We joined FHO three years ago when we saw the short invitation Nikka (founding member) posted on www.dessertcomesfirst.com.
Nikka and PJ formed a multiply-based group because of the "need to share our love for baking with fellow bakers." And there has been a lot of sharing! Expect to learn tips on baking, suppliers, and even recipes! Ask a question and someone will have an answer. If you have a difficult cake inquiry, fellow FHOers will be able to help you estimate costs. Frustrated? You can rant and someone will surely be able to relate. But, FHO is more than just be a baking site--FHO is a virtual home where long-standing relationships and great friendships are formed.
FHO is celebrating it's 3rd year anniversary this month! It will sure be fun to attend the meet-up!
Click here to know how to join FHO.
Below is the feature on Quintbelles. Original post is
here.
Name/s: Elaine Shih & Val Choa
Online HomeBakeshop: quintbelles.multiply.com
Status: Married with one kid / Single
Profession: Finance / Marketing
Location: QC
Baking Level: amateur
Years Baking: more than 10 years
How did you go into baking?
Elaine: Baking started out as a hobby that we would do during school breaks. We tried all sorts of recipes—ice cream, cookies, cakes, brownies, chocolate truffles. Then we started giving away Food for the Gods for Christmas. After that, some of our relatives started ordering. This inspired us to try out other things. Friends who know that we bake cakes ordered from us. Our first wedding cake was for a friend... We even made my wedding cake --- a five-tiered orange themed cake
What was your first baking experience and how did it go?
Elaine: Lifestyle Channel was not yet shown on tv-- we didn't even know how to beat egg whites into soft peaks since none of us were taking baking classes. With no formal baking lessons, we made salty cookies, uneven one sided cakes (this was before whimsical cakes were in fashion!) burnt cakes, we had watery icings, tough pie crusts... every mistake you can think of...
Val: One time, I think we were trying to make ice cream cake with chiffon-- I'm not too sure if its really ice cream and chiffon-- I clearly remember that I used salted butter then followed the recipe to a T and added the required salt... this is buried in the recesses of my mind kasi sobrang embarrassing. Come to think of it, chiffon and ice cream don't require use of butter, 'no? Our parents still tried to eat it but we all agreed to throw it away after a bite :)) After that, we continued to experiment and learn from our mistakes. And let me tell you, there were plenty!
Quintbelles. I get the "belle" part, but why is it Quint? How did you decide on this name?
Elaine: I always joke that I started Quintbelles. Actually, each one of us would claim this. We're five sisters in the family so when we were trying to come up with a name, we chose Quintbelles for 5 girls.
Val: Quint means five. The need for a name only came up when we started to sell cakes and pastries and by that time, 5 of us sisters were helping out in this hobby/business. If you actually ask each of us the background to our name, you will get 5 versions! hahaha! Everybody is claiming they came up with this...so I guess we can say that we naturally agreed to this name.
But here's the official story, as I tell it—hahaha! Quintbelles started with one belle--me! As cake orders got bigger and taller, I realized I needed help and recruited my two younger sisters to help. My two other sisters started helping too-- each of us having specific functions. But now, its just me and Elaine -- her being the multitasker superwoman manager! One sister is currently working abroad. Another sister is busy with her job in a multinational company and the other one has CTS so she's just the cheerer. Since we are a loving family, anytime the other sisters are interested to work in Quintbelles, they will be welcomed with open arms.
Hazel (one of our sisters): Ako nga nakaisip ng "Quintbelles"…
How and when did your online bakeshop start?
Elaine: Based on our site, we started in October 2006 but I think started selling in 1999. But really, the online bakeshop presented itself to us. Our idea was to just showcase our cakes. During the first couple of years of baking, we had huge (wedding) albums to showcase our cakes and creations which we lug along to meet with potential clients, mostly brides and grooms. Later on, since we found updating those albums tedious and expensive, we started using phlog to post our latest cakes on the web. We also started to join exhibits and they keep asking for a website, so we figured we need a better way to post photos and something people will easily remember—our phlog had a long url. After some researching, we finally chose multiply because it was easier to post photos! We've always wanted a dotcom but then multiply works for us as is.
You have such beautiful creations. How did you learn to make these? Did you go to school for it or is it all self-taught?
Val: Thank you for saying that! We mostly learned through experience. The first few cakes we made were tiered cakes. Then one inspired day, we made this bathtub cake for a bridal shower party my sister was attending. Then around Christmas time, we decided to make Santa bags for our relatives. We made tiny candycanes, and giftitems to put inside the bag. There are many books and websites to learn from-- and a group like ours (FHO) is a fantastic way to share knowledge and know-hows.
