$4 Bags Of Cake ‘Scraps’ A Hit At Heartland Shop J&C Bakery, Often Sold Out By Noon
Most bakers would probably consider the browned edges trimmed off a cake as scraps they nibble on. At heartland bakery J&C, customers are actually willing to pay for them.
The 37-year-old halal bakery, which has outlets in Woodlands and East Village, packs these browned trimmings from its old-school butter, banana, chocolate and other cakes into $4 bags, christening them “cake sides”. The bags are available only at its Woodlands outlet.
In a TikTok video posted by the brand, second-gen owner Christie Koh, 32, asked customers: “Did you know we actually sell cake sides?” She shared that she has loved munching on them since she was young, and that selling the trimmings also helps reduce food waste.
The video has since garnered around 170,000 views, with curious customers heading down specifically for the once unwanted cake scraps.
Her dad, Koh Jee Chiang, 65, started J&C in Woodlands in 1989 after learning to bake from a chef.
Despite sharing his initials, J&C isn’t named after Jee Chiang. It actually stands for “Japan & China”.
“My dad is a very traditional man,” Christie says. He chose the name to represent “Japan’s quality and China’s quantity” when it came to their bakes.
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Cake trimmings often sold out by noon
On a regular day the bags can sell out by noon, especially on weekends.
“We had a lot of customers asking about them after our video went viral, but we didn’t take pre-orders because I wasn’t really trying to sell the cake sides. It was just meant to be a fun video!” Christie tells 8days.sg.
Used to give cake trimmings away for free
J&C was already selling its cake trimmings before the viral TikTok video.
The bakery trims the edges off its cakes so that each whole cake is neat and evenly sized. “Customers often see the sides as ‘not nice’ visually, so we usually trim them off,” Christie explains.
Instead of discarding the trimmings, J&C used to give them away free to migrant workers and customers.
“Gradually, more people started liking them and asking for them. But because we were always giving them away, they were often out of stock,” she says.
Customers eventually asked if they could buy them instead, so J&C started selling the cake trimmings for $4 a bag. Each bag is approximately the size of a small whole cake.
Most customers who buy the bags are older folks, with Christie noting that more younger families have been coming by recently after the bakery went viral on social media.
Crispier and more caramelised
Why pay for what are essentially cake offcuts? We quite enjoy them, while some of our colleagues prefer the moister middle bits.
“The sides are crispier because they are directly touching the cake tin while baking. They are also slightly more caramelised, while the middle of the cake is softer and fluffier,” Christie explains.
As for Christie, she’s firmly team cake trimmings. “I’m definitely on ‘team side’! I don’t really like eating [regular] cakes,” she laughs.
Each bag contains a mix of flavours depending on what J&C bakes that day, usually banana, butter and chocolate, with the occasional marble or nut cake.
It takes trimmings from around three trays of cake to fill one bag. “It’s quite a big bag!” she quips.
As you can see from the photos - if you’re lucky, you get more actual cake from some pieces instead of the mostly dryer crust.
Off-menu brownie trimmings extra yum
As for which flavours yield the tastiest edges, Christie votes for butter and banana.
There’s also a “secret” brownie version, which isn’t always available. “The sides from our brownies are amazing,” she says. The brownie trimmings are kept tucked away in a corner of the shop, with mostly regulars knowing where to find or ask for them. She recommends pairing these with ice cream.
Le Cordon Bleu-trained second-gen owner
Christie’s pastry background is considerably more atas than humble cake trimmings.
She studied patisserie at culinary school Le Cordon Bleu in Australia before returning to Singapore, where she spent three years as commis cook at Wolfgang Puck’s Spago in Marina Bay Sands, training under a pastry chef.
But Christie eventually decided she wanted to learn more than just what went on in the kitchen. She later spent almost two years with the now-defunct Privé Group, picking up experience in front-of-house operations.
She also got a taste of running her own business with Toast Days, a Nanyang cafe she opened with friends at Haji Lane. Though it closed in less than a year for personal reasons, Christie doesn’t regret the detour. “If I hadn’t left fine-dining, I wouldn’t have had the chance to open my own cafe,” she says, adding that she hopes to revive Toast Days someday.
After the cafe’s closure, Christie went to work at J&C full-time. She will officially take over the family’s bakery later this year, so her parents can retire.
Despite her professional pastry training, she isn’t interested in changing how most things are done in the family’s biz.
“I may have learnt different methods elsewhere, but I choose not to impose them. If their way has worked well for so many years, who am I to say it’s wrong?”
Her older brother, 35, has worked at the bakery since he was 21, but is stepping away to pursue his own interests.
Grew up as the bakery’s ‘counter girl’
Christie spent much of her childhood at J&C, serving customers. “I was always the counter girl because honestly, I didn’t know what else to do,” she laughs.
Her eventual training in French and fine-dining pastries is a world away from her dad’s old-school cakes.
“It can be quite difficult to introduce new pastries because our customers mainly come to us for old-school bakes,” she explains. “I guess these cakes are harder to find outside now, and you can never go wrong with them.”
Introduced mini tarts
Christie has nevertheless drawn on her professional training to introduce her own creations at J&C, including 13 flavours of Mini Tarts ($28.80 for 16), with options like Kinder Bueno Biscuit, Custard Fruit Tart and Pistachio, as well as Tiramisu ($9.50 each; $27 for three).
They’ve been selling well, but she jokes: “I wish our tarts were the ones that went viral, then I could boast about it to my dad.”
No-frills cakes still the most popular items here
Ironically, Christie doesn’t particularly like eating desserts.
“I may not enjoy eating cakes, but I love baking them,” she explains. “I have been fascinated by baking since I was young, because my dad always told me that baking is [both an art and] a science. It takes a lot of understanding, and every step has a reason behind it.”
As for her aversion to cake? “Maybe because I’ve seen too many cakes my whole life,” she says.
J&C’s bestseller remains its Assorted Traditional Cakes ($17.50 for 21 slices), where customers can mix and match banana, marble and butter cakes to form a whole cake. Other popular items include Brownies ($26.60 for 21) and Cream Eclairs ($22.80 for 24).
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