Delectable Tiras !

• Tiras keeps creativity and quality at the heart of homemade goodies

By Uditha Jayasinghe

Tiras’s list of goodies is much like its owner, Nirupa – affable, effervescent and creative. Nirupa has satisfied dessert lovers for nine years and greets with a table laden with a bowl of tiramisu, a tower of macaroons, an elderflower and lemon cake, old-fashioned ribbon cake and her trademark chocolate biscuit pudding, which is arguably the best in town. This is clearly a person who understands the allure of quality. 

Little flowers are sprinkled around the six-layer chocolate cake, and coffee éclairs sit in a neat line nearby. Nirupa is showing off a mix of the old and new on her menu and it is an impressive display.  Nirupa’s longstanding passion for dessert led her to form Tiras and it is clear that her love of experimentation, drive to improve her skills and use of the best of ingredients have stood her in good stead.

“My family encouraged me to take this to the next level and nine years ago I started Tiras. My first dessert was a biscuit pudding, which my sister-in-law showed me how to do in the conventional way but I felt that it had no wow factor. So I took it two notches higher and added the dark chocolate and the cashew nuts. Ours is the only biscuit pudding that has three layers, melted chocolate, roasted cashews and more grated chocolate. I don’t scrimp on any of these,” she said.

After setting up her business and gradually building a loyal client base, Nirupa branched out to include several other options in a repertoire, including a chocolate fudge cake and tiramisu that have become firm favourites. Nirupa is candid about her creations and is never shy about sharing little secrets about what puts her desserts over the top.

“I have a deep-seated passion for making things and trying out things. I spend most of the money buying ingredients and the encouragement I get from people also plays a big role. I prefer to make everything myself because I like to have control over the ingredients, the methods, the look and the finishing touches.”

Nirupa also draws inspiration from things around her, which is where the elderflower and lemon cake has its origins. Like a typical foodie she often shops on her holidays, bringing back different ingredients that are unavailable or difficult to find at home.

“I just bought a bottle of elderflower cordial, wrapped it up in cloth and brought it home. It suddenly dawned on me later, ‘why not try it in a cake?’ Elderflower with an undertone of lemon is a classic combination so I thought this would be a nice new thing to try. I always like to have something new because there are so many home bakers, kudos to them, they are all lovely, there is nothing like homemade, but I like to have that ‘thing’ – something different from everyone else.”

The elderflower and lemon cake will also feature as a wedding cake. Nirupa believes in all-cake wedding cakes and usually has several meetings with the bride to make sure that the finished cake is a centrepiece at the ceremony.

“You have to be in love with your wedding cake. It can’t be like on my day where I saw the cake and my heart sank. I don’t want that. I want them to really like it.”  

Nirupa was also excited about a naked chocolate and vanilla cake, which was to be decked out in berries and flowers on the big day. She insists that a wedding cake made from cake, rather than the traditional rigifoam, can be less expensive and certainly worth the investment.

Nirupa also ensures that quality remains front and centre, steadfastly refusing to use margarine or any other preservatives, rejecting lucrative offers from companies. 

She also turns to other chefs and cooks for knowledge and inspiration: “I like Donna Hay because she is also a food stylist. She will take a wooden spoon and leave it near a piece of cake and it looks so good. I also like Nigella, as do a lot of other people. I like Edd Kimber because you get very honest cooking from him – the secrets, the tricks, everything is out, which is why I followed his macaroon recipe. His recipes are fool-proof. I like Rachel Allen too.”

“I have about 500 plus magazines and books. My sister-in-law lives in London and she gets these Waitrose, Goodfood and other magazines that she brings down for me so I have a stash. That is my bedtime reading. I take an old, old magazine, probably 10 years old, and then read it in bed. I love doing that. I love old recipes, this is why I do love cake, jaggery cake and a date cake with nuts and butterscotch sauce. They are very comforting. Some recipes are so perfect that you shouldn’t do anything to them.”

Nirupa is still finalising her plans for Christmas but is adamant that she wants to try something new to complement her traditional Christmas pudding with brandy butter. “I want to have a tasting so that people can try the samples and place their orders and closer to Christmas I will make it and deliver. That’s what I customarily do.”

Acknowledging with a laugh that she “probably” is a control freak, Nirupa nonetheless does have plans to possibly start a little café where she can interact personally with customers and have a “homey” space for them. But she acknowledges she is not there yet.   

“I have to let go at some point, so let’s see. Even if I move to a café later on, I will never move the kitchen away from the home because the home is an important ingredient in itself in anything that I make.”

Pix by Ruwan Walpola

Rustic passion fruit cake

Deconstructed tiramasu

Death by Chocolate

Chocolate biscuit pudding