Always dreamt of making your own My Melody, Hello Kitty and Little Twin Stars chiffon cake, but no clue where to start? Well, you’re in luck. The first-ever licensed Sanrio online baking class happens today (25 June, 5pm). The virtual lessons are a collaboration between Sanrio Singapore and Deco Chiffon Cakes, the latter helmed by Singaporean baker and cookbook author Susanne Ng (@Susanne.DecoChiffon), famous for her whimsical chiffon cakes amazingly shaped to look like fluffy toys. There will be a total of six of these kawaii cake classes to look forward to, each to be launched every month. While most will feature chiffon as Susanne is the queen of adorbs chiffon cakes, she reveals that “there are cookies and mousse cakes lined up, but those are to be confirmed as we are revising the recipes as we go along”.

The first sweet treat among the Sanrio character line-up is a My Melody-themed chiffon cake, sporting a pretty turquoise bow. This year marks the 45th Anniversary since the pretty rabbit, a pal of Hello Kitty, was born. Incidentally, 2020 is also Sanrio’s 60th anniversary. The My Melody Sweet Chiffon online baking class ($55.51) conducted by Susanne comes with a downloadable recipe and a My Melody character template for shaping the cake, as well as a pre-recorded step-by-step video tutorial with unlimited streams — so you can watch it as many times as you want in case you’re lost. The recipe took Susanne four attempts to perfect. Now that it’s tried and tested, she says even beginning bakers can easily follow it.

Got a question to ask her? She assures: “I will reply to private messages [via Facebook] and emails quickly, so that’s how I engage and help [home bakers]. I may consider doing a live Q&A session, or a forum for each topic in future.”

To make the baking experience more convenient, you can choose to buy this baking kit on top of the recipe and online tutorial. It comes with all the ingredients (excluding oil, water and eggs) needed for the recipe, conveniently measured out. Other equipment like a reusable nonstick Teflon baking sheet, food markers, piping bags and a mousse cake film are included. You also get a special My Melody template printout with a different facial expression for future bakes, plus a Sanrio Gift Gate 10% discount voucher for purchasing Sanrio merchandise from the store at Takashimaya.

Don’t have the necessary baking equipment? This is the set for you. It comes with all the aforementioned items, and also a six-inch chiffon tube pan, and an aluminum baking tray.

Susanne, 40, is an ex- A*STAR scientist-turned chiffon cake maestro. She has a PhD in biomedical engineering and started baking six years ago as a hobby. Her popularity shot up after she was featured in international websites and papers like Mashable and Daily Mail. Her creative bakes are great fun to look at, and she has authored three cookbooks detailing the painstaking art of making “deco chiffon cakes”, including Creative Baking: Deco Chiffon Cakes Basics. Now, the stay-home mum to three kids teaches classes, writes books and partners brands like Sanrio full-time. Susanne was contacted by Sanrio about this collaboration — she has also partnered with Old Seng Choong earlier to produce a pandan chiffon cake. She shares with us: “My first deco chiffon cake was about six months into baking. I actually had a dream about how to incorporate sakura flower patterns into a chiffon cake the night before my birthday. I was so excited to try it out the next day, and so the first deco chiffon cake (my birthday cake) was born!” Why bake almost exclusively chiffon cakes? She says: “I really love chiffon cakes as they are light, fluffy, lower in sugar than many other cakes, have no cream/fondant and are really versatile. I do bake other stuffs, especially for my kids, like cookies, bread and tarts but I rarely post about them.

“It’s about temperature control,” explains Susanne. “The idea of deco chiffon cakes is to bake them at a lower temperature for a longer time, sort of like the slow cooker concept translated into baking to prevent the crust from forming, while cooking it completely. Once you master it, it's really very reproducible.”

The My Melody Sweet Chiffon online baking class launches at 5pm today (25 June), sign up here. Other Sanrio-themed bakes will be announced in the near future (is it Hello Kitty next? Susanne is keeping mum), check @Susanne.DecoChiffon or @sanriosingapore on Instagram for updates.

Photos: Susanne Ng/ Sanrio Singapore