Dainty bounties in a cup

WITH no background about the trade, a legal adviser and her sister tried their hands at the cupcake business.
In the beginning, they only experimented by baking only for their young family members.

Dynamic duo: Inn (left) and Eon with their colourful creations. Then, as it slowly progressed, they started to include baking for their friends and colleagues as well.
Now, they have set up an office at their home in Hulu Langat, Selangor, and are taking a deluge of orders either online or through the phone.
“This happened by accident,” said Seri Ervienawaty, or affectionately known as Inn by her family members.
“We made a batch of 12 cupcakes for my son’s second birthday last year as a trial and thought that was the end of our baking experiments,” she said.
These yummy cakes look too good to eat. “Little did we know we got carried away and now we’re doing it as our part-time job,” interjected Inn’s bubbly younger sister, Seri Emelliawaty, or Eon to her loved ones.

They have since catered for events such as birthday bashes, Valentine’s Day, anniversaries and the like.
“I am not a baker. I have never baked before and never planned on baking when I was younger. So it’s amusing that I am actually doing this as a side thing while pursuing my diploma,” Inn said.
Inn is currently pursuing her diploma in Early Childhood Education at Dika College in Sunway, while Eon is working as a legal adviser for PROTON

What really triggered these sisters to start this business came from their Singaporean cousin who does a similar production. Occasionally she comes down to KL to tutor us in everything we needed to know about the trade,” said Eon, adding that their cousin even gave them a few of her baking utensils and ingredients to get them started.
It took them only a week after that meeting to decide that this is something they would love to do as a side project.
“After that, everything just happened quickly. We told our younger sister to immediately design our name cards and to create a website so we could reach out to more people,” said Inn, who kept getting a sharp look from the younger sister who was also present at the interview.
“But we always make extra batches to show how much we appreciate the tremendous amount of support we receive from our family members,” said Eon, with a laugh.

The cheery cupcakes decorated with fondant. The cupcakes measures about 2.5 inches in diameter and come in an assortment of colours to suit the occasions.
There are basically two flavours – vanilla and chocolate.
Customers are more than welcome to come up with decoration ideas and the sisters would try to make them as close to the original idea as possible.

They have also made batches of the cupcakes according to cartoon themes – Madagascar, Spider-Man, and Sesame Street.
“Designing the Spider-Man cuppies was the best because they looked so bad that we had to keep making new ones until they were perfect,” recalled Inn.
Cupcakes like these also make great party favours or gifts. Although it may sound like an elaborate business to some, to the dynamic duo, it is all about having fun and relaxing from the everyday hassle of work.

“This is more like therapy for us. Every time we bake, we automatically get into the happy zone,” Inn said.
“Plus, this is when I get to spend more time with my son as he loves to design the cupcakes and never gets bored with me,” she added.
Inn can be contacted at 019-6133211
Alternatively, you can log on to www.flickr.com/photos/cupcakes_by_datinmaryzain for more information.