Meet the mother-daughter duos behind these bakery businesses

Looking to satisfy your sweet tooth and get some business inspiration at the same time? These local bakery businesses Doughter Bakery, Kueh Ho Jiak and Teaspoon of Love – all run by mother-daughter duos – will do the trick.

We speak to them to find out how they got started, plus how they focus on each other’s strengths and keep their business running smoothly.

Doughter Bakery

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These chewy, toothsome and gluten-free mochi muffins and doughnuts are the talk of the town.

Baking mochi muffins and chewy cookies started off as a passion project for assistant marketing manager Melissa Gan during Circuit Breaker.

Her bakes were so popular that her friends encouraged her to sell them. The wave of demand proved too much for the 29-year-old to handle on her own, so she roped in her homemaker mum Kelly, 58, to help out.

After one year of working together, they say it’s brought them even closer together.

“I’m definitely the more extroverted one, while my mum is the planner and the one who ensures that everything is in its proper place,” says Melissa.

“We’re not afraid to give each other honest feedback as we know that we have the same goal of seeing Doughter Bakery grow and find success.”

“My mum is incredibly resilient and hard-working. During the hectic Christmas gifting season, we oversold our bake boxes and had to stay up for 24 hours to bake. Mum did so without complaint, and also came up with some new working processes to increase our output.”

“I’ve learnt that my daughter can be very forgetful when purchasing ingredients,” jests Kelly.

“But jokes aside, I have seen a different side of her. I’ve learnt that she can be incredibly resourceful, and I found out that she can bake! Before that, I never thought too much of her baking as I don’t have a sweet tooth.”

Ferrero rocher with gold flakes mochi doughnuts, $22 for a seasonal box of six assorted bakes

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The mochi doughnuts are baked, not fried, and made with fine Belgian chocolate for full flavour.

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Biscoff mochi brownies, $25 for a seasonal box of six assorted bakes

The duo constantly do R&D to come up with new flavours and products as some customers prefer trying new things each time. The Mochi Brownies with gooey centres are a seasonally changing item.

Double chocolate and kaya & coconut mochi muffins, $18 for a box of six

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The perfectly crisp exterior and soft, chewy centre make these stand out, as do the very thick chocolate, and rich, almost caramel-like kaya-honey flavours respectively.

“We focus on local flavours like Kaya & Coconut and Black Sesame, which proved to be a hit. We also get a lot of customer comments that our bakes are not too sweet, and that their parents who typically don’t take dessert love them,” says Kelly.

Sea salt and chocolate chip cookies, $20 for 14 pieces

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Brown butter gives these cookies an extra nutty oomph, and each soft, chewy cookie is packed with gooey chocolate chips.

Order from doughterbakery.com.

Teaspoon of Love

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Dreamy delicious tea-infused bakes over a cup of carefully sourced tea – that’s been the comforting premise of Teaspoon of Love since 2014.

Long before home bakers became trendy, Paulyn Lim, 58, set up Paulyn’s Bakery in the ’90s as a hobby.

This later inspired her daughter Lydia, 30, to co-found Teaspoon of Love with her, as they bonded over their love of wholesome, rustic cakes, using and playing with botanical pairings like herbs and flowers for flavour.

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“The kitchen was like a spa for both of us. We baked and brewed various teas, depending on our mood,” recalls Lydia.

Today, Paulyn oversees baking, operations and customer service, while Lydia manages sales, marketing and tea sourcing.

Prior to Covid-19, they would also travel and meet tea farmers together to source unique teas with real cultivar and origin.

“Tea is just like wine, it’s very much about terroir (environment, climate and place). I want to present tea that’s focused on the natural character of the tea, yet in a modern manner, to make it more accessible. I hope to evolve the business in this direction, and expand into something greater at some point,” says Lydia.

“We are not very similar in temperament, but I think that’s why we complement each other. I’m more visionary and dreamy. She’s fast and gets things done – the superwoman in the business.”

