“Learning Never Stops’ was the first sentence that Habiba al Khabori, a person who chased her passion and made it big said in a tête-à-tête with the Observer.
The story of Habiba Al Khabori, an Omani woman who made her hobby into a lucrative activity and set an example to those who follow her, is overwhelming.
Habiba opened her cake boutique, CINDERELLA SWEETS in the early 80s. She ran the business successfully for almost 25 years. In 2012, her daughter established The Dried Lemon, infusing local flavours into an array of international cuisine and became one of the leading culinary creators of food in the Sultanate of Oman. With their innovative designs and wide range of available and trendy styles, she and her family create their own recipes, dishes and assortment of various sweets, confectionaries and savoury items.
The Dried Lemon creates beautiful cakes for all occasions — celebration cakes for weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries etc. They also cater to private and corporate events and dinners with their famous canapés, snacks and other delicious dishes.
One of her magnum opuses, as she calls it, is a huge wedding cake that she created in collaboration with an extremely exclusive client. The cake was epic because of its 9 tiers and 78 inches’ height. This cake was decorated with 39,550 handmade, sugar, edible flowers which took some 6 months in the making, from beginning till the end and it made her a cynosure of appreciation and acclamation.
Another stunning cake made by The Dried Lemon was also 78 inches tall, 9 tiered, and had 34,039 handcrafted edible sugar flowers. These flowers also took 6 months to make.
In 2017, she made the tallest wedding cake in Oman for another exclusive wedding ceremony at Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz Carlton Hotel. This cake had 10-tiers and was 3.5 metres high with a base of 42 inches. It was the centre of attention of the cake-lovers.
“Although the cake captured the eyes and hearts of the sweet-lovers, logistics faced an issue and we had to transport the mammoth cake in pieces and assemble them at the venue which was a strenuous exercise and took many people’s efforts as well. The client wanted it taller, but obviously, we couldn’t go higher because it nearly touched the ballroom ceiling,” admitted Habiba.
Habiba believes in innovation and spares no stones unturned in experimenting and creating newer recipes and ideas. In 2015 she was the first in Oman to introduce Entremets, a French variety of mousse based desserts, which have taken the confectionary world by storm. These have also become extremely popular here in Muscat. They are time-consuming and challenging to make but Habiba has mastered the technique and know-how to perfection.
Some of her widely acclaimed sugar craft masterpieces are: handcrafted, sugar Gerbera and its foliage, edible, sugar Marigolds of 3 varieties and foliage, sugar lilies adorning a cake, Sugar begonia leaves of different varieties, Sugar Physalis seed pods with berries, Giant Goblet Black Forest Trifle with Morello Cherries, Fudge Sauce, Cream, chocolate shavings and Maraschino Cherries, Dutch mini pancakes for home breakfast; yeast-based little morsels are addictive, served piping hot, dotted with butter and a sprinkling of icing sugar; accompanied by maple syrup, strawberry and chocolate sauce, Nutella Cake with Ferrero Rocher, Fudge lacing through every delicious bite, Giant Bon Bons / Pinata cakes in various flavours Black Forest, Caramel Fudge, Raspberry Ripple Cheesecake). And of course, a classic 4 - tiered wedding cakes, adorned with beautiful peach flowers Chocolate Handbag and Shoes.
BY KABEER YOUSUF
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