Sweet Success: How Melange’s Nadia Parekh Became The Cult Cake Artist To The It Crowd
The pastry chef talks to Bazaar Arabia about the love, long hours and creative energy poured into every bite, and why she’s ready to return to Faim
When Nadia Parekh speaks about buttercream battles, you understand she’s not being entirely metaphorical.
The founder of Dubai’s cult-favourite bakery Mélange – now synonymous with conjuring up some of the region’s most extravagant cakes, envisaged a career in clinical psychology. Pastry was never the plan. “I never set out to become a pastry chef,” she says. But after training at Le Cordon Bleu and refining her craft in some of the world’s most elite kitchens, from William Curley Chocolatier to Gordon Ramsay’s restaurants and multiple five-star hotels, Nadia found herself at the centre of Dubai’s dessert obsession.
Mélange began, improbably, in her home kitchen when she was just 23. What followed was explosive growth, viral bakes (think aesthetically-shot tahini swirl dark chocolate brownies, chewy chocolate brownies with sea salt and buttery nut brittle tarts) and a devotion from the city that remains unmatched. “Dubai is an extraordinary place to work in pastry – a city filled with people who are genuinely obsessed with dessert and always have room for one more sweet bite,” she reflects. “The response Mélange received was beyond anything I could have imagined.”
Even now, years after the bakery’s closure, Nadia is still known by a name she no longer owns. “People still save my name in their phones as ‘Nadia Mélange,’ often without knowing my actual last name,” she admits. “And honestly, I think that says everything.” But what everyone saw as a dream-come-true camewith a private reckoning. Mélange’s rise was swift, but as demand soared, there were challenges that seeped through too. “Success at a young age brings its own shadows: crushing self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and a vulnerability to people who see your talent as something to exploit,” Nadia recalls.
One ill-fated partnership turned the bakery into a courtroom battle; a long, exhausting legal ordeal that coincided with Nadia approaching her thirties. “It was sensational, overwhelming, and deeply personal,” she tells us sadly. “It has taken me years to find the words to explain the end of what felt like my most sincere love letter to cake.” Still, ever the optimist, she frames the experience as an education and has channelled her learnings into inspiration for her new venture. Her key takeaway? One core, self-affirming truth: “You deserve it all – yes, all of it.”
“We’re taught from childhood that entitlement is ugly,” she explains, “but no one ever taught us about balance – or how gratitude can keep that balance in check.” Looking back, she recognises how her humility became a liability. “If I were a man, my mindset would’ve been: Of course I deserve this. At minimum. And I can’t wait for what’s next.”
Nadia doesn’t shy away from the emotional toll of creative entrepreneurship. “Buttercream battles are bloody,” she says plainly. “When your entire artistic soul is intertwined with your livelihood, there is no clean line between the personal and the professional.” There were moments, the baker admits, when the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel seemed out of reach, but she found in herself a new resolve. “What I know about myself now is this: I do not back down. I know my worth. I know the years of skill, imagination, discipline, and resilience I bring to the table.”
“Art really does stem from heartbreak,” she adds. “Making the most of a bad situation, being productive during hard times and turning the heartbreak into magic is what got me through.”
The experience has fundamentally changed Nadia, and softened her relationship with perfection. “You can’t cling to who you once were – life doesn’t allow it,” she reflects. “The girl who started Mélange was obsessed with perfection. The Nadia who stands in the kitchen today? She’s dusted in frosting, running late, and utterly in love with a design that’s just the right amount of askew.”
After three years of profound personal growth, and amid a post-pandemic food landscape that is thriving and filled will new competition, Nadia is ready to return undaunted. This month sees her launch FAIM, her new baking venture and, as she calls it, her “ultimate cake confessional. FAIM is hunger in its purest, most unfiltered form,” she tells Bazaar Arabia. “It’s the art that spills out after heartbreak. The magic scraped from the bottom of the bowl.” This is Nadia 2.0. “It doesn’t ask for permission. It doesn’t apologise,” she declares.
“Mélange was the beginning,” she says. “But this is the bite after the breakdown. We’re serving emotion.” She confirms with a smile, “And yes… there will be cake.”
From Harper’s Bazaar Arabia February 2026 Issue