SALWA
SUANDI

Deciding to quit her job to pursue a childhood desire was a tough time for Delcie Lam. And, without her parents’ support, all she had was determination and her love for cakes to push her forward.

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Previously an art director in Doyle Dane and Bernbach (DDB) Singapore, Delcie, who was 24 at that time, took a leap of faith to start her own business. With no experience in running a business, her parents were sceptical of the success of the business.

 

“My parents forbided me to quit my advertising job and refused to support me in all aspect. Likewise, I initially thought they could be my financial backing and all these hopes vanished into thin air.”

 

Delcie wanted to prove her parents wrong and continued to work hard. Though she loved what she did, things were not looking good for her. Her business had a shortfall and her mother’s health deteriorated and she died shortly after due to stomach cancer.  

 

From her mother’s passing, she drew the inspiration to start baking healthier baked goods. Delcie, who is now 33, set up her bakery in Boon Keng with the motto, “When Delcie’s bakes, it becomes healthy.”

 

At that point in time, there were little to no bakeries who did what Delcie envisioned to do. She didn’t want to live the life her mother lead – which was living an unhealthy lifestyle. The bakery was also halal-certified in 2015.

 

Though she started selling normal, traditional cakes, eggs and dairy were some of the things she later decided to bake without. Knowing that Delcie could bake vegan options, customers wondered if she could bake without using sugar too. Tough as it sounds, she went on to take the challenge.  

 

Having to create recipes from scratch, Delcie described her experience in coming up with new recipes as a painful and expensive journey. All the baked goods in her bakery had to go through multiple trials and errors.

 

She said, “To replace an ingredient, we need at least 2-3 different ingredients to replace 1 single missing ingredients. It is not as simple as just removing an ingredient.” Most recipes takes up to 1-3 months to be tested before they could be sold to ensure the best and safest ingredients for her customers.

 

In making diabetic friendly cakes for example, she has to ensure that they are more fiberous and lower in Glycemic Index (GI) as compared to regular cakes. Additionally, she does not use cane sugar when baking, but instead uses a nectar from a cactus called Agave which has lower GI level.

 

Many of the cakes in store requires organic based products and non-dairy product alternatives which are more expensive. Price point was hence an added challenge.

 

“Customers who don't understand would think that doing away without eggs and butter means it would save us a lot of money. But it's not true.” She added, “Alternative sugar the same, which can cost up to 20 times more expensive than cane sugar.  However, for customers who knows what we put into our cakes, they always find our cake prices very reasonable.”

 

Through all the troubles and tribulations, she has managed to attract different types of customers be it those who are health conscious, has dietary restrictions and even those who just want to taste the difference.

 

Zulfaqar Hadi, 18, who is interning at Delcie’s said, “There are some customers who sometimes come out of the hospital and have to follow a strict diet, so sometimes they call in to our stall to ask if we could cater to them.”

 

No matter the request, Delcie and her team tries their best to make magic in the kitchen, and up until today, their recipes are always being revised and test their products every time.  

 

Looking forward, Delcie’s Deserts and Cakes will be launching their first recipe book, showcasing 50 healthy and vegan recipes that uses low GI alternative sweeteners.

 

When asked about the plans for her bakery, she said, “In regard to expansion plans, we hope to seek for like-minded people who believe in what I believe in to bring my brand abroad though franchise.”

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