KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) — Never did homemaker Nurul Nadia Aqilah Azri, 27, think her passion in baking three dimensional cakes (3D) would turn into a profitable business, providing a comfortable income for her family.
In fact, her baking hobby which was initially meant as a side income for her family in 2017, grew into a full-fledged venture after her husband, Saifudin Mat Husin, 26, was diagnosed with a chronic disease, which prevented him from handling physical heavy workload since 2018.
Riding on the brand name of The Cake Village, Nurul Nadia Aqilah, affectionately called Dhia, leveraged on the online platform to promote and market her homemade cakes, in addition to selling them direct to customers.
“Praise to Allah, my business came to fruition after receiving many customised orders not only from around Pahang but also from Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor Bahru and Singapore,” said the avid baker, who has been operating from her home in Lepar Hilir, Gambang, Pahang.
Sharing her baking journey with Bernama, Nurul Nadia Aqilah, who hails from Kuala Lumpur, said the most challenging and most memorable was making 3D cat-shaped and chicken-shaped cakes.
As for achieving that realistic look, Nurul Nadia Aqilah has always used actual photos as reference when creating the cakes. At the same time, she did her research and looked for ideas through the social media or asked others to produce a surreal cake.
“I love baking and decorating cakes. It’s like a therapy for me. While there’s a lot of waiting time to go through, baking brings comfort and I get personal satisfaction from seeing the product of my creation after hours of hard work,” said the home baker.
To date, she has produced thousands of regular and food-themed 3D cakes, including her customers’ favourites such as Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) and McDonald’s fried chicken, air batu campur (ABC) as well as curry mee and laksa.
SOURCE OF INSPIRATION
Tracing back her life story, Nurul Nadia Aqilah, who was raised by a single mother, believes that baking is in her blood and cited her mother, who was a fervent cake-baker, as the one who gave her the culinary gene.
“Despite our disadvantaged background, my mother has never forgotten to celebrate her children’s birthdays. For every birthday, my mother would showcase her culinary skills by baking and decorating the cake herself. Often times, I helped her with the baking and my penchant for baking grew over the years,” she added.
Realising that attending formal cake and pastry cooking institutions was beyond her means, Nurul Nadia Aqilah said, she chose to watch cooking shows on television as well as the social media as her ‘guru’.
“To give a magical touch to my creations, I learned the art of cake baking especially cake decorations from my favourite programme ‘Cake Boss’ and social media platforms such as YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and others,” said the enterprising woman.
Nurul Nadia Aqilah said she loves taking on challenges and loves something new, hence gaining experience and improving her skills in 3D cake making.
MENTAL AND PHYSICAL CHALLENGE
Baking cakes are not just a culinary art but a visual one as well. With the right ingredients, talent and skills, a baker can turn their cake into a delicious sculpture that is a feast for the eyes and mouth.
Explaining the process of baking 3D cakes, Nurul Nadia Aqilah said alot of hard work and skill goes into making such incredible cakes, and the first thing that is noteworthy about these cakes is their stunningly realistic exterior.
She said it usually takes three days to produce the 3D cake, noting that producing a customer’s dream cake is no easy feat.
“For regular cakes, eight to 10 cakes can be produced within a day. However, for 3D cakes, with various shapes and designs, long hours are spent producing the ‘artwork’,which requires intricacy, patience and most of the time, every single detail matters.
“To bake a cake such as this is very challenging, especially when you are doing it for the first time, as it requires mental and physical strength and you have to always have a positive mind,” she said.
According to Nurul Nadia Aqilah, the cake which has already been moulded will be chilled for at least six hours to strengthen the cake structure.
“For decorations on the cake, as an example, a cake shaped like curry mee, laksa, ABC or oil palm, the time alotted is between six to 10 hours,” she said.
LUCRATIVE RETURNS
Nurul Nadia Aqilah said 3D cakes can provide lucrative returns, noting that the price of a cake varies, based on its design and the complexity involved.
“The price of a cake is based on customer demand. A regular cake starts from RM55, depending on type, size and decoration. For 3D cakes, the price starts from RM300, and it is also subject to the decorations and sizes involved as per customer request.
“A 3D cake, which is one-of-a-kind, can fetch thousands of ringgit based on the high level of artistry involved, and in addition, the costs of producing such cakes are high.
“The bigger the cake and more intricate the details, the higher will be the price the buyer has to pay. Also, different bakers, depending on their popularity have different prices to quote,” she said.
Despite the high price, 3D cakes have their own set of fans and are always on demand, she noted.
Nurul Nadia Aqilah also said, she is however fortunate as her husband also loves cooking and is currently helping her in baking cakes and delivering the goods to her customers.
“My husband is my pillar of strength. He can’t work at the same pace as before and is now helping me run this business,” said Nurul Nadia Aqilah, who also takes care of her ailing father-in-law.
She said her husband was diagnosed with the chronic disease in 2018 which requires him to undergo operation, costing thousands of ringgit.
“As such, we would regularly go to Hospital Tengku Ampuan Afzan (HTAA) Kuantan for his follow-up visits. Due to his condition, I would bake themed 3D cakes to generate more income. However, who would have guessed this business has become our family’s main source of income,” she shared.
Sources: BERNAMA
