‘I never bake anything I would not eat myself’

Faria Samreen Nizam has always considered baking to be ‘blatantly therapeutic’. She not only finds joy in the process, but also adores the result that she achieves. With that magic, also comes the bonus of indulging in the sweetness. Faria has been living to complete her meals with sweet confectioneries, and as this insane sweet lover kept baking to meet her cravings -- the demand of her baked delicacies rose higher amongst all who have ever tried them. By the year 2017, she finally decided to go in action. 

“I never bake anything I would not eat myself,” said Faria, and that is what she introduced Crumble with -- the online bakery that provides items made with everything fresh, sweet, and high quality ingredients. These cakes are made to offer the best flavours one can experience in our country. 

Faria is a completely self-taught baker, who also has a story to share about how the name of the venture came into being. The story goes that one morning she looked at her partner and said, “Today I’m baking us scones”. Now you may ask what the outcome of her first attempt was -- that Faria gleefully explains: "I made beautiful buttery scones that crumbled with each bite. It was a moment as though the clouds parted and the sun shone on these heavenly little morsels, and I knew my venture had to be named Crumble”. 

Baking has always felt like “a natural extension” to Faria. Without following strict rules, she poured in her love and passion into her baking and voila! To this, she says: “If you follow recipes to the T, chances are something wonderful will be produced as a result”. 

The idea of running it for a venture never occurred to her, she rather felt shy of considering taking money from anyone who offered in exchange of having her baked goods. Gradually as the requests came flooding in, she then decided to consider it. She hasn’t looked back since.

The story behind Crumble:

What makes Crumble different from every other bakery shop in Bangladesh?

The use of fresh fruits (especially pomegranates) and bougainvillea is a hallmark of Crumble’s creations. Crumble’s baked goods are very heavy handed with toppings, and frills as abundance bring us much joy. As we love eating fresh fruits and produce, we do our best to incorporate them into our desserts too. This sets us apart from a very chocolate loving industry.

What is Crumble’s signature dessert or cake?

If I had to pick three items, they’d be our pomegranate cheesecake, cheese scones and multi seed banana bread. Other than that, the most popular flavours for cheesecakes include: peach cheesecake, lemon Cheesecake and rose mango cheesecake

What else does Crumble offer to make their menu noteworthy?

Crumble has an ever evolving range of baked goods that it offers. Every few weeks, we incorporate a new drop. Ideally, if you were to scroll through Crumble’s menu, you would find an array of Cheesecake flavours up for an offer, which you perhaps have not even heard of before. We make everything from cheesecakes, chiffon cakes, hand whipped buttercream cakes, ganache cakes, Victoria sponge cakes, bundt cakes, glazed cakes, carrot cakes, multi seed cakes, devil’s food cake, banana bread, sesame bread, garlic knots, cheddar cheese muffins, assorted scones, assorted cookies, muffins, cinnamon rolls, a range of Nutella based cakes and rolls, shoofly pie, and the traditional pies. We also do sugar-free and gluten-free baked goods. 

Have you ever received any training? What else do you dream of making?

Although I am self taught, I did take the chance to attend one class in Dhaka where I watched my amazing instructor make some cakes for two hours or so. Having said that, the food dream is to be able to make time and pick up some tricks from mentors at institutions such as the very popular Le Cordon Bleu or the like. I feel like that’s going to be so much fun! 

Who is Faria Samreen Nizam other than a baker? 

I am the sole proprietor of Crumble and an active and full time Director of Turner Grahams BD Ltd. (KONE BD) and NazCorp. 

What inspires you whenever you feel demotivated when it comes to making your cakes or running the venture? 

Honestly, I cannot recall a moment where I have felt demotivated towards running Crumble as a venture. It is easily one of the best decisions I have ever made for myself. However, there were nights that I have felt super exhausted. Till today, I find myself baking into the wee hours of the night, well into the morning, and running on little to no sleep the next day. But you know what? That sense of accomplishment is next to none.

How have you been managing the business during the pandemic? 

The pandemic has enabled us to see a rise in our daily orders! Believe it. It seems people want to treat themselves when they are spending time with their loved ones at home. In fact, we have a wide range of mixed dessert boxes, and people have really taken to those and have ordered those for their loved ones. Crumble delivers as well, hence they’ve been sending the baked goods to friends and family they necessarily cannot meet in person.

Which has been the customer’s favourite dessert?

Our signature pomegranate cheesecake.

Customized or straight from their menu, order your Crumble delicacies from: https://www.instagram.com/crumble_bd/