Actor Benz Hui’s Daughter Sells Cakes In S’pore As Covid-19 Ruins Post-Grad Plans

“No one would’ve imagined this — not even me,” says Charmaine of this sudden career pivot just after graduating from uni in Hong Kong. We're having a chat in the modern dining room of the Hui family's spacious corner terrace house, set in a quiet residential estate in the depths of Upper Thomson, very close to Yishun. Baking was always a passion, but not something she thought she’d pursue beyond a hobby. Her home-based bakery Bakeaholic officially opened for orders in June. Gradually, the business started gaining traction via referrals from customers and through social media.

Describing Bakeaholic as “an almost-one man team”, Charmaine tells us that she handles all of the baking herself, as well as the marketing and social media queries. Her mother Angeli helps to taste test and offer suggestions for future products, while her boyfriend Shane helps with the scheduling and deliveries. Charmaine bakes and delivers her goods every day except for Thursdays — waking up early to prepare the orders before heading out with Shane in the late afternoon to deliver them.

“Even though I spent all my school years in Hong Kong, I still feel very Singaporean,” said Charmaine, who always felt drawn to starting a life in Singapore.

She is a Hong Kong permanent resident, but retains her Singaporean citizenship. Born in Singapore, she left for Hong Kong at the start of Primary One, and only returned to Singapore for occasional trips.

“I wanted to come back to Singapore quite badly because I wanted to see if I could fit in with the people and culture here.” Her postive experience as an exchange student at Nanyang Technological University’s Wee Kim Wee School of Communications in 2017 reaffirmed her commitment to starting a career in Singapore eventually.

In 2019, Charmaine graduated with First Class Honours from Hong Kong Baptist University with a Bachelor of Social Sciences in Communication. She had been accepted into a marketing Masters programme in the UK, but she eventually decided against going post-graduation due to health and safety concerns in the midst of the pandemic.

“I was so upset and frustrated. First with my graduation [ceremony] being cancelled, and then with all my post-grad plans being destroyed,” she said. Adding on to the disruption, her yearly CNY visit to Singapore with her mother, Angeli Hui — which usually lasts about three weeks — turned into an indefinite stay as Covid-19 cases worldwide started to surge.

They had decided to stay for the sake of Angeli’s 83-year-old mother (pictured above on extreme right with Angeli and Charmaine), who has been living in their Yishun house. “It didn’t feel right for us to leave my grandma in Singapore to deal with it all on her own.”

Her father Benz Hui remains in Hong Kong with Charmaine’s grandfather, and both Charmaine and her mum have not seen him since they left in January. According to Charmaine, her father would’ve probably been back in Singapore to apply for his citizenship, if not for the pandemic. At the time of this interview, he had just left Hong Kong to shoot a contemporary drama in Shanghai and Qingdao.

FYI: He’s able to fly between Hong Kong and China for work because he’s been allocated four weeks in the film schedule to serve stay-home notice. Why can't he visit Singapore? He would’ve had to serve another two weeks of SHN, time he can't afford due to work commitments.

Photo: Charmaine Hui

Over the months, Charmaine filled her time taking online courses and rediscovering some old hobbies she never had the time for in the past — like baking. However, months of “doing nothing truly productive” were starting to get to her. As someone used to hectic schedules and projects, the circuit breaker in April compounded these frustrations. “I didn’t want to be a parasite — staying at home and doing nothing,” she reasons.

So during the circuit breaker, she started gifting her bakes to neighbours and friends, who enjoyed them so much that they started persuading her to start selling them. “At first I treated it as a joke. But then, after another month passed with all the uncertainty of the future, I started to reconsider their comments [to start selling my bakes].”

“I could either stay stagnant while focusing on all the difficulties happening both here and in Hong Kong, or I could take things into my own hands,” she adds.

Describing her family as extremely close-knit, Charmaine cites her parents’ support as one of the driving forces behind Bakeaholic.

“I’m fortunate that my parents will never force me into doing something I don’t want. They still expect me to be productive and perform well of course, but they’ve been nothing but supportive about every path I’ve chosen so far,” said Charmaine.

Her father has not been able to sample her latest bakes yet, though he has tried her previous experiments back in Hong Kong. “When we talk to each other over the phone every day, he’ll ask me about how Bakeaholic is doing, if I’m very tired from fulfilling orders all the time, and if people like what I’m making.”

