Weebake-desserts-1It may additionally have been former Manukau City big cheese (aka mayor), Sir Barry Curtis, keeping court at a special characteristic last month; however, in a way, a staggering ceremonial cake (shaped and iced to represent a crown – see photo underneath), was the center of attention.
Stephanie Cheok and her nephew, Edwin Cheok (from Auckland’s WeeBake Cakes), had been behind the regal introduction, which attracted many admiring remarks for its artistry… and flavor.
Those who’ve indulged in a one in all their cakes will understand this entrepreneurial pair can develop fit for human consumption masterpieces of all descriptions.
“It really started as a hobby for me approximately seven years ago,” explains Stephanie, who came to New Zealand from Malaysia in 2003. “At first, I did desserts for the circle of relatives; then pals started out asking me to bake for them too. It became just amusing but time-ingesting amusing. I changed into eager to do extra.” With her 3 youngsters now all teenagers, this talented artisan ultimately determined to take the plunge, promote her long-time printing business and take her redecorating abilities similarly.
“But now not before I controlled to steer my nephew, a culinary arts graduate, to are available with me. While I turned into baking and redecorating on a small scale, I should manipulate best; however, to move bigger required a lot of extra company and assistance.” The idea of a partnership began numerous years when Stephanie lower back to Malaysia on an excursion. “Edwin and I have been speaking about meals and baking in fashionable and discovered a shared passion for growing and redecorating wonderful desserts.”
weebake-desserts-2aOn Stephanie’s proposal, Edwin visited New Zealand and cherished what he noticed. After finishing his studies at the Academy of Pastry Arts in Kuala Lumpur, he has become a New Zealand resident. Although WeeBake Cakes had already been hooked up by way of his aunt, he says the pair deliberate to up the stakes and paintings closer to building it into a full-time retail enterprise.
“Working in food throughout Asia has supposed exploring cuisines from many countries, and for the beyond few years, I’ve also been anxious in bread making. However, I really need to be a pastry chef; that’s wherein my ardor lies, and that is an opportunity to give rein to my creativity and skills.”
Despite their shared love of cake decorating, Stephanie and Edwin’s options vary to a few diplomae, with Edwin leaning toward buttercream and drip decorating whilst Stephanie works mainly with fondant, molding shaping elaborate plants, and floral paintings. “What we adore about cake adorning is that we work on a clean canvas,” she says. “Exploring such a lot of new avenues makes us actually sense like artists and prefer many a portray, the paintings can take hours and hours, usually days or maybe more than a week for every cake relying on its intricacy.” They don’t forestall at huge desserts – the pair has created large buffet tables comprising cup desserts, cookies, small tartlets, macarons, and more – all beautifully iced or decorated regularly to a subject matter. But not every order has run easily.
“We’ve had the occasional hitch, however, by no means something that couldn’t be rectified till one patron insisted on choosing up her cake even though we supply. We strongly endorsed she didn’t position the cake within the lower back of her automobile; however, she did, and by way of the time she returned home,, the buttercream had completed melted. We had been devastated by her.”
Generous to a tee Stephanie and Edwin, both lively Christians, have used their talents to benefit unique causes and agree that they should do for the community – “assisting intellectual health research has been one vicinity near our hearts,” Stephanie provides. And, whilst each baking day is sooner or later achieved, the duo concur: “we simply want to keep on baking and decorating however we may want to do without the showering up!”
