Checking Out What Lulu Makes

by Iyath Adam

For our interview article this time, we have a chat with Aishath Manaal Mohamed (Lulu) – baker and cake decorator of Instagram food business, What Lulu Makes.

Read on to find out more about how her love of cakes started, the different flavour combinations she offers, and all about running a cake business in Maldives.

Lonumedhu: First off, tell us how you got interested in baking and cake decorating. 

Manaal: Honestly, I’ve always loved eating cake, even when I was very young. When I was around 3 or 4 years old, I lived in Sri Lanka for some time because my mum was studying there. At the time, I was the only Maldivian kid around, so my mum’s batch mates would really spoil me; they’d buy me a cake every month to celebrate my monthly birth date. I think that’s how my love for cakes really started. And I loved it so much that I got really interested in decorating cakes too.

My mum’s friend, who is a baker, would take me to watch cakes being made and decorated when she had an order so I could see and learn. I actually started doing it when I was 12 years old and I went to a kids’ cake decorating class, which is where I learnt more about baking. But even before then, I would go through recipes on my dad’s phone and read books about baking and cake decorating.

My older cousin bought my first cake decorating set for me, and I started practising with that. And my first order was when she baked the cake and gave it to me to decorate. I did it for like 100 rufiyaa then, haha.

After I learnt about baking, I started taking orders. At the time, I was living on my island – Gaafu Alifu Kolamaafushi – and I continued to take orders until I moved to Male’ when I was 16 years old. After that, I didn’t really take orders because I was moving a lot – just a few here and there for friends and family. When I was around 18 years old, my family moved to Hulhumale’ which is when I started taking regular orders through my art page, @artbylulu.

Lonumedhu: How did you start the ‘What Lulu Makes’ page and business?

Manaal: In 2020, I moved to Malaysia to study culinary arts. During that time, I was taking cake orders for friends too. While I was there, I got introduced to Swiss meringue buttercream and just a lot of different flavour combinations. I also started seeing really pretty floral cakes on Instagram, and I really wanted to do that.

After I came back from Malaysia, I got married. During that time, I was taking orders on my private account, just for really close friends or mutual friends. And I took a lot of wedding cake orders too. I also started making fresh pasta for orders around then. At the time, my friends said that I should start a page called ‘What Lulu Makes’ and post what I make there, which is why I started the page.

After a while, I lost interest in making pasta but I realised that I wanted to continue making cakes in different flavours. So, I decided to start taking orders professionally on the ‘What Lulu Makes’ page. That was in January this year, and I’ve continued since then.

Lonumedhu: You offer so many different flavour combinations and designs. Tell us about them!

Manaal: I offer dome cakes, round, square and rectangular cakes in different sizes and long cakes for weddings on request.

Right now, I have a three-page menu of different cake flavours. All my cakes are decorated with Swiss meringue buttercream, flowers, and floral designs. My bestselling flavours are mango & passionfruit and chocolate & salted caramel.

I also make desserts other than cakes like croquembouche towers, madeleine towers, different types of cookies and macarons. Honestly, if you want something and you message me, most of the time, I’ll make it.

But one thing that I don’t make is cakes with vintage piping – it isn’t really my strong suit. Even though I get a lot of requests for vintage cakes, I always explain to customers that I focus on whimsical, fun piping with floral designs. It’s also partly because I want to keep my portfolio consistent with the same aesthetic.

Lonumedhu: What has the experience been like, doing this professionally, rather than just a hobby?

Manaal: Honestly, it’s been great. I didn’t really expect people to like it this much or to get this many orders but the last few months have been really good.

For me, this is an outlet to be creative and I love cake decorating as an art. It can be super stressful sometimes too, but I’m good at working under pressure and the actual act of decorating is very therapeutic.

It also makes me really happy when people compliment my cakes and designs. Sometimes, people who don’t even order might message me to say that they think my cakes are pretty, and it motivates me to keep going. But it’s also really hard too!

Lonumedhu: That brings us to the next question. What are the challenges of running a home-based cake business like this?

Manaal: There are so many more flavour combinations that I would like to offer for my customers. But consistently getting ingredients and products here in the Maldives can be very, very difficult. Sometimes, I might have an order for my pistachio and raspberry cake, and I might not be able to find raspberries in the whole of Hulhumale’. The same goes for flowers too. Floral shops here don’t bring in new types of flowers regularly, so I have to make do with alternatives a lot.

Also, since this year started, the prices of products have really been going up. It’s difficult for me to change my prices but it is something that I have had to do recently too.

Lonumedhu: In cases like where an ingredient is not available, how do you make sure that the taste and look of your product remains consistent?

Manaal: In that case, I communicate with customers and ask them if they would like to change the flavour or if they are okay with me substituting an ingredient. Most of the time, people are really understanding in situations like that because I think everyone understands the difficulty in availability of ingredients here. If I feel like a substitution will not deliver the same quality or taste, then I tell the customer that the flavour is not available at all.

Like I mentioned earlier, I also use weighted base recipes for all my cake components like curd, compote, ganache, buttercream etc. So, for example, to make a compote, I know the exact grams of fruit, sugar and water which is needed – and that amount can be substituted into any fruit. That really helps to control the consistency of my cakes.

Lonumedhu: Is there a flavour combination or a design that you’ve always wanted to try?

Manaal: There are a lot of new flavours that I want to introduce but if I had to choose something – I really want to make something with corn in it. It’s a really trending flavour profile right now, so I want to make something with it and see how it tastes. Maybe someday soon!

Lonumedhu: What advice do you have for people who aspire to start their own food business?

Manaal: Think out of the box and be willing to experiment with different flavours. I feel like people have a lot of good ideas, but they aren’t willing to try or don’t follow through because of society and what people might think. So always be confident in what you are making. If it sounds good to you, then it will work out and people will support it.

Lonumedhu: What’s next for ‘What Lulu Makes’ and your business journey?

Manaal: I have a lot of plans for the future, but I think I want to share them properly to my audience when the right time comes. What I can tell you is that whatever I do, it will have to do with introducing even more flavour combinations and beautiful designs.

I’m also starting to make wedding bouquets for orders too. I love flowers, especially unique looking flowers, so I’m excited to do something with that in the future! 

Lonumedhu: Thank you so much for your time, Manaal. It was lovely to chat with you!