 jars, I usually get help from my siblings and my mom.

Was your brand affected by the recent restrictions and shortages?

Yes, it was. Since most of the items were out of stock and the prices were drastically increasing, I had to once again pause my business until I sourced the ingredients.

What are your plans for the future?

I do have quite a few plans and so does my husband. We would like to open up a little shop just for the brownies in the future hopefully – a very aesthetic looking bakery serving the best gourmet brownies in town. I am also planning on marketing my brownies on other gifting platforms, but it’s still a work in progress.