Marly's Goodies Crafts Cupcakes With A Lebanese Twist

Several months ago, one of my avid blog and Instagram followers got in touch via private message. Marilyn Basbous, a spirited brunette in her early 20s, wanted to meet the face behind Beirutista and swap stories. In this age of social media and the comfort we enjoy shielded behind the screen, how unconventional to set aside our monitors and smartphones and make a real connection over a cup of coffee.

I was thrilled. Marilyn, named after the iconic Hollywood celebrity, is a fifth-year pharmacy student at USJ. By day, she’s poring over chemical compounds and learning about medication therapy. By night, she shrugs off the lab coat to don an apron and toque. You see, Marilyn is a passionate cake creative. Her objective is not just any diner cake or cupcake with confetti sprinkles.

In fact, she cites Katherine Sabbath, a name only diehard cake-makers would recognize, as being her principal inspiration and idol. Sabbath fashions colorful extruded cakes and is notorious for her ice cream cone cake, with an upside down cornetto sticking out of the top.

And Marilyn’s proven to be a diligent student. Forage through her resplendent Instagram account, and you’ll be left wondering whether her line of work is more art than the edible. 

 Her “Doh’nut Cake,” for example, begins with a four-tiered vanilla and chocolate cake soaked in maraschino cherry syrup filled with cherry buttercream and drizzled with Belgian chocolate ganache. The proverbial cherry on top are homemade glazed vanilla bean donuts. I’m not even sure how you’d start to slice that tower.


Doh'nut Cake


Marly’s Goodies, as her enterprise is dubbed, has been toying with a fusion of the Orient and Occident, the modern and traditional. Lately, she’s innovated a collection of cupcakes embracing classic Lebanese desserts, like meghlé (spiced rice pudding) and osmaliye (vermicelli sandwich of clotted cream).

Let’s get up close and personal:


Meghlé cupcakes feature a cinnamon-, caraway-, and aniseed-laced crumb caching the namesake Lebanese pudding. The crown is a rich cream cheese frosting decked with nuts and shreds of coconut as in the original dessert.


Meghlé cupcake


Fan of biscuits and loukoum? Marly’s biscuit w rahit mawared cupcakes are rosewater-flavored cupcakes iced with rosewater swissmeringue buttercream cradling biscuit and rose Turkish delight.


Biscuit w rahit mawared cupcake


Perhaps the most daring novelty is the osmaliye cupcake, with a mahlab-kissed crumb enveloping a pouch of sweetened crushed pistachios. The frosting evokes the Lebanese pastry with a bed of vermicelli and candied rose petals.


Osmaliye cupcake


Marilyn will be debuting her cupcake trio at Beirut’s Salon du Chocolat November 17-19 to coincide with the publication of Taste & Flavors’ winter edition, which casts a spotlight on her home bakery shenanigans. She admits to locking her family out of the kitchen while slaving over the dainty délices. And yes, she does clean up after herself.

Apparently, the pharmacy student's final year thesis will be a marriage between pharmacology and baking. Only a chemistry buff like Marilyn could draw parallels between two vastly different universes. For the rest of us, let's settle for savoring her sumptuous solutions.


The Lebanese line of Marly's cupcakes


Marly's Goodies

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tantalizing Treats from the Coast to the Mountains

Image
For many of us, the undisputed beauty of Lebanon lies in the quality of food and drink available to denizens. If we Lebanese are blessed with one thing, it’s a highly discerning palate and a deep-seated appreciation for food, no matter the cuisine or category. Here are a few of my newfound favorites bejeweling the Lebanese frontier, from the coast to the mountains! Gilbert’s Burger Bites Having grown up in California, I know a good burger when I see (and sink my canines into) one. The Lebanese have always had a love affair with burgers, but if you grew up in the 90s, a burger around here ubiquitously meant a thin kafta-like patty smothered with coleslaw and fries, tucked inside a sesame seed bun large enough to bury a baseball. While nostalgia-inducing, that specimen belongs in our past. Since moving to Lebanon in 2011, I’ve enjoyed a number of decent burgers. But the crowning jewel is without doubt Gilbert’s Burger Bites. I’m not sure why it’s dubbed “Bites,” because their burgers are
Read more

Lebanon's Retail Landscape In Need of Customer Service Overhaul

Image
Last weekend, I found myself visiting two different retailers with which I’d previously been unfamiliar. We received housewarming gifts that I wished to exchange for something of more utility, and after being repeatedly reassured that swapping would be effortless, I embarked on said mission. The first retailer has two branches: one in Jdeideh, north of Beirut, and another in Ballouneh, in the Ajaltoun district. The gift was purchased in Ballouneh, and I was going to attempt the exchange in Jdeideh, which is considerably closer to our home. I entered the shop and presented the item – a half dozen set of tumblers – to the two ladies seated behind the cashier desk. Almost instantly I was greeted with, “that’s an old item.” “Excuse me? This was purchased 24 hours ago from your other location,” I retorted. As though we were duking it out on a tennis court, the cashier swiftly shot back that she had to check whether they even carried this item in Jdeideh, because if they did not, she wou
Read more

What’s New In & Around Beirut

Image
In light of the multiple financial and economic crises that continue to grip Lebanon, it always fascinates me when I see new places crop up, or living spaces being treated to a facelift. Revival in Lebanon is at the core of our fabric. Our entrepreneurial culture perpetually outweighs the lesser than ideal circumstances that beleaguer us. All this to say, it’s a heartwarming feeling when you see others around you continue to invest and not relinquish hope in this country. Here’s the latest example of that! Xpark Perched on high in the hills of Mar Roukoz, not far from Waves waterpark, Xpark is Lebanon’s first indoor jump park spread across an impressive 3,300 square meters. Find different areas to suit every age and expert level: (1) X Mini for ages up to 6 to explore trampoline style jumping, (2) Freestyle, (3) Xpertramps for elevated performance enthusiasts, (4) XDunk for bouncing and shooting hoops, (5) soft-play for toddlers, (6) edutainment zone catering to ages 4-12, and more. Up
Read more