Malaysian Baker Creates Realistic-Looking Laksa & NSFW Cakes
Her attention to detail! :O
By Tamara Jayne — 28 Apr 2022, 10:03 AM
It's one thing to have a passion and hobby but to drop what you're doing to pursue it full-time is a risk not many are willing to take.
For Abby, it was worth it.
As a kid, the Kuching-ite shared that she'd always loved arts and food, and would often spend her time helping her aunt, mum, and grandmum in the kitchen
"I would always watch all the cooking shows on TV and would get my parents to buy me cookbooks when we visited bookstores," she shared with SAYS, adding that she'd also bake things to take to school for her classmates because she enjoyed seeing their reactions.
By the age of 12, she began baking cookies for Chinese New Year upon her family's request, which led to her selling baked goods for some pocket money.
Fast forward many years later, one might expect for her to have become a baker. However, Abby became a structural engineer at a reputable engineering consultancy and left baking as a side hustle.
Eventually, the demand for her baked goods became high enough – earning her more than her day job – that the 35-year-old was able to pursue baking as a full-time career.
That's how The Rolling Panda Bakery started in 2012.
Though she enjoys a more minimalistic style when baking, Abby has good attention to detail and has created some mind-boggling 3D designs
She's made life-sized replicas of shoes, bags, and watches, but what has truly set her creativity standards high and has taken a special place in her heart are these laksa and kolo mee cakes, inspired by food replicas she'd seen outside of restaurants in Japan.
Just look at those prawns!
Since levitating beer cake designs have been around for awhile, she thought why not apply that same concept but with noodles?
"The entire laksa bowl is edible. Only the chopsticks are not edible since we use real chopsticks for those. Without giving away too much, the chopsticks are supported by an internal structure that is stuck into the bowl that the chopsticks can sit on. A little bit of engineering, one might say? ;)" she revealed.
Aside from 'noodle cakes', other unique requests she's received include Not Safe For Work (NSFW) designs
"There was one where the client wanted me to make a large replica of a body part and have a picture of the birthday person shot out from it with confetti. I've also had requests to do a cake of a specific actor's backside. But the most bizarre one, by far, would have to be a male torso but with three sets of ladies' bosoms in place of the abs," Abby described.
Working with perishables and tight deadlines are just some of the challenges that come with the job change.
On a good day, it can take her up to eight hours to complete a cake.
"There are times that I have thought of just going back to a 9 to 5 job where things are much more straightforward, but then you get all these really wonderful clients who say the nicest things to you 'cause they are so happy with what you did for them and then you forget about ever wanting to quit," she expressed.
"I wouldn't trade that feeling of having my cake make someone that happy for anything ever."
Making sure the cake looks tasty is one thing, but it's also about making it actually taste good, Abby said, adding that she takes extra care in this area as well.
"In this type of work we are actually producing art, and as a perfectionist I refuse to compromise on the quality of the finish. So what ends up happening is I spend a lot more time on a single cake than what I am charging for them and a lot of the time this means that I sacrifice sleep and leisure time to do these."
Although she has taken on outstation and overseas orders from Sarawak, Abby plans to relocate to KL soon and be in full operation by 2023
"10 years seemed like a good time to start a new chapter. I'm hoping for more opportunities to do more interesting projects there, such as collaborations, etc.
"I'm always open to any ideas for collaborations, however out there it may seem, should there be any interested parties."
You can follow and check out more about The Rolling Panda Bakery on Facebook and Instagram.