Da hong pao cheesecake, $51.90

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Da Hong Pao is a dark roasted oolong tea from Wuyishan, China, that takes well to the richness of cheese. Using a blended Da Hong Pao gives fruity, peach notes with a burnt caramel, toffee-like flavour.

Camellia ceylon, $34 for 50g

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This delicate yet malty black tea with a natural citrus and magnolia scent comes from an organic estate that’s also a social enterprise.

Earl grey pineapple tarts (seasonal)

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Paulyn’s speciality combines melt-in-the-mouth pastry and bergamot oil from South Africa, and is infused with ground tea. Start ordering in December.

Cold brew teas (launching in May)

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“Lydia is very creative, and it flows so naturally. She’ll be brewing kombucha or coming to me with a new idea of what to launch, or infusing this tea into the cake. She has great perseverance and she never gives up on her goal,” says Paulyn.

Order from www.tspoflove.com.

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Kueh Ho Jiak

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The creation of this brand involved four generations of strong women, and it has grown from a pushcart in the Jalan Hong Keng kampung in the 1930s to a thriving heritage hawker today.

Sandy Tan, 56, and her daughter Elizabeth Chan, 32, did not get to bond during Elizabeth’s childhood, as Sandy had to work overseas to support the family after her husband had passed away when Elizabeth was one year old.

Today, as co-founders of Kueh Ho Jiak, they treasure the opportunity to work and build a meaningful business together as a family. “We are exactly the same,” laughs Elizabeth, describing both of them as dominant.

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“We are strong in character, so at the start, we clashed many times. But I’m thankful for those moments, which made us grow, understand each other, and learn how to communicate.”

“I was running my own furnishing business for eight years, until I decided to incorporate this business with my mum as I was inspired by her passion and love for others.”

Sandy, who first learnt to make Teochew kueh from her mother and grandmother, started to make kuehs again from home in 2010, spending 10 years researching and making ang ku kueh from traditional sweet potato instead of flour.

Another challenge was to modernise the kueh, as young customers preferred rainbow cakes, macarons and other Western items.

That was when Sandy became inspired to come up with new creations, shapes and flavours, which have since become their signatures.

Beyond just transmitting traditional kueh-making culture to the new generation, the two women have also found a greater purpose in employing people in need and building a community.

Hae bee hiam, black sesame ($6 for three pieces) and coconut ang ku kueh ($4.50 for three pieces)

Unique flavours inspired by local taste buds make these great alternatives for a kueh party platter. The traditionally Hokkien hae bee hiam has to be fiery, says Sandy, otherwise it doesn’t taste good in a kueh.

Turtle ang ku kueh (customised selection) and regular ang ku kueh ($2 for three pieces)

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Using Sandy’s treasured wooden moulds sourced on overseas trips, these turtle-shaped kuehs are cute, but difficult to make without losing a limb or head in the process. This range is made with regular glutinous rice flour and not sweet potato flour.

D24 durian and cempadak ang ku kueh ($6 for three pieces)

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The undeniable star of the handmade range, these sweet potato ang ku kueh are filled with only real fruit, and richly satisfying. Sandy shares that the fruit filling is soft, which makes these the hardest ang ku kueh to make.

“There are seven types of sweet potato that we use to get the different colours: white, yellow, orange and purple. Sweet potato spoils very easily, but we stick to our mission to make healthier kueh daily with no preservatives or colouring,” says Sandy.

Kueh kosui, kueh ubi kayu and sweet potato ondeh ($2 for four pieces)

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These have the perfect bite and bounce, and are generously coated with fresh grated coconut. The ondeh-ondeh has been Sandy’s speciality since she was a child, and oozes generously with gula melaka.

Order from kuehhojiak.com or visit their stalls at #02-02 Tanjong Pagar Plaza Market and #02-149 Chinatown Complex Hawker Centre.

ALSO READ: She's my superwoman: Kueh Ho Jiak's mother-daughter duo on teaming up to reinvent tradition

This article was first published in Her World Online.