Kaju katli went dark chocolate, peda fell for coffee & boondi turned into tart: Diwali mithai is rewriting its own recipe

Coffee hazelnut peda, rose-and-orange kaju rolls, kalakand biscoff, boondi lemon tarts and kesar kulfi-flavoured chocolate bars - the Diwali sweet box has finally got a mithai makeover. Traditional mithai is being folded into pastry, layered into butter biscuits and paired with coffee, fruit and dark chocolate as sweet makers court buyers seeking something different for their festive tables and gifting. The experimentation is finding takers: Bombay Sweet Shop reports 80% growth in its Diwali business over last year, while brands like Dzurt, Sage & Saffron and IKAI report stronger interest from individual customers and corporate gifting clients seeking alternatives to the conventional sweet box.

The opportunity remains small relative to India's sweets market, which multiple news reports peg at Rs 84,310 crore. Premium mithai is less than 1% of the market, where fusion mithai is an even smaller part. But within it, this Diwali, brands have reported rising demand.

Emotional Connect

Sameer Seth, founder of Hunger Inc Hospitality that helped popularise contemporary mithai through its Bombay Sweet Shop chain, attributes the category's appeal to consumers' exposure to different cuisines, ingredients and formats, alongside their continuing emotional connection with Indian sweets. Its Diwali range includes pista khubani barfi, gulab orange roll and coffee hazelnut peda with assorted boxes starting at ₹695.


"It gives people a new way to enjoy something deeply familiar, while making mithai relevant to a wider range of occasions and audiences," says Seth. For instance, its dark chocolate kaju katli appeals across generations, he says.

Demand spans sweets for home, gifts for family and friends, and corporate hampers. The categories overlap: customers may discover a product themselves before returning to buy it for someone else, says Seth. Access has widened, too. Bombay Sweet Shop sells through seven Mumbai stores, its website and delivery platforms, including Blinkit.

The experiments are on. At Dzurt, chef Tejasvi Chandela's Jaipur-based patisserie, has introduced chocolate bars inspired by kaju katli, rose gulkand, saffron kulfi and pistachio Jaipur kunafa, the last incorporating Jaipur's traditional fini. Individual customers and corporate gifting are driving demand for the new collection, though Chandela says it is too early to assess year-on-year growth.

The decisions begin well before a festive launch, with chefs testing whether a new format preserves what customers value in the original. "When choosing what to experiment with, I look at whether the flavour has a distinct identity and whether the new format genuinely adds something to the experience," says Chandela. "Not every traditional sweet needs to be reinvented." Besides chocolate, Dzurt's ghevar and boondi tarts do well. Chandela says there's an appetite for familiar Indian flavours in unexpected formats.

At Sage & Saffron, Aditi Dugar's Mumbai-based boutique catering service, the Diwali mithai box has mithai biscuits that combine dry-fruit lauj, fruit gels and butter cookies. Flavours include pistachio, raspberry and rose, and hazelnut, coffee and orange.