Charmaine’s mother, Angeli, pops in during the 8days.sg photo shoot to tell us how their families in Singapore and Hong Kong would always gather over home-cooked food. “Our family knows how to appreciate food. She’s been exposed to our family’s eating culture since she was a baby, so that might be where her flair for baking comes from,” she says fondly.

“Her father is super supportive. He always talks about getting her a place for her to learn the ins and outs of running and managing her own business,” adds Angeli.

Charmaine had tentative plans to head back to Hong Kong at the end of July to see her father and settle affairs there. However, due to the recent resurgence of Covid cases in Hong Kong, these plans are now in limbo. “The possibility of having to change my flight yet again really frustrates me. I haven’t seen my dad or grandpa for more than six months now, and that’s been so hard.”

Even if she does take the trip back to Hong Kong, Charmaine has big plans for Bakeaholic. “We might take a month-long break from orders if I make it to Hong Kong, but I’m definitely coming back to Singapore right after that [to continue the biz]."

She had Bakeaholic registered as a company as she wanted to grow the business for the long-term, and not have it end up being just a temporary project to kill time.

In her family’s kitchen — glossy, neat and narrow, with two ovens — Charmaine is the boss. “I’m 100 percent self-taught, and no one in my family has any F&B experience,” she shares , adding that she spent hours doing online research and scouring for recipes for her bakes. As she does the bulk of the baking on her own, order slots are limited. Bakeaholic opens for orders every Wednesday evening, with deliveries starting on Fridays.

Because her mum and her prefer treats that aren’t overpoweringly sweet, Charmaine set out to reduce the sugar in her bakes as much as possible, without sacrificing their taste or structural integrity. Bakeaholic’s menu currently consists of five items, with more to come. Delivery fees vary by area, and you get $3 off when you purchase at least three boxes of bakes or large cookie bags (can be mixed and matched).

This is Charmaine's signature offering — and the very item that had her friends suggesting she had the talent to turn her bakes into a business. “I’m huge on dark chocolate, so I wanted something that would do it justice.” Made with no raising agents and “very, very little flour”, the fragile cupcake retains a surprising amount of structure. She relies on Japanese baking techniques — such as incorporating whipped egg whites in the batter — to give the cupcakes body and height without the use of raising agents.

“[The batter is] quite unstable and requires more manual effort. But the payoff is that it maximises the natural flavours in the cupcake,” says Charmaine. The batter for each cupcake also has to be weighed before baking to ensure it rises properly, without sinking or overflowing.

On first bite, the brown-cake is light, even a little airy. But it melts away with a richness that belies its cloud-like consistency. While many brownies can be tooth-achingly saccharine, the minimal sugar in this lets the cocoa shine. Great for fans of dark choc who prefer their treats less sweet, and for those who want a hit of chocolate without the usual denseness of a brownie. There is a cap of three boxes per order due to limited capacity.

These cookies exude a bright citrusy fragrance and hue, thanks to the presence of fresh lemon juice and zest in it. Its zing has savoury undertones that balance its mild sweetness. Interestingly, it reminds us a bit of a more refined version of Khong Guan’s lemon cream biscuit, but more buttery and melt-in-your-mouth, with a natural lemony hit. When we mention this, Charmaine chirps excitedly: “My family said it reminded them of my favourite childhood Japanese YBC Lemonpack cookies! I took that as a compliment.”

“My grandma loves bananas, so I wanted to dedicate one of my bakes to her,” gushes Charmaine. The Banana Walnut Loaf has a denser consistency closer to banana bread than cake. Slightly chewy and studded with crunchy walnuts, it boasts a rich banana flavour and light sweetness. Honestly, it is a little too healthy-tasting to tame a sweet tooth, but we’d warm a slice of this up with a generous pat of French butter for a satisfying breakfast.

Charmaine’s brownie cupcakes are worth trying for their unique texture and intense chocolatey hit. All her bakes are on the less-sweet side, without sacrificing flavour or texture. Setting up a physical store is Charmaine’s next goal for Bakeaholic, so walk-in customers can have a chance to sample her bakes. “Bakeaholic is a long-term commitment. Whether I succeed or not, I aim to put in all the effort I can give.”