Whether she is crafting festive chocolates or a whisky-inspired cake, pastry chef Dolly Mirpuri believes one ingredient matters above all: Innovation.
In an era when consumers can compare prices online in seconds, “innobaking”, as she calls it, is increasingly important.
“Every cake tells a story,” said Ms Dolly. “When customers trust me with their celebrations, I want to create something they will remember.”
Having set up Dolce Cakez & Chocolatez in 2020, the 60-year-old continues to rise to every challenge. Among her best-sellers are her Chocolate Eggless Cake and Pistachio Rose Cake that combines nutty pistachio notes with delicate floral aromas.
With or without eggs, with or without alcohol, her Black Forest and Tiramisu are also in demand. One of her latest creations is a cricket-themed cake.
For families celebrating birthdays and special occasions, she hopes her creations become conversation pieces and treasured
memories long after the event has ended.
Not too fond of fondant
Two years ago, she baked a whisky-themed cake. The customer requested a themed cake, which is usually best achieved with fondant. Ms Dolly recalled: “I am not a big fan of fondant, so the customer agreed to using chocolate ganache instead and greatly appreciated the end result.”
Fondant is the pliable sugar paste that is used primarily to coat, sculpt and decorate cakes and pastries.
Although fondant allows for intricate decorations and a smooth finish, many people leave it untouched because they find it excessively sweet.
Instead, Ms Dolly, like many other artisan pastry chefs, prefers working with buttercream, fresh cream and chocolate ganache, which offer a better balance between aesthetics and flavour.
Her creativity also extends to chocolates. She regularly experiments with flavours, colours and seasonal themes, creating handcrafted chocolates tailored to festive celebrations and special occasions.
She even offers Chendol chocolates.
That willingness to experiment was shaped by a major turning point in her life.
Turning setbacks into opportunities
Ms Dolly once worked for a premium lifestyle fabric company. When the company shut down in 2015, she decided to indulge in her lifelong passion and enrolled at At-Sunrice GlobalChef Academy to obtain a diploma in pastry and bakery.
But her timing could hardly have been worse. Just as she was completing her internship, the Covid-19 pandemic struck, and employment opportunities vanished almost overnight.
Rather than abandon her dream, she took a bold gamble, investing about S$50,000 to transform part of her home into a professional baking studio complete with commercial-grade equipment.
She also committed herself to using premium ingredients, relying exclusively on Swiss and French chocolate while avoiding preservatives entirely.
“All my chocolates and cakes are made fresh and to order,” she says. “Shelf life is not the issue; quality is.”
Also for Ms Dolly, innovation is never about novelty for its own sake. It is about creating products that delight customers while remaining true to her standards of taste and quality.
For her, success is measured not by the number of cakes sold, but by the joy and memories they create.
That, she says, is the sweetest reward of all.
