Say hello to Debbra Lee, owner of Bisou

When it comes to celebrating, it seems that history would dictate that a cake should always be in the midst. And although modern weddings may have evolved to become destination do’s or garden soirées, one thing’s for sure – we still love to cut our cake (it’s your first task together as man & wife!). While there might be many wedding cake vendors around, Bisou Bake shop founder Debbra Lee decided to make life a little easier for the bride by offering a fab collection of ‘ready to wear’ wedding cakes that are easily customised to suit a wedding theme, and most importantly tastes good.

Today, we speak to her on wedding cakes and how she makes life as a mum, wife & entrepreneur -
a piece of cake *wink*.

You’re an overall supermum. The million dollar question would be… how do you do it?

Organisation! I have a diary and am very strict with myself.  I only work when my daughter Jordan is at school or in bed.  Otherwise my job is “mum”.

Having graduated with a degree in statistics – did you ever foresee that your love for cooking would become a career?

Nope, I never ever dreamed I would be doing what I am doing now!  But I’m glad that I am, as my first proper job was in stockbroking.  Imagine, if I had not lost my job due to the 1997 Financial Crisis… I would be a corporate. I’m very happy doing what I do as I have the best of both worlds, I get to be a mum and stay healthy while designing and coming up with recipes for new cakes! Such fun!

Tell us about your “ready to wear” cakes.

We started the wedding line as we were getting requests from our customers for their favourite Bisou cake to be made into a wedding cake for them.   So it really has been a customer-led addition to our usual line of cakes.

Our wedding cakes are very affordable, and we are able to do this through a sort of “ready to wear” line of cakes that can be customised to match the colour theme.  There are 5 designs, which we feel offers something to suit everyone, from pretty daisies to the tiniest forget-me-not.

Starting at RM900 for a 6kg 3-tier cake, the ordering process is so… simple!  Choose your cake design, then the colour and finally the cake flavour.  We also do pretty iced cookies, cupcakes and mini-cupcakes that match the cake and are perfect as favours.

Did you have a nice wedding cake when you married?

We had a very pretty wedding cake (it was an extremely simple 2-tier cake with a pink hibiscus on the top).  Unfortunately, the hotel lost it after we cut it… so I never got to eat it! So perhaps not such a good story to tell, haha.

What kind of trends are you seeing in wedding cakes nowadays?

I believe that more and more couples are looking for real wedding cakes. Be it a 3-tier traditional wedding cake or a cupcake tower, they want to eat their cake!

Cupcakes are still a huge trend at the moment and as we are the cupcake specialists, we do lots of these. From customized cupcakes stacked on tiered wedding cake stands to individually-boxed cupcakes as wedding favours – they are so versatile!

Your partner in life and in business – is your husband! Is it difficult working together?

Yes, Macland and I work together but we are also married and are parents to our daughter Jordan!  We do a lot of stuff together but we also allow each other to time to do things on our own. For example, Macland plays his football and basketball while I go to dance classes.  We share many or the same passions (food and sport!) but more importantly we have similar views on life, so working together is easy in that we have the same visions on how we want to run our businesses.

We’ve all heard that marriage is a lifetime of work. What’s your secret?

We have fun!  It is about having fun and laughing together.  Communication is really important; if we upset each other we talk about it.

Lastly, as a mum who manages to do it all – do you have any advice for our brides out there planning to start a family soon?

Enjoy the time with your husband before you get pregnant and before your baby arrives.  Once a child enters the picture it is no longer the same… it is fun and rewarding, but the dynamics of the relationship with your partner does change.

* For those of you still on the hunt for the perfect cake or cupcake, feel free to contact Bisou via their LWB page or  website for more information. Right, feeling hungry now :)

Did you ever fantasize about your dream wedding as a little girl?

No, I never dreamed of any wedding. No fairytale kind of thing. I’m not that kind of person! I just wanted the wedding to be well-planned. I can’t take things that aren’t well-organized. So I actually planned my wedding pretty early and that is why I had time to go into detailed preparation of my wedding cupcakes.

Why did you choose cupcakes instead of a cake for your wedding?

Cupcakes are smaller, more cost-efficient in a way, and I think it’s easier to eat. It’s convenient for my guests, instead of just messily cutting a cake. Plus, there’s no wastage.

So did your guests enjoy the cupcakes?

They loved it. My guests and relatives were really happy, and said the cupcakes were really nice even though it wasn’t so traditional with the Chinese culture! It was more a modern alternative.

Why did you want to take a modern alternative, rather than go traditional?

I find cupcakes more lovely to look at than the traditional Chinese Ang Koo. Also, with cupcakes, I can choose the colour that I like, and I had chosen blue to be the theme of my wedding. So cupcakes were the best choice.

To create detailed cupcakes, you need a good vendor. We hear you used WGA vendor Cupcake Chic, how did that go?

