KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — When it comes to birthday parties and weddings, everyone wants to go the extra mile since it’s a special occasion. These days, it has to be much more than just blowing the candles on your birthday cake or cutting a tiered wedding cake.
Beautifully decorated dessert tables laden with all kinds of sweets, cakes and macarons are now the talk of the town for an unforgettable party.
Enter Nicole Lynn Goh, 32, from Babycakes Sweet Shoppe who designs these unique dessert tables to suit each client’s personality to leave a lasting impression on everyone.
Nicole’s stylish dessert tables is an extension of her baking business. About four years ago, when her sister Dianthus opened her flower shop in G Tower, she was given a small nook to display her baked items. Since cookies and cupcakes are so yesterday, her sister suggested macarons.
“At that time I had no idea what a macaron was. My sister had a friend who was a chef and he taught me for three months how to make a macaron.”
Nicole’s sweet venture was christened Babycakes, a name she had dreamt up since she was young. “When I was about nine to 10 years old, I told my sister that I when I have a bakery, I’ll call it Babycakes. It sounds cute and people think it’s a babyshop but it’s not. In America, everyone calls each other babycakes, which is a nice sweet thing.” After the business took off, Nicole gave up her makeup artist day job.
Till today, Nicole still bakes the macaron shells herself, something she has perfected through the years. Her macarons shells are a little rustic versus the usual smooth ones, as she prefers to grind her almonds a little coarser.
Bite into a Babycakes Sweet Shoppe macaron and you find the texture is light and soft with a perfect balanced filling. “Some people do not know it’s meant to be soft so they come to the shop and ask why isn’t it crunchy? So we tell them it’s not meant to be crunchy.”
Occasionally, Nicole also teaches macaron and cake making at Ben’s Independent Grocer and The Cooking House. “At first I was not keen to teach how to make macarons but I realised it creates awareness and it helps market my shop. Now when people pay RM4 for a macaron, they know what goes into it as they used to complain it’s expensive.”
The shop carries an extensive range of 20-25 flavours including some Asian ones like kaya toast, pandan and lemongrass. Each week they have at least six to eight flavours available.
The caramel is their bestseller and people order it weekly. Other favourite flavours include red velvet and chocolate. Nicole takes inspiration from French patisseries, Laduree and Pierre Herme for her macarons. “I love Laduree’s design and the sweetness of their macarons but I like Pierre Herme’s flavours and texture.”
About two years ago, Nicole realised that selling macarons is just not sustainable, hence she started planning parties and weddings in collaboration with Dianthus. “We complement each other as I do the cakes and desserts and she does the floral arrangements.”
The creative Nicole gets her flair for decorating from her mother Kim who ran her own floral business, Kim’s Florist since 1981 in Johor Baru. As a young girl, she would help out at her mother’s shop with her sisters, Dianthus and Valentina.
“We had no choice but to work, like those typical Chinese families where the kids are there after school and the mother is cooking at the back of the shop to feed them.” She juggled working at the florist and her father’s eatery across the road where she helped out as a cashier.
However, an unexpected turn of circumstances and her parent’s divorce saw her leaving home when she was just 18 years old. “When I left school, my mother took it for granted that I’d take over the shop and I think if she was not so strict about it, part of me would have taken over her shop.
“But because she was so forceful and did not ask me first, I rebelled and ran away from home when I was 18.” Since the divorce was a difficult period for Nicole, she decided the best way was to just run away to Kuala Lumpur and do her own thing.
The young girl decided to join her friends who went up to Kuala Lumpur to study in college. “It was really hard as there was six girls in one apartment. We had no beds and would take turns to sleep on those old-fashioned long chairs.
Eventually we bought mattresses when we saved money.” She even survived on canned food left by a previous tenant for a few months since the girls did not have any money.
Later, Nicole got a make-up artist job with MAC cosmetics. She had always had a flair for makeup and her mother had always joked she should be a make-up artist when she grew up. “I took that as a chance to do anything I can because I did not go to college or university, but we’re all really good with our hands. I liked it as I was very vain.”
While she was at MAC for two years, she learnt and brushed up her skills. Subsequently she switched to Channel V for four years, then she freelanced for television commercials and advertisements where she also did clothes styling.
As a freelancer with a lot of available time, Nicole started to bake. She would visit the companies she worked for and treat the finance department with her homemade cookies. It was also her subtle way to get them to remember her cheque.
“That was my trick for getting what I wanted but in a sweet way.” Initially, Nicole was a terrible cook but since her whole family were all good cooks, she decided to learn through cookbooks, watching television and YouTube. “I’ve really brushed up my skills very fast, as I do not want to be left out. Now I love cooking.” In the future, she hopes to take up a course at a culinary school.
With her dessert tables, Nicole custom makes them to her client’s needs. “Every table is different. It reflects the personality of the person, what the child likes or what the couple likes for their wedding.” Prior to the party, she’ll meet with them a few times and give them references or even suggest ideas.
“If they don’t have any ideas, I’ll ask them to tell me five of their favourite things, whether it’s a colour or even a book. I’ll try and put it all together in a table.” She’s designed all kinds of tables; glamorous, bohemian or even whimsical.
The cost varies according to the design but a small dessert table can be RM3,500 onwards.
Nicole buys the decorative items for her tables from overseas to be different. For instance, her recent purchase is the Ferris wheel cupcake stand she found in Australia. “It’s so frustrating when you look at someone else’s blog and you see the same thing you have used. You know, we always want to be different.”
The creative girl also likes to custom make items for parties. “I must admit I’m not very book smart. I did not do very well at school towards the end. But I realised I am good with my hands or with my creativity, so I make use of that.”
She will do a small water colour sketch to personalise a name card or little favours. For instance, one little girl wanted a rocking horse party so she drew cards with a rocking horse for her.
“Our selling point is it’s very special and custom made.” Last year, Nicole even emailed her idol, Pierre Herme with a picture of macarons that she was inspired to draw. She got a response three months later from his PR team. “I was so upset, that he did not personally reply. Secretly I was hoping he would say this girl is talented, let’s hire her.”
When it comes to children’s birthday parties, every child picks a colour or their favourite cartoon. Nowadays every child wants a party with the Disney Frozen movie theme.
Nicole has even done a Hello Kitty theme party for a one-year-old girl. The Hello Kitty theme is Nicole’s personal favourite. “I like Hello Kitty as I think it’s cute. I’m going to force my daughter to like Hello Kitty, if I have one.” Adults prefer to customise their parties to their personality or even colour preferences.
In terms of flavour for the birthday and wedding cakes, Nicole tells us the best flavour is something neutral like vanilla, chocolate or red velvet. “They might like lemon but we advise them, their guests might not like lemon.”
As for her own big day, Nicole already has it all mapped out. The flowers will be done by her sisters, of course. “It’ll be a small wedding with 50 people and no extended family as I don’t keep in touch with them.”
She will design her own dessert table; it’ll either be a typical dessert table with a variety of desserts or a macaron bar.
“It’ll be stacks and stacks of macarons. I think people identify Babycakes with macarons. We started with macarons. We’ll have little bags for people to take home if they cannot finish them. It’s something we have never done before – macarons in different flavours and colours.”
You can buy macarons from
Babycakes Sweet Shoppe, G.02A, Ground Floor, G Tower, 199, Jalan Tun Razak, Kuala Lumpur. Tel:012-2190069.
For your party planning, visit Babycakes Sweet Shoppe on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/groups/120848231281589/) or you can email Nicole at [email protected]
