With the abundance of mooncakes for the upcoming Mooncake Festival which will be celebrated on September 13, there are efforts to make the traditional pastry more modern as to appeal to a younger generation and also for bakers to distinguish their mooncakes from others.
Previously, the festive confectionery were all topped with auspicious Chinese characters, whereas now, mooncake lovers can even see their favourite Disney characters on top of it.
However, 29-year-old baker Elaine Bong does not think that modern mooncakes will make the traditional ones go obsolete. “Through my experiences and observations, a lot of customers buying my mooncake as well as my family members would still prefer the traditional ones.”
She explained that the elderly still believe in giving out traditional mooncakes as gifts, while the younger generation would opt for it in commemoration of their childhood memories.
Started baking and selling mooncake since 2015, Elaine uses only natural ingredients on her baked goods.
“All the colour used are natural as I do not like using artificial colouring and flavour. I would use real fruits such as dragon fruits, mangoes, blueberries and even pandan puree from my husband’s garden to add into my pastries!”
The first mooncake she baked was the ‘Shanghai Mooncake’. In the same year, she also released her signature ‘Cheese Snowskin’ which is the customer’s favourite. “I like to bake different things compared to others. Otherwise, there would be nothing special if I only copy what is already on the market,” the mother of two said.
Having improved through customers’ feedback, Elaine first dwindled into the art of baking after giving birth to her first daughter in 2013. “Back then, I was married, stayed at home most of the time, and had nothing to do. I felt like there was nothing to my life other than my kids and family,” shared Elaine.
Then, she had a craving to eat ‘kuih momo’ (ghee cookies) and decided to bake it thinking it would come out nicely. “So I bought premium ingredients as I thought using it to bake should result in nice cookies.”
Elaine recollected her memories to the first time she started baking, she said that her first ghee cookies failed as the texture was not nice and did not melt in the mouth as suppose.
About to give up, she felt that it is impossible to fail as the making of the batter is not complicated. “So I started making again, experiment with different method and recipes, even did some research and it was a success.”
It was then she felt that she should start a small business selling baked goods. At the end of 2013, Elaine started marketing her goods to her friends and families through Facebook.
However, her success was not an easy one as being a full-time mother and baker, she had to sacrifice her sleep. “It is tiring and it still surprises me how I managed to cope. I can bake for more than 12 hours non-stop.” Because of that, she had designed a nice playroom for her daughters to play in while she worked in the kitchen.
“I tried not to make baking as a way for me to earn an income but I can only stay away from the kitchen for a month! My hands were itching to bake something!” She then disclosed that she must have gotten her kitchen skills and passion for baking from her grandfather, who usually cooks wholesome meals for the family during the festive season.
“I have never been to professional classes. I learned through experiences and gather advice and tips from my sister on how to bake,” said Elaine. For her, the product must be perfect, “And because of that, I have turned into a picky eater.”
Elaine mentioned that she herself is always the first person to try her baked goods. “As I have a high expectation of myself and want everything to be perfect, especially the taste and the look,” she let out a slight laughter and continued, “I would even let my husband try but he said he is tired of my experiments. He got scared looking at desserts now!”
Baking with passion, Elaine questioned why she had not discovered this during her teenage years. “I enjoy baking — I can spend the whole day baking non-stop, even though I feel tired I would still bake the next day.”
“I never gave up despite the stress and the cries when things do not work out as they should. I always believe that hard work pays off in the end,” Elaine added during the interview with New Sarawak Tribune.
For those wanting to to get a taste of the baked goodies can head onto ‘Elaine’s Homemade Bakes’ on Facebook.
