Putting the icing on a cake artist’s career

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Chin with one of her creative confections – a 40kg fully edible handcrafted cake, which features decorative items such as pens, lamp, and wooden patterned panels.

BIRTHDAYS, anniversaries, or weddings are not complete without a celebratory cake to mark these special occasions.

From traditional icing cakes to stunning and realistic edible art cakes, these beautiful creations made by cake artisans are without a doubt the centre of attention at every event that will leave everyone in awe.

No less amazing are the beautifully crafted edible art confections of Kuching-based cake artist Vera Chin Sze Yiing, which are getting increasingly popular among locals.

Chin poses with her cakes which won two gold and one bronze awards at the CFM 2019 — Asia’s biggest international cake competition.

The 31-year-old, who specialises in buttercream floral cakes and cupcakes, was bitten by the ‘cake bug’ from a very young age and she started selling cookies at just nine years old.

“I love desserts and pastries very much and there’s a saying that women have two stomachs, one of which is especially reserved for desserts, and for sure, I’m one of them.

“So I started baking as a hobby when I was very young and even though my family was not into baking, I’m thankful they were very supportive by buying me all the equipment I needed and constantly encouraging me on this amazing journey,” she told thesundaypost.

After finishing secondary school, Chin enrolled for a diploma course in cake-decorating and baking before furthering her studies in Singapore and England to master culinary and professional patisserie.

“It was a long journey; I spent a total of 10 years in culinary and baking education from Malaysia to Singapore and then completing my degree and Master’s in the United Kingdom.

“After that, I worked in the US and I think it was the work experience at a top-notch 5-star resort there that pushed my skills to another level,” she said.

True passion

Chin added that the enjoyment and satisfaction she got from baking made her realise her true passion lay in cakes and desserts. But as much as she enjoyed this passion of hers, working in the hotel industry eventually took a toll on her.

“Working in this industry was great, interesting, fun, and challenging but at the same time, not healthy.

“With all the sleepless days, unorganised body clock and dedicating almost all of our holidays and family bonding time to the business, it got me thinking of planning for a career where I could continue doing what I love but with a healthier and more balanced lifestyle,” she said.

Chin then decided to move back to Kuching for good to start a career where she could manage her own time, and with her knowledge and skills, also educate those interested in cake-making as a skill or hobby.

In 2018, she launched an edible art business that focuses on conducting cake-decorating workshops not just locally but also internationally.

“My main business is to conduct workshops internationally. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, travel opportunities have been restricted.

“That’s when I started baking more for local requests and set up my online classes,” she said, adding that before the travel restrictions, she would usually take special customised cake orders at months’ notice to allow her to secure the dates, plan and design a unique cake for her clients.

Chin judges one of the mooncake entries at the Mid-Autumn Creative Mooncake Making Competition.

Despite the current setback, Chin continues to teach her students all over the world.

“I love making friends around the world after living overseas for many years. It allows me to understand the different cultures, learn the different perspectives of individuals and accept and share different values.

“I enjoy teaching students from different parts of Asia and I also have many students from the US and Africa,” she said.

 

Tiring but fun

While online classes for her international students mean having to adjust her time to fit the teaching hours in different time zones, she noted that the experience could be tiring but fun at the same time.

“I get to learn more about the different nationalities and ethnicities, at the same time teaching and sharing the same love for cakes with my students.

“So yes, you’ll find me awake when everyone is sleeping as some days I work according to the American time zones.

“Hopefully, the pandemic will be over soon so that I can resume travelling to different countries and cities monthly and teach the art of cake decorating,” she said.

Chin noted that while most of her students were either home-bakers who wished to upgrade their decorating skills or fresh graduates who wanted to try and see if baking could be their future pathway, there were also professionals like doctors or white-collar workers and even mothers who simply wanted a day off from their routine to have a therapeutic fun-filled time decorating cakes.

“My students don’t have to have any experience but they definitely need to have patience and passion.

“As long as they are passionate about cakes and willing to learn, I’ll be more than happy to guide them,” she said, adding that the cake workshops she conducts usually focus on making the medium needed to decorate a particular design.

One of Chin’s exquisite works is the floral bouquet cake which can be lifted and held straight up like a real flower bouquet.

