CHRISTMAS is a time for sugar, spice, and a slice of cake - at least where Fond of Ideas is concerned.

The home-based pastry business, only into its second month, was founded by husband-and-wife team of Kenneth Seah and Delphine Liau. It offers four choices of cakes - carrot, banana, pear pecan and fruitcake. However, the fruitcake is only available for Christmas and on special requests.

Also on the menu are cookies like chocolate hazelnut and coconut sables, and the marron brownie. The cakes are priced from $12 for a banana cake to $18 for a fruitcake. Each cake weighs 300 gm and is simply packaged in a practical plastic 'sleeve'.

'We thought Christmas would be a good time to kick-start Fond of Ideas as people are willing to spend and buy the cakes as gifts,' says Delphine, 30, who quit her job at an events management company to concentrate on the business.

Her husband is currently a full-time optician, after being in the food and beverage industry for about a decade.

'I grew up on cakes because my mom loved to bake and cook - maybe that's where I got (the love of baking) from,' Kenneth says. 'As you get older, you tend to experiment more with the recipes - that's how our business came about.'

Adds Delphine: 'He likes to bake while I like to do events, so he does all the baking and I take care of the marketing, sales and delivery.'

As their quirkily named venture suggests, the couple is always looking beyond the conventional. For example, when they got married in January this year, they made their own wedding cakes which they gave to relatives along with the invitation cards, because 'we couldn't find anything we liked', says Delphine.

'A lot of people have ideas, but sometimes they can't fulfil them so we hope we're able to do it for them,' she adds with a laugh.

Fond of Ideas' cakes have a Japanese influence, explains Kenneth. Each of their chocolate hazelnut and coconut sables, for instance, is individually wrapped, and even though it costs more, 'it's worth it'.

'The Japanese are particular about the cakes' texture, sweetness, and how light they are. Their pastries are always just nice,' he notes.

In fact, the couple's honeymoon to Japan involved nothing but doing the rounds of pastry shops. 'There was no sight-seeing, no shopping; we didn't even eat much sushi,' Delphine recalls with a tinge of amusement.

The couple hopes to venture into something different from Fond of Ideas - a dine-in which focuses more on fine pastry - but that will probably only materialise in a year's time, she says.

For now, if you want a taste of their home-made cake for Christmas, there's still time as they're taking orders right up till tomorrow.

Fond of Ideas
Tel: 9843 9874
www.fond-of-ideas.blogspot.com

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