UrbanWire

As a self-confessed sweet-lover, my mandatory visits to bakeries for that daily fix of sugar-laden confectionery come as no surprise. Though I enjoy feasting both my eyes and stomach on the available cakes and cookies, I’m stumped when it comes to picking the right cake for special occasions like birthdays.

Enter dOtipOkO, an online bakery stocked with a selection of yummy pastries decorated with adorable characters to grab your attention. This online bakery is the brainchild of Dorothy Ng, 23.

The MTV TV production assistant by day started off getting her recipes online, and through trial and error, came up with lushly flavoured cakes that her close friends enjoyed. They were so blown away that they started placing orders for her cakes.

Dorothy said, “Some of my friends tried cakes that I eagerly made for our meet-ups and birthday parties. Then they wondered if I offered anything else that they could buy the next time. So I came up with a list of things I could bake and gave my little project the name dOtipOkO.” And not surprisingly, the dOtipOkO brand was derived from her nickname “Dottie”.

dOtipOkO went cyber in mid 2003 with a menu that included both cakes and brownies. There were also themes for different seasons like Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year. The biggest attraction is the fact that you can order customised cakes from her. All you do is to use her signature cake base recipes and brainstorm with her to achieve that perfect cake.

According to Dorothy, it’s a win-win situation when she allows her customers to create their own cakes. “It is really fun to get requests different from what I usually make. It makes planning for the cake so much more exciting! And hopefully it is something that the receiver will like or be surprised with.”

Princess Dot - a rich chocolate cake with cream cheese topping in a delicateprincess sculpture complete with ribbons and lace.

Voila! - a sponge cake splashed with dollops of multi-coloured cream cheese to resemble something out of an art factory.

Other offerings include the unusual but tummy-tickling Durianoko – a durian cheesecake which gets one-third of its weight from fresh durian pulp and Chou Pi Jiang – a mix of chocolate cake, banana cheesecake, fresh bananas and chocolate chips.

Dorothy doesn’t spare her brownies from the same experimentation. Breaking away from the traditional chocolate variety, she has invented her own Snow White Brownies, which are chockful of white chocolate chips. Her fudge brownie Strawcolate is an eclectic mix of chocolate fudge and strawberry cream cheese. If these drool-inducing descriptions don’t get to you, I’m sure viewing them on the dOtipOkO site will.

Price will hardly be an issue because Dorothy keeps her prices within the range of $20 to $40 depending on complexity of designs and flavours, rather than by weight as most bakeries do. This keeps them affordable for her main customer demographic of the 20-somethings.

dOtipOkO is essentially a tool for you to get to the baker, Dorothy, by choosing what you would like to purchase from her ever-expanding menu. She does dream of opening her own flagship store soon but until then, intends to keep the business small and cosy, just like her website. But while her hobby remains an online venture, don’t expect lightning-fast, 24/7 response. In fact, you should place your orders 3 days in advance so that she can ensure freshness and quality of the items.

On top of her food business, she might tie in with one of her pals to start creating dOtipOkO merchandise like wallpapers to be downloaded online and even t-shirts and toys that bear the dOtipOkO icon.

So the next time you are feeling inspired and want to avoid store-bought cakes, or decide to get a birthday cake for that someone special or even just to pamper yourself with a sweet delight, remember heaven is just a mouse-click away with dOtipOkO.