Home Baker Wows Customers With Her Creative Touch

By Nurqalby Mohd Reda

KUALA LUMPUR (Bernama) – With home bakers a dime a dozen these days, Farah Zulaika Nordin is trying to stand out from the others with her hand-painted baked goodies.

The 32-year-old accounting and finance graduate is known for her colourful Swiss rolls and cheese tarts embellished with her drawings of cartoon characters, flowers, batik designs, letters and numerals as well as emojis reflecting current trends.

Marketing her products on social media under the brand name wowcakery, Farah’s home-based business enables her to not only make a decent net profit of about RM2,000 to RM3,000 a month but also put her artistic skills to good use.  

BAKING CLASSES

Colourful Swiss rolls and Cheese Tarts. Photo credit Farah Zulaika Nordin.

Pointing out that painted Swiss rolls are popular in South Korea and Japan, Farah told Bernama she learned to make them in 2015 when she attended cake-making classes here.

“Besides Swiss rolls, I also learned to bake painted cheese tarts. Later, I started taking orders from my family members, relatives and friends and their response was encouraging,” said the mother of one.

Farah, who operates from her house in Taman Batu Muda in Gombak, Selangor, said she chose to focus on Swiss rolls and cheese tarts as both are evergreen delicacies for which there is constant demand all year round.

After completing her higher studies in 2014, Farah initially baked on a part-time basis whilst working as an accountant. In 2018, she quit her job to concentrate on her baking business.  

“I was getting positive response from my family members and relatives who tasted my Swiss rolls and cheese tarts. I then expanded my market by making use of social media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. From there more people came to know of my Swiss rolls and cheese tarts and now I’m busy all day baking,” she said.

DRAWINGS EDIBLE   

Farah Zulaika's bite-sized cheese tarts, decorated with emojis showing various expressions, are a big hit with her customers. Photo credit Farah Zulaika Nordin.

Farah said she operates her business all by herself, from preparing the cake mixtures and tart shells to delivering her baked products to her customers, adding that her husband also helps out sometimes. Her deliveries are currently limited to the Klang Valley.

“It can get tiring but whenever I feel exhausted I always recall what my late father told me… he was around when I first started this business and was among my strongest supporters and he would tell me to be diligent and earnest always,” she said.

Farah’s speciality is undoubtedly the colourful pictures she paints on her cake rolls and tarts. The “paint” she uses is, of course, edible and made of baking flour.

Her bite-sized cheese tarts, decorated with emojis showing various expressions, are a big hit with her customers due to their delicate texture and generous filling.

Painted and colourful Swiss rolls and cheese tarts. Photo credit Farah Zulaika Nordin.

Farah said it takes her about two hours, depending on the image requested by her customers, to paint a Swiss roll.

“But painting the cheese tarts can be tough due to their small size. I have to paint each tart carefully so as not to spoil the design,” she said, adding that it takes her up to four hours to decorate a big box of 25 tarts.

As for her future plans, Farah said she wants to offer baking classes to those interested in learning to make Swiss rolls and cheese tarts. She also hopes to open her own baking studio someday.

Translated by Rema Nambiar

BERNAMA