Yes, I ordered my wedding cupcakes with Cupcake Chic, and yes, they were very helpful! They actually presented me with the samples, and we did make a few adjustments until I got the right colour that I liked. They’re also very smart to give solutions to the customer, instead of me telling them what to do, which is exactly what they’re supposed to do because they’re the experts in cupcakes, not me right?! *laughs*

How did you hear about Cupcake Chic?

I was actually a fan of Cupcake Chic beforehand because they’re everywhere, and I can never stop eating it! Sometimes I even have to stop myself from entering the shop, because it’s very addictive and I can’t control myself, especially with the chocolate ones. Now that’s a cupcake worth wasting your calories on! *laughs*

So you must have had the chocolate flavour at your wedding, right?

Yes! I had two flavours – chocolate and vanilla. One with my name, and one with my husband’s :)

How did you display your wedding cupcake tier?

The cupcakes were actually presented at my outdoor garden wedding where I did my signing on that day itself. So the cupcakes were displayed next to my signing table and were pretty much the center of attention! And the garden wedding setup ended up looking really great, especially in the photographs.

My biggest worry when planning the wedding was that it was outdoors – and you know what it’s like living in Malaysia! I was so worried of my make-up, the cupcakes etc facing a mini-meltdown. I remember chatting about this to Jo (one of the owners of Cupcake Chic), but everything turned out well! If you look at the picture, you’ll understand what I mean! The garden, and the grass, and the colour of the cupcakes and the tablecloth and everything… it was simply beautiful.

Finally, what piece of advice would you give to future brides planning their weddings this year?

Start early. Don’t do things last minute. And get help. Don’t do it all by yourself! Get help from your friends, or maybe you can engage a planner.

Another thing is a lot of brides tend to get really, really stressed out, and they hate the process of doing it. But I was one of the lucky ones, because when I started planning the whole thing, all my girlfriends told me to just enjoy the process. So enjoy the ride because you’ll actually regret it if you don’t.

For delicious and stylish wedding cupcakes, WGA vendor Cupcake Chic offers quality gourmet cupcakes with 24 delicious flavours, plus convenient favour wrapping and delivery service. Contact them for a free consultation and find out how Cupcake Chic can complete your perfect chic wedding! Check out their website or LWB page for more information.

Cupcake tier - Midsummer Night's Dream

1. Pick your cupcake vendor.

This is the easy bit since there are SO many vendors to choose from. You’ll be amazed to find that bakers these days are quite tech-savvy. Nearly all of them have blogs or websites plastered with photos of their wonderful designs. But we at WGA like to recommend nothing but the best, so we say, go for Cupcake Chic ;-)

2. Start an inspiration board.

Inspiration wha? An inspiration board is where you paste visuals from magazines, cutouts, blogs, or other websites to create the perfect wedding cupcake of your choice. You can even opt to incorporate your wedding theme, design or colours. One of Cupcake Chic’s clients even took the initiative of creating her own illustrations. The Midsummer Night’s Dream cupcake tier above was the end product. Too pretty!

Illustration reference by Fairuz

Here’s the link to her blog just in case you’re craving for a little more. Feel free to Google images of ‘inspiration boards’ for some (you know it) INSPIRATION!

3. Decide on how you want them.

Would you like your cupcakes to be stacked to form tiers or would you prefer them served to your guests? Hmm, but then again, they would be charming as favours, too. If you don’t want to go through the hassle of overthinking things, feel free to consult with Cupcake Chic’s Occasions Architect on the different options available. Here’s a July article on “Picking A Wedding Cake“.

4. What’s yo flava?

There are more than 24 flavours to choose from. Rest assured that Cupcake Chic uses only the finest ingredients in all of their baked goods. Which one should you go with? My advice: try them all! You can think about the calories later :)

Do give the hardworking people at Cupcake Chic at least 7 days’ notice so that they can make the ordering process a breeze for you. If you need more information, check out their website at www.cupcakechic.com.my or send them an email at order@cupcakechic.com.my

Start by searching online and magazines for ideas. If you have a wedding scrapbook stashed away somewhere, this is definitely the time to put it to good use.  Don’t know where to start? Here are three things that you need to do:

1. Plan

A wedding cake is a piece of art. And all pieces of art require ample time and dedication. So if you’re looking for something special and out of the ordinary, you need to plan at least 3 to 6 months ahead. Another important point is to make sure that there is enough cake for all of your guests.

2. Look for a Cake Designer

Your cake designer should be professionally trained and experienced. A good designer should be : dexterous at decorating, making the cake taste absolutely delectable and giving solid advice. On top of that, opt for someone who pays much attention to detail and goes to great lengths to create something extraordinary for you.

3. Pick Flavours

Don’t be afraid to make your cake look and taste a wee bit more fabulous by using a variety of flavours for each tier. Regarding what colours to opt for, according to my fridge magnet:

Pink = Love                         White = Purity

Yellow = Friendship          Red = Passion

Red seems to be all the rage now but the key is to stick to what YOU like. Make your cake stand out by using sugar flowers. Not only do they look like genuine flowers, they’re absolutely beautiful to look at and the great thing about them is you can save these treasures as they last forever.

