KUALA LUMPUR: At Therapeucake.co, its cheesecake is made to look like cheese.
A unique design cheesecake resembling the Emmental cheese that appears in the animated TV series Tom and Jerry, the dessert is among the Malaysian bakery’s signature cakes and is by far the most popular among its customers.
Its baker and owner, Farah Nurul Asyikin Mohamad Sukri, 28, said great care is taken to ensure that the flavour can be enjoyed by the whole family.
Made with fresh ingredients, the Tom and Jerry cheesecake is a handcrafted work of art. It is one-of-a-kind and is being sought after for its creative and colourful embellishments.
In fact, Farah, who is affectionately called Feyra, has a vast range of cakes in her baking repertoire, including ice cream themed cakes, or cakesicles. At the bakery, customers are spoilt for choice, with lots of ice cream shaped cakes to choose from for every occasion.
Now in her third year of operation, the Ampang-born baker, who describes herself as a new kid on the block, is optimistic of good times ahead for her products under the Therapeucake.co label.
Tom and Jerry cheesecake, cakesicles
When met recently, this writer was given a baking tutorial, from preparing the ingredients to decorating a cake.
A Masters’ degree holder in Counselling and Psychology at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM), Feyra shows that she has skilfully mastered the art of baking.
“Actually, I had no previous experience in cake baking. I started dabbling in cake making in early 2020 as I couldn’t stay idle after completing my studies in 2019.
“On top of that, with no job opportunities post COVID-19 pandemic, I had to push aside my plans on the back burner especially in either counselling or psychology,” she told Bernama in an interview.
Feyra was previously working as an online tutor for secondary school students in core subjects such as Science and Mathematics to generate income coupled with the fact that she did not want to be over-dependent on her family.
However, her career as a tutor was short-lived as it could not generate the desired income.
“During the early phase of the movement control order (MCO) in March 2020, I was practically staying home without any job and it was during this lull period that my creativity was sparked. All of a sudden, an idea to bake ice cream and cheese cakes just propped up as I was watching a video on cake making on YouTube.
“Albeit a meticulous process at the onset, I rose to the challenge…with only RM60 earned from my tutoring classes, I bought flour, colourings and some mould baking trays, while other baking equipment were available at home including oven and dough mixer,” said the fourth of six siblings.
Besides the cakesicles, the Tom and Jerry Cheesecake was Feyra’s favourite, noting that she was determined to add them to her bucket list although they were far more popular abroad than in Malaysia.
“I was drawn into producing both Tom and Jerry cheesecakes and cakesicles given that there was only a handful of players in the market then,” she added.
Took failures in stride
According to Feyra, her family members, who were also strong critics of her products, were the driving force behind her success, noting that they had given their unwavering support from the beginning.
“There were failures along the way, but I took them in stride. What I did was to ask my family members to be the connoisseurs, and only after receiving their green light would I take the next step by selling the cakes to my friends and neighbours.
“Subsequently, I took orders from residents around Ampang. In a day, I managed to bake about three to five cakes with orders from not more than three customers,” she said, adding that each cake comprised several cheese and ice cream cases based on the customer’s choice.
Within the first three months, Feyra only focused on her cheesecake business before offering other options such as ice cream shaped cakes to customers.
There were times that she almost gave up on her endeavour as the cake did not turn out as expected, noting that she had to improvise in the kitchen as the original recipe did not serve her specific palate.
“The most difficult situation was to achieve a perfect mould for both types of cake. Baking a cheese-shaped cake is the most challenging as the inner circle is made of cheese, with flavourings that are based on the customer’s choice, such as vanilla, Oreo and dark chocolate before it is coated with white chocolate.
“Cheesecakes are delicate and somewhat prone to cracking; there were times when the coating would crack and fixing it wasn’t easy.
“At some point, I was at my wit’s end and had to dump cheese 10 times into the dust bin after wrongly mixing it with the coating… I had a sleepless night producing the customer’s order,” she shared, adding that initially, her cheese shaped cake was based on the original colour as she dared not take the risk of choosing other colours.
For ice cream cakes, Feyra used a whole sponge case as the main element before it is placed in a white chocolate mould.
“I would break into pieces a sponge cake of various flavours including chocolate and red velvet. It will then be placed in a white chocolate coating in the shape of ice cream that is ready-mixed with various colours before cooling it off.
“Within a few months, I was able to master the techniques in moulding white chocolate with various vibrant colours including pink, purple, blue, black, green, red, etc based on the customer’s preference,” she said adding that colourings added are those commonly used by bakeries.
Covid-19 – ‘blessing in disguise’
Although 2020 was rough for most companies, some bucked the trend. Describing the MCO as a ‘blessing in disguise’, Feyra said her cake business continued to thrive during the pandemic.
Business was brisk for Feyra who fully leveraged the social media to aggressively advertise her cake products, starting with Facebook and later TikTok and Instagram.
‘At a time when some businesses were forced to wind down, I was practically burning the midnight oil to bake over 200 cakes a day for customers; in early 2021, I had to shift my operation from my house at Estana Court Condo, Ampang to my father’s grocery shop at the same location, which remains till today.
“As I needed a bigger space, my father allowed me to share part of his shop for me to complete the large orders as at that time, I had to hire two temporary workers to help me out,” she said, adding that most of the customers ordered her cakes through TikTok.
According to Feyra, the online shopping trends during the MCO boosted sales for her cakes, with orders received not only from Klang Valley but also from Negeri Sembilan, Perak and Melaka. Given the overwhelming demand, she made further improvements to her products including branding her cake business as Therapeucake.co.
She said Therapeucake.co, derived from the key word ‘therapy’ refers to the baking process itself, which is a form of therapy to help reduce stress and depression, noting that it also allows her to touch base with her customers, given her background in counselling and psychology.
Besides selling cakes to be savoured by customers, Feyra also produces cakes and sweet delicacies as souvenirs or gifts for birthdays, engagements, appreciation events, etc.
“Besides writing the message on the cake, I would also include a greeting card; decorations are based on the customer’s request and the suitability of the event,” she said, adding that her cake is sold between RM37 and RM200 each depending on its quantity. – BERNAMA
