But these days, instead of baking the cakes and biscuits of her childhood, she has tackled something totally different – floral-themed 3D jelly cakes.
Requiring a specific skill and years of practice to perfect, Jagdish’s jelly cakes are now popular at birthdays, weddings, religious festivals and even parties.
Speaking with FMT Lifestyle, the 65-year-old said she first took lessons on how to make these unique 3D jelly cakes from a Thai baker eight years ago.
Then after having learnt the skills, she experimented with various recipes, getting constructive feedback from family members on how to improve its taste, appearance and texture.
“During the first few attempts, my flowers were slightly distorted. So, I kept practising at home till I could master a peony, before moving on to more complex flowers such as roses, carnations and sunflowers.
After two years of constantly perfecting this art, she was confident enough to make them for family functions and gatherings. And soon other people came to know about her cakes as well, she said.
Now a master of these 3D jelly cakes, she loves experimenting with ingredients. For instance, she has swapped milk for coconut milk as this enhances the flavour of the jelly cake.
To cater to a wider audience, Jagdish also makes a vegetarian version using seaweed jelly instead of gelatine that is sometimes sourced from animals.
Recently, FMT Lifestyle was honoured to watch a demonstration of how a blue peony design is created inside a jelly cake. Truth be told, it was simply mesmerising watching Jagdish make magic with her hands.
First, she filled a syringe with blue colouring. Then she attached a petal-shaped tool to the syringe. Next came the delicate process of inserting the syringe into the jelly cake, gently injecting the colour, and creating a beautiful flower petal in the process.
To create a more realistic looking flower with depth and dimension, she alternates between different sized petal tools and different shades of blue.
Once she is satisfied with her creation, the real magic happens – she flips the jelly cake over to reveal the intricately designed blue peony bloom that fills the entire jelly cake.
“You see these pores that are open as a result of these carvings I make to inject these flowers? To cover it up, I add in another base layer made from longan, cendol or even slices of shaved coconut,” she explained.
She said that on most occasions, her customers brief her on the kind of designs that they’d like to see in their jelly cakes. Other times, she proposes the designs and advises on the best colours that will deliver a stunning effect.
With her experience making jelly cakes, Jagdish said that she’s confident that her flowers will turn out well when the jelly is flipped over.
Has she ever had to remake a cake from scratch? Many times, she said, owing either to the wrong colour combination or a design that looked off.
Currently, she is learning how to make other varieties of jelly cakes including a Swiss-roll 3D jelly cake.
“I can spend hours on my jelly cakes. And it helps keep my mind focused as I’m always thinking about what floral designs I should use for my cakes, or what adaptations I can include to make it pretty.
“Also, when designing, one’s mind needs to be calm and focused. It’s something that I’ve also acquired over the many years of making these cakes,” she said.
Follow Jagdish and her 3D jelly cakes on Instagram.