At , Raymond Tan re-imagines his nostalgia for home into colourful creations that bring a South-East Asian influence to Western bakes – and vice versa. Fittingly, raya means ‘celebration’ in Malay. And first of all it’s a celebration for the eyes: a Danish drømmekage takes on the classic Malaysian trifecta of pandan (get the recipe ), coconut and gula Melaka (molasses-y palm sugar from the famous port town), and custard tarts are richly purpled by ube.
At festival times, there are offerings of ornate mooncakes flavoured with bandung (a fragrant drink of rose syrup and condensed milk); red bean, lychee and pistachio for Lunar New Year; or Christmassy pink and cream chequerboard cookies laced with salted plum.
It can all be traced back to one fateful day when the then accounting student turned on his oven. "We didn’t have ovens in Malaysian houses," he says. "I’ve always loved cooking, but my baking began when I came to Melbourne and I realised there was an oven in every apartment, but I’d never turned one on."
His interest in baking was piqued by the drama of MasterChef. "Baking seemed like the hardest thing – everyone seemed to flop," he says. Instead of putting him off, it quite literally ignited something. Baking for family and friends turned into selling whole cakes (putting his skills from his accounting degree to use, he quickly realised he could break even). It all came with a sweet discovery: "I realised that dessert is something that no one ever complains about. Every time you bring a dessert, that’s what people remember the most. Those are the moments I wanted to make," he says.
All the while, he’d been documenting his self-taught baking on a platform that was beginning to take off – – where he gained a big audience for the dramatic creations he’d whip up in his tiny home kitchen. "I was comfortable working because I was just doing things for my friends and family. So you can’t really go wrong with that, and I think that gave me the confidence to just keep doing it," he says. Whirlwind years ensued as invitations to teach cake-decorating workshops owed in from everywhere from London to Paris.
Raymond Tan. Credit: Leonard Law @leonard.pixel
Homesick for Malaysia, he turned his attention to the art of making – the snack-sized canon of Malaysian desserts, brightly coloured, sometimes wrapped in banana-leaf parcels or rolled in coconut, and often made from glutinous rice. "There weren’t that many kuehs around at that time. I missed home, there was no travel, so I tried to make them more home-like, what I remembered them to be." His medley boxes – a staple at Raya today – were a hit.
The success nudged him towards a thought that had been lingering at the back of his mind. "I saw an opportunity to show my Malaysian background," he says, "because you always hear that Malaysia is all about food but you don’t hear so much about the sweets." He has grand plans for kueh. "Right now what we’re doing is very traditional, but there’s just so much that you can do with this thing alone."
He also has words of encouragement for new bakers or business starters.
"Don’t be afraid to start. If I can do it, everyone can – even from the tiniest of kitchens – as long as you’re passionate and serious about it. That’s the most important ingredient, I think.
"...Baking is kind of like puzzling: if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. I always tell my team to experiment with whatever we have in the shop – and no matter what mistakes you make, remember that at the end of the day, it’s just cake."
This is an edited extract from , photography by Rochelle Eagle (Murdoch Books, RRP $45).
