2016 Essay Competition - View all entries

Cake and Pastry

Mun Yin Yee - Seri Kembangan, Malaysia

Ever since I ventured out onto my career path as a cake and pastry maker and decorator, I have never stopped remembering, reminiscing about the prime memories I have created and the journey I have travelled to get to where I am. There were plenty of arduous decisions that I had to make and things that I had to sacrifice to be able to pursue my career, nevertheless, I believe it will all pay off in the end.

Before picking my career, I have taken into consideration my interest into the job, the market value of the job and the financial status that I live with. First of all, my passion in cake and pastry decorating plays a major role in my career picking because my job will practically be my livelihood, something that I would have to do every single day of my life. If I were to commit fully into my job, why not choose something that you love to do? It makes a big difference when you pick a career that you have passion in. For example, you wouldn't mind working extra hours for your employer with little pay and you would always go the extra mile to make your products perfect to make your customers happy. The stress from your work becomes challenges instead of burden, you would conquer them eagerly and not crumble and quit. I discovered my interest in pastries and cakes since I was 12, my grandmother introduced the art to me, from there I picked up the skills and never stopped growing and learning.

With my love for cake and pastry decorating at hand, I would have to consider the market value of this job before picking it, let alone investing a lot into it. In 2016, there were plenty of bakeries opened up around my area so I had to make the decision to move out of my area and into the city to pursue my dreams. Decisions like these required me to sacrifice my time with my family and friends which was a pretty tough choice I had to make. In the city, the need for bakeries were high so the market value for the career I picked was in demand. People in the city needed to rush to work every day which gives them less time for a proper breakfast, with that they would rather have a quick stop by a bakery to purchase their meal. With this idea in my mind, it encouraged me to pursue my career and provided me a golden opportunity to start a bakery there. Although I had to leave my family behind and begin my new life pursuing my career, the support and encouragement that I got from them made me step out of my comfort zone and into the world of independence. I understood that taking risks and trying to soar will not pull me backwards but shoot me forward towards something new.

Coming from a poor family, I understood from a young age that working in the medical and science world is completely out of the question. Taking up my career of cake and pastries decorating is a suitable job for me because it doesn't require a whole lot of investment in terms of money and experience at first. My major in culinary arts wasn't a very proud course to shout out about compared to the other science-based courses in my university but it was all that my family could afford for me due to my financial status. Despite that, I am deeply appreciative for the chance to be able to be part of that major. I understood that pushing my parents to pay more for me to enter a more expensive course would not only hurt my family's savings terribly but would also waste my time because it wasn't something that I took passion in. To conquer my limitations financially, I could work in a bakery or a restaurant that makes cakes, pastries and desserts to obtain some experience in the beginning. Those experiences could help me in my future development in my career, for example, I am able to gain some business insight into how to manage a bakery or a restaurant, that way I could get a good head start in starting my own bakery business. I may also be able to practice and improve my current baking and decorating skills, learn new techniques from more advanced bakers, and get a sense of the trends of pastries that customers are interested in. With all these initial benefits that I am able to gain by being a follower first would help me later in my track to become a leader.

In conclusion, I picked my career because of my interest in decorating cakes and being innovative with my creations, the market value of my career in different areas which gives me a direction to where I am supposed to start out my career, last but not least, my financial status which may limit my dream to start a business initially but will never diminish my passion and drive for cake and pastry decorating.