Elaine: Only the youngest belle has an HRM degree and she concentrated on cooking rather than baking. The rest of us have finance, management or engineering degrees. We would take short baking or decorating lessons and share at home. The rest is practice and research thru web or baking shows. We are also appreciative of our clients who leave us an open hand to decorate and design their cake. Sometimes designs just hit you in the head, you never know!
You've had the chance to be featured in the media. Tell us what these special citations are and how does it feel being shown there for all the Filipinos and even the world to see...
Val: Our first time to be interviewed was in Shoptalk with Pia Hontiveros! We were super nervous and super excited. Sabay!! We were asked to bring cakes that we want to showcase. We still wonder where they found us because we're really just home-based and we rarely advertised. But nevertheless, we made cakes that we like the most...and just wish we won't end up bulol on TV! Once we got to the set, they were surprised that we made a picnic cake with their logo! Pia was very nice and then commented that we laugh very loudly :)) Elaine's hubby and our elder sister were there to support us (and take pictures and videos!)...and then when we got home, our parents watched the bootleg video many many times...we texted everyone we know and asked them to watch the replay that night...
I'm not too sure if we are allowed to say (but we do it anyway!) -- the cupcakes you see on Lifestyle Channel station ID is ours! A friend of a friend was styling for the show and normally they'd bake their own for the production but during the week they were shooting, their oven needed to be fixed so they just requested that we bake for them! We are super thrilled even if we're the only ones who know that those are our cupcakes hahaha...
Quintbelles comes up with fun promos every now and then, among them the cupcake decorating activity and the photo contest on clients eating cakes... How do you come up with these interesting pakulos and how do your clients respond to them? :)
Val: We've been doing this for a couple of years and with more and more bakers in the market, we wanted to be able to come up with new things to keep Quintbelles interesting. Sometimes, the ideas come from clients. Sometimes, we come up with our own crazy ones. Our favorite clients are the ones who push the envelope and challenge our abilities. They'd tell us their theme and then ask us what we can do!
Elaine: We enjoy talking to mommies who want customized cakes for their kids! Some of our clients are the ones who really take the time and think of the things that show the personality of the celebrator. We have a client who once ordered a golf course inspired cake but with farm animals—chickens, pigs and even fishes!
Val: Honestly, the photo contest came about because we don't have photos of some of the cakes we've created because either we were super rushed or we forgot to take photos! Hahaha! We figured that our customers would most likely have them so we encourage them to send the photos to us, so...we came up with the contest!
Elaine: Cupcake decorating activity was introduced as we see this as a venue for kids to create their own during parties. We noticed that most interactive booths for parties were into arts and crafts or food, so we thought of mixing both and came up with this.
What do you think is your specialty from the many cakes/pastries you've already baked?
Elaine: Our special designs includes the Letter block cake design, bubble bath cakes, the Choo-choo train design, the picnic cakes and the Disney float design.
When you are not baking for others, what do you like baking and eating for yourself?
Val: I love cookies! Chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies with nuts. Double chips chocolate chip cookies. Cookies cookies cookies. We don't sell much of these though.
Elaine: I don't! There are a lot of homebakers out there, so we try them out once in a while. My son Keaton loves our chocolate cake with icing. Sometimes just the icing! :)
What are your near or distant plans for Quintbelles?
Elaine: At the core of Quintbelles is a family. And that's what we want to bring to the market-- we want other families (be it nuclear family, friends or officemates) to enjoy their parties with a Quintbelles cake. And that's what we want more of—more cakes to make more people happy!
We also want guestings on TV (like FHO!). Hahaha!!
What are the challenges of being a homebaker?
Val: Deliveries and meet ups! It's sometimes hard when people expect that you can deliver to them whenever they want. We have full-time jobs and bake only at nights. Sometimes, we'd get calls asking where our shop is and if they can drop by because they want to pick up cakes. We have to explain that we customize cakes and bake only by request.
Elaine: Limited time! Major challenge for us is time-management. Since we only do this at nights, sometimes we really are pressed for time specially if it's a big order. It's sometimes hard to take a vacation or even an out-of-town trip. Of course, I have to balance home life, work life and baking life.
Baking Tips you can share with fellow FHO members?
Elaine: Don't forget the timer! Make sure you're stocked up on ingredients! Practice makes perfect! Dream big coz you never know!