Hands-on workshop

One of her popular cake decorating workshops involve creating an edible potted plant whereby students are taught to make the butter cream, colouring techniques, plants piping, cake coating, and shaping until the final arrangement is achieved.

“This is a hands-on workshop and the best part is students get to bring home their creations,” she said.

Chin’s main focus and signature are to make all her artworks edible, including the decorative pieces on the cake.

“I always try to think out of the box and make every item that goes on the cake edible.

“My favourite medium is butter cream. I love using quality imported butter that tastes amazing, and with butter cream, it’s very flexible to craft flowers and plants,” she added.

As all her cakes are fully handcrafted, Chin said a small piece could take at least 10 hours of hands-on time to complete whereas a more intricate design such as the flower bouquet cake, consisting of a whole cake underneath a bed of butter cream flowers, would need around 15 hours of hands-on time, excluding the waiting time for baking and cooling.

“The longest time to complete one artwork or design can be weeks. Of course, we take great care on the edible elements, making sure all the processes follow food safety guidelines and done in a way that the cake will still be fully edible, and more importantly, fresh after the baking is completed,” she explained.

 

Achievement

When not teaching, Chin participates in cake competitions. One of her achievements was representing Malaysia and winning two gold and one bronze awards at the Cake Fiesta Manila (CFM) 2019, Asia’s biggest international cake competition.

She is also a finalist in this year’s Cake Star Competition, a worldwide virtual competition where participants create artwork and include all the photos of the processes and the person making the cake.

“I won the first round competition, then made my way into the finals,” she said.

Moreover, she had participated in a charity bake-off at the Ritz Carlton in California, USA, and won the championship.

Having been in this industry for many years, Chin said her best achievement thus far was being invited to host her own caking TV show called Edible Art Wonderland on CakeFlix TV, based in the UK but aired globally and on various platforms.

“It’s an on-going TV show that runs in seasons and each episode is about an hour-long, featuring cake making tips and ideas.”

She has also been invited to be one of the international cake artists, who run a full day of 12-hour live cake show called Caking All Over The World with 11 world-class cake artists.

“It’s a full day of cake interactions, tutorials, prizes and giveaways, sponsored by worldwide cake supply companies,” she added.

She recently got invited to be a judge in the Mid-Autumn Creative Mooncake Making Competition at Aeroville Mall here.

Rows of beautifully piped buttercream floral cupcakes made during a workshop for this year’s Mother’s Day celebration.

No easy journey

Chin has certainly come a long way in her career and she advised anyone interested in baking as a career to think twice as it won’t be an easy journey.

“To be honest, even though I sweat, I’m constantly tired. I’ve slept on the kitchen floor and storerooms, worked for hours in a walk-in chiller, got shouted at like the chefs in Hell’s Kitchen, and cried my eyes out. But I’ve enjoyed myself all these years and never thought of giving up or changing career.

“You get to make true lifetime friends who will walk with you through the ups and downs and you also gain exposures and experiences like no other careers but remember this is only attainable with true passion and hard work.

“If they can get through all these, I can assure any aspiring chefs or bakers they will have an amazing career — getting to enjoy doing what they love and loving what they do. Don’t worry if you think you aren’t talented enough as long as you have the passion, patience and little bit of perseverance. As the saying goes, hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

She noted that Kuching has many talented bakers, some of whom with high potential to create world-class fully edible art cakes.

“However, many didn’t turn this into a career for various reasons. It’s always good to have an understanding of the market in Kuching. There’re many who still think an edible art cake is simply putting plastic figures or something fancy like feathered wings on a cake. On the contrary, a fully edible art cake takes finesse and time to have everything made from scratch and ensure everything the eye can see on the cake is edible.”

 

Firm on self-worth

Chin pointed out that there was a lot of pressure on cake artists to stand firm on their own worth.

“I guess it’s just human nature to self-doubt, especially when you’re putting your creations out there and the feedback you get is from people saying their grandmother can do a better job for a lower price — or why are we selling our fully edible art cakes at such an expensive price when they can get better cakes for half of the price at a local bakery.”

While criticisms are inevitable, Chin said bakers, including aspiring ones, should not let them undermine their confidence.

“My message to budding bakers in Kuching is to stand strong and firm and understand and appreciate their own worth. Don’t worry too much about what others think and follow your dreams to be the cake artist or baker you set out to be,” she said.