Written by: June Tan
Photos by: Yong Jia
I first started baking in secondary school with my sister. It started out purely for fun: I would bring what I had baked to school for my friends to eat. Later on, in Junior College, I was inspired by videos of people baking on Youtube to try out new baking recipes. After A Levels, with more time on my hands, I devoted more time to baking.
At a froyo shop I was working at previously, my boss was so fond of my baking that he decided to sell my cakes. There were customers who approached me to make personal orders. Thereafter, I created an Instagram account featuring my baking creations, which is also an avenue for people to place orders with me. It is extremely satisfying to see people enjoy what I bake.
To me, baking has unparalleled therapeutic benefits—even when I feel tired, I would not mind doing baking. However, when I take in orders from people, there is great pressure to ensure that my creations are on point and are “instagrammable”. A few weeks ago, I took an order to do a 2-tiered black gold birthday cake. That week was an extremely hectic school week for me. The night before the cake was due, I started working on the cake, and spray painted black gold as requested. However, when I checked a few hours later, the cake was dripping and looked unpresentable. It was distressing since the cake was due the next morning. However, upon seeking advice from friends and family, I decided to ask the customer if I could do a slightly different version of the cake and she graciously accepted my request. Although the cake wasn’t black-gold, thankfully, all was well in the end. It is with the support of my friends and family that my journey in baking is made possible.
