Hash Deli: The sweet rebellion behind those original desserts
In Colombo’s crowded dessert scene, where trends flare and fade like sugar on a brûlée, Hash Deli has built a brand powered by conviction. Its founder, known to customers simply as Hash runs on a quiet but unmistakable credo: originality over imitation, integrity over hype, experience over excess and behind the elegance of her creations lies a tale of rebellion, resilience and reinvention.
Hash grew up in Colombo and her curious, outspoken nature stood out from a young age. She laughs as she remembers how often her teachers despaired at her defiance. “I was that student who questioned every rule,” she says. “I’d run across the playground in the rain just to prove I could.” That spirited confidence became her creative compass—fuelling the experimentation and self-belief that defines Hash Deli today.
After school, Hash went to work on copywriting, account management and even live television until on an overseas stint, a roommate’s banana bread introduced her to the joy of simple, honest baking. With no formal training, she taught herself from scratch—testing, tweaking, and tossing countless “not-good-enoughs” into an old garden well. Friends smuggled out her rejects, shared them, and soon orders began to pour in. “Baking chose me,” she says. “I didn’t go looking for it.”
By 2009, Hash Deli had quietly taken shape in her home kitchen, a one-woman venture built on instinct, persistence and a love of experimentation. Over the years, it has evolved into a tightly knit team of four, operating more like a creative studio than a conventional bakery. Every dessert is handcrafted to order, with no shortcuts—just the deliberate artistry that has become Hash Deli’s hallmark.
If one showpiece captures Hash Deli’s spirit, it’s the three-tiered beer-barrel cake where the top tier, sculpted as a beer barrel, is filled with gooey chocolate cake; the middle tier a chocolate biscuit pudding cake with salted caramel and the base - Hash’s signature chocolate caramel bomb. The showstopper? A functioning tap that pours Kentucky Bourbon whiskey straight from the barrel into a glass.
It is technical theatre—playful and unapologetically original. The engineering mattered, but the point was sheer joy.
Ask Hash what she sells and she won’t say “cake”—she’ll say “experience”. She personally tastes each ganache and buttercream, handpicks fruit for ripeness, and takes off the menu anything that doesn’t meet her standards. “Every product must be something I can stand by and say, I made this,” she says.
Hash with her ‘barrel cake’ and top, a Christmas special
Her flavour-building is intuitive and precise, like a perfumer balancing notes. Naarang curd replaces lemon, passionfruit is chosen at different stages of ripeness. Many cakes are tasted first “in her head,” assembled from a mental library of ingredients and textures honed over years. When the idea is truly new, she prototypes, ruthlessly discards, and starts again.
Inside the kitchen, the rules are clear. When you’re weighing ingredients or tackling a new technique, it’s heads-down, no chatter. When you’re in flow—layering, finishing, repeating a mastered task—the music goes up and the laughter comes out. Hash calls her team culture a “baking adventure” and two sentences steer the day: ‘I have an idea’ and ‘Let’s see what happens’. The permission to test and learn keeps creativity alive; the discipline keeps quality consistent.
Hash is a mother of two, a role she calls her greatest grounding force. “I always knew I wanted to be present during my children’s formative years,” she says. Balancing motherhood and management with equal measures of discipline and intuition, she admits to having restless energy. “I take short naps to reset and then power through the night,” she laughs. Yet she fiercely protects her time with her children—watching documentaries, discussing art, history and empathy.
She is candid about burnout too; in her early years she tried to meet every demand. Now she builds rest into her rhythm, scheduling micro-breaks and “reboot naps”.
Fifteen years on, Hash Deli has grown into one of Colombo’s most admired homegrown dessert brands. “I don’t follow trends; I try to create them.” Hash Deli’s limited Minis are a masterclass in brand trust: small, multi-element cakes announced sometimes with nothing more than the word “minis” and they sell out in minutes. Past editions have featured candied mint leaves, pepper-poached peaches, and curds and creams calibrated to a whisper. She’s also been known to slip in candied green chilli, wasabi-white-chocolate truffles, and, on request, even chick bits—provocations that somehow make emotional sense when you’re eating them.
Sustainability is a policy. Hash Deli’s boxes are simple craft paper or white with logo pasted. “The food must speak,” she shrugs. “A cupcake disappears in 30 seconds. That plastic box outlives your grandkids,” she says. “We have to choose the world we want.”
She smiles when asked to sum up her brand in three words. “Adventure. Innovation. Poetry,” she says. Looking ahead, she envisions a small Colombo outpost. Until then, the focus is on training, process and R&D.
As Christmas approaches, Hash and her team are deep in production crafting their signature boozy Christmas cake, chocolate coated honeycomb, and chocolate-rich cookie boxes alongside their best-sellers. And she will also make an appearance at SantaPaws Xmas Xtravaganza (Cinnamon Grand, November 29–30 ) for fans to grab Christmas treats without the wait list.
Follow Hash on Instagram- @hash.deli
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