You’ve seen cakes printed with images of people — now, how would you like your mug replicated on a slab of focaccia, using vegetables instead of edible ink or paint? Home baker, Maggie Tum, 47, has taken her focaccia artworks further than the usual garden trend with a simple yet endlessly amusing idea – reproducing photos of people on bread. She parlayed her artistic expertise as a motion and digital designer with two decades of experience into bready art. These doughy masterpieces starring the Italian flatbread are sold via her Instagram biz, @whenmommybakes

Like many home bakers, Maggie began experimenting with focaccia during the circuit breaker period last year while “trying to kill time”.

“At first, it was just for family consumption – but they started putting on weight from eating too much bread,” she says with a laugh. That includes her husband and her nine-year-old daughter, who’s since joined her mother in the kitchen occasionally.

Once she got more confident of her bakes, she decided to make them prettier. That was when she hopped onto the focaccia art bandwagon, one of 2020’s many home cooking trends.

Maggie has had some previous experience baking “simple things” like cookies, all self-taught from YouTube or with help from more experienced friends. Being a graphic designer helped as well. “I understand layering to create depth and have a good sense of balancing the composition of each focaccia art piece,” she says.

Unless you’re opting for her garden-variety, well, garden focaccia, which comes with a standard look and arrangement, she designs the focaccia artwork to order depending on the customer’s needs. She practiced with friends first, who eventually encouraged her to sell the bread and start @whenmommybakes proper.

“Many people were using food [as gifts] to comfort family or friends. A lot of them have a story to tell [with the bread they order]. You’re just helping them tell that story,” she says.

The idea first took root when she was commissioned to recreate a photograph taken by local award-winning photographer Bryan van der Beek by his wife as a surprise birthday present. “I wasn’t sure if I could pull it off, but his wife was certain I could do it. And the result was amazing,” she shares.

While that photo depicted a scene during the couples’ road trip in Japan rather than people, it was the beginning of Maggie’s photo-replication via hand-crafted veggies. “The most challenging part of replicating people was capturing their unique traits, like their eyes, mouths and body proportions,” she says.

Naturally, there’s a lot of potential for tomfoolery in the name of good-natured fun. A picture of your significant other or bestie, immortalised on focaccia by hand, anyone? How about one for dad on Father’s Day?

Focaccia, sans decoration, already requires more prep work compared to bakes like cookies or brownies. The dough needs to be kneaded in order to develop gluten strands, which in turn creates the structure that holds gasses the yeast eventually produces after resting. In Maggie’s case, the latter takes place overnight in the fridge, which also means that she has to prepare orders a day in advance.

The décor that goes onto her bakes is something else altogether. The thinly-sliced bell peppers, onions and other veggies are simple enough. “I’ve gotten a lot faster with practice,” she says.

What she can’t hasten is the speed at which the radish she uses are pickled. The radishes are sliced paper-thin and rolled into a delicate rose, and are the centrepiece to many of her floral-themed artworks. They’re soaked over a period of three days with dyeing agents like beetroot for red, or turmeric for yellow. “The longer you pickle it, the deeper the colour,” she shares.

Individual arrangements can take anywhere from “an hour” for the garden focaccia, to around “four or five hours” for more intricate art pieces. Her most challenging design thus far? The dragon ($80, pictured above), due to the number of parts and variety of veggies needed “to create different textures and [a three-dimensional look]”.

The standard garden-themed focaccia (above) will set you back $40, with any bespoke commissions starting at $60 onwards, depending on the complexity of the design. Every order comes with thyme and bay leaf-scented garlic confit oil.

Just note that these vegetables darken and lose moisture as they bake, which means the final product looks a little different post-bake. That’s by design though – the breads, though pretty, are made to be eaten. “We use tomatoes, bell peppers, carrots and so on. Not just for the looks, but because they sweeten up after baking,” says Maggie.

We’ve compiled a few of her prettiest pieces below.

The commission for a fellow baker is delightfully intricate, down to the creases on her baking pal’s shirt. We’re especially fond of the black-and-white sesame gravel beneath it all for a touch of extra realism.

A focaccia gifted as a commemoration of friendship between two of Maggie’s friends. Note the attention to detail - their lips are pretty in pink.

Check out the cheeky expressions of the two birthday boys captured on the loaf here. Now that’s hard to replicate.

A celebration of young friendship, via bread. She’s managed to accommodate for their different heights - while not forgetting the spectacle-clad lad in the middle (the actual kids are not pictured, as their parents declined to have them featured).

A look through garlic-and-eggplant-tinted glasses for a friend (who declined to include her original photo in this article) to Dam Square in Amsterdam. She’s even gotten the pigeons in. What a delicious holiday memento.

Inspired by hit Netflix series Emily In Paris - the protagonist pictured here, however, with a short-haired doinstead of Lily Collins’ flowing locks. The other details are on point: a bag of shopping, sunnies and heels. There’s even the Eiffel Tower, hewn from eggplant skin.

Also made from eggplant skin scored to give it that quilted look is this Chanel Classic Flap Bag. It even has the house’s signature logo on the front.

A birthday focaccia that captures nostalgic memories of a customer’s weekends spent rollerblading with her sister while their father fished. Not captured, their mother frying up said fish once they’re home.

Keen to create your own focaccia portrait? Maggie runs workshops on focaccia art every month or so with Little Bakers Lab, a boutique cooking studio.

As for whether she plans to make this a career: “Never say never. If opportunities come knocking, I might take a leap of faith,” she shares.

Photos: @whenmommybakes/Instagram