The trend now is to serve mini cakes and cupcakes instead of the traditional wedding cake. Cupcakes are fun, interesting, and they can act as a favour. Last April, WGA featured an article on a cupcake tower designed by the fab team at Cupcake Chic.

Remember – there are no rules when it comes to designing your wedding cake. Have fun!

WGA tip: If you’re feeling a little generous, do donate uncut tiers to the needy. It can be your first deed as a wedded couple :)

It’s a Western custom commonly practiced by couples planning their upcoming wedding to send out ‘Save the date’ cards. These cards should be typically sent out about 3-4 months before the wedding in order to enable your guests to keep that special day free. However, this custom can be carried out as creatively as you wish, meaning you don’t necessarily have to send out a card. Even in Chinese culture, it is also tradition to send out a ‘little sweet’ with your invitation card, such as Lo Po Peng (wife biscuit). However in these modern times, what better sweet could there be, besides the classic cupcake!

Cupcake Chic, a well-known chain of cupcake stores in Malaysia, is offering their services in the form of ‘Save-the-date’ cupcakes. What better way is there to let your guests know your wedding date? They get to join in on your happiness and of course dine on scrumptious cupcakes (always a plus!) I personally get really excited when I see couples get creative and try something different… because that means the actual wedding day will be even more imaginative!

Cupcake Chic gives couples the liberty to customize the cupcakes to suit their fancy and goes out of their way to cater to requests. You could have the date embedded on the cupcakes, your names and perhaps even your faces! It’s a case of anything goes (within reason!).

Click here for more info!

Cute wedding favors

How about you guys tell us a lil bit about yourselves and how you met?

J: We met over a messy crab-eating dinner in good ole’ Port Klang about 10 years ago. Ben was working in UK at the time and was back on holidays. We didn’t hit it off, in fact we were so ticked off with each other, we didn’t want to have anything to do with each other!

B: Until today, I still don’t get why we were so ticked off with each other. We didn’t even speak to each other. Jo thought I was obnoxious and I thought she just had a bad day. It was anything but love at first sight.

J: As fate would have it, we met again on 11th of September, 2001 – that’s right, on the very day of the 911 disaster. We were seated next to each other while watching a play at the old Actor’s Studio in BSC and started receiving text messages through the night about the towers collapsing. It was then that things started to take off. Funny how it took a disaster to bring us together. LOL.

B: Actually, the back story to that was a mutual friend of ours actually set me up for a blind date with someone else that night. Turned out we hit it off instead.

How did you guys first discover this common passion for cupcakes?

J: I don’t know if we have a “common” passion for cupcakes. We have a common direction, a common goal and a common desire to achieve in business. Cupcakes came along because I love to bake and we saw an opportunity when we discovered a lack of beautiful and delicious cupcakes in Malaysia… and the entrepreneur blood in us, pounced on it.

Who was the genius behind the idea of starting a chain of cupcake stores?

J: Me!

B: Me! Well, it never started with this grand plan to open a chain of stores. In fact, we started small by setting up a booth at the weekend flea market at the Curve shopping mall – just to test the market. One thing led to another and before we knew it we opened a retail store. Having said that, we knew of the immense opportunity and the potential of a new market blossoming and felt we had a good chance to be one of the pioneers of the cupcake industry. So there was always this dream of having created a brand that could span across the country but it never really felt real until we opened our first retail store.

J: I think it was just a natural progression. We expanded as our level of maturity in business and minds expanded.

What goes on in the kitchen that makes your cupcakes so scrumptious and special?

J: That’s spilling the beans, don’t you think?:)  But if you really must know, it’s the love & joy we put into making those crazy, yummy cupcakes.

B: And you can see it and taste it. For instance, there is a certain style to which we frost some of the cupcakes such as our signature Fatal Attraction and Back to Basics. And it can be painstakingly tedious because everything is crafted by hand. Imagine frosting almost 1000 of those cupcakes everyday. You’ve got to love it to do it well! And it’s because we’re crazy about our cupcakes that we put in the best ingredients. Consumers can tell right away if you’re using good stuff – its in the smell, flavour, texture, mouth-feel & aftertaste.

So how does one order cupcakes for their wedding?

J: It’s very simple. Pick up the phone and call me (Jo) on 012-2101840 or email me at joanne@cupcakechic.com.my. We’ll sit down with you and discuss your theme and dream up the most beautiful cupcakes for your special day.

Finally… what else can a bride use cupcakes for apart from cupcake towers?

J: Cupcake wedding favors is a popular one. Hen’s night or Bachelor’s night are also good occasions for cupcakes. Save the date cupcakes are picking up in popularity (handing out a little sweet treat with your invitation).
A more recent one we did was for the games you play on the bride and groom at the wedding banquet – I believe the bride and groom had to eat the cupcake with their hands tied together…. A kiss was inevitable.

So there you have it folks! If you’re interested in having mouth-watering cupcakes on your wedding day or any wedding-related occasion for that matter, make sure you check out Cupcake Chic in our Little White Book. Or log on to www.cupcakechic.com.my for more info!