Last year saw Piece of Cake Bakery take home the top titles at the Baking Industry Trade Show: the Champion Product and Champion Vienoisserie. It’s a day that owner Kun Du marks as a highlight in his extensive career. Baking Business caught up with Kun to hear all about his career so far, and his plans for the future.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I have always had a love for food – all food. I grew up in China, and in Chinese we greet each other not with “how are you?”, but rather “have you eaten yet?”. So, eating and sharing delicious food is and has always been my way of expressing care and love with family and friends.

Now as the owner of Piece of Cake Bakery, every day I have the great joy and pride of getting to share my baked goods with our customers. I run Piece of Cake Bakery together with my wife of 30 years, Jenny, who manages the front of house, while I work in the bakery.

It is not easy work, and the destination is not necessarily clear. I am always trying to find new ways to improve our baked goods. When I sleep, I even dream about baking! After being awarded the Champion Product and Champion Viennoiserie [at the 2024 Baking Industry Trade Show], I realised I am well on my way. The awards recognised my efforts and was good encouragement to keep going.

When did you first decide to become a baker? What were your early years like?

I discovered my interest in baking quite late in life. In my early years, I was an electrical engineer, working on electrical systems at docks and on distribution networks.

After moving to Melbourne with my family, I found my passion in baking. I acquired Piece of Cake Bakery in 2016. The store specialised in European cakes and biscuits, and I took over a legacy business that had over 20 years’ history.

Very quickly, I became obsessed with traditional artisan baking. I discovered a passion for original craftsmanship and made it my mission through Piece of Cake Bakery to restore and preserve original recipes.

Kun following the award presentation

Can you tell us about your baking career so far?

Taking on the baking business has been a sharp turn from my early career. I underwent good and extensive training during the initial acquisition of Piece of Cake Bakery. Now, almost 10 years later, I still continue to practice and hone my skills.

I am extremely proud that the legacy of European cakes and patisseries at Piece of Cake Bakery has been kept exactly the same. It is very important to us that the original craft continues to be preserved, and we are faithful to the original recipes for our New York Baked Cheesecake, Chocolate Explosion Cake, Banana Surprise Cake, Apple and Boysenberry Cake, Coffee Almond Cake, Black Forest Cake and so on.

Once we were more confident with managing the day-to-day business operations, we started to gradually introduce to our production a small range of traditional Chinese patisseries from my own childhood. These were mainly sold wholesale to premium Asian supermarkets.

Our business took a direct hit during the COVID-19 pandemic, and amongst stay-at-home lockdown orders our cake business suffered in particular, since people were no longer having parties. I used the spare time to do an upgrade of our baking business, including renovations to the front of house.

The spare time also made it possible for me to experiment with trialling new products. I explored a range of different pies, breads and croissants. Adding these new product ranges helped Piece of Cake Bakery to survive and make it through pandemic – and they continue to be customer favourites. More importantly, my baking vision also expanded, and I suddenly found myself in the baking world!

In 2022, I returned to the starting place of sourdough cultures, driven by the challenge of refining and perfecting the basic craftsmanship of the sourdough. My “Mt Everest” is the sourdough viennoiserie.

June 19, 2024, was an important day in my baking career. The Baking Association of Australia announced the overall results of the 2024 National Artisan Baking Competition at the Baking Industry Trade Show. I walked on stage a total of seven times to collect these awards:

• Second Place of Class 1, Traditional White sourdough
• Third Place of Class 5, Croissant
• Third Place of Class 6, Open Special Viennoiserie
• Second Place of Class 6, Open Special Viennoiserie
• First Place of Class 6, Open Special Viennoiserie
• Champion Viennoiserie
• Champion Product of Show

Piece of Cake Bakery was awarded the Champion Product and Champion Viennoiserie of the Show at last year’s Baking Industry Trade Show. Can you tell us about the preparation for the competition, and the win?

All the products I entered were made with 100 per cent natural leaven (sourdough) which took four days to prepare, proof, and bake. I was confident about the ingredients and my craftmanship, and my goal was to restore the viennoiserie to its deserved reputation.

Aside from the traditional Plain Croissant, Chocolate Croissant, Fruit Danish and Cruffin, I also entered the popular full moon shape and crescent shape viennoiserie. Even though these two shapes had already been on the market, I used 100 per cent sourdough rather than commercial yeast dough to laminate and shape. I believe this was the only way to infuse character, and it was what I considered to be my personal “Everest” of baking.

How do you prepare for competitions like this?

I’m always trying to find ways to improve my baked goods. So for this competition, it was simply a matter of deciding which class of baked goods to enter into, then selecting which items I thought were the most well-progressed, amongst the cakes, patisseries, pies, sausage rolls, sourdough breads and sourdough viennoiserie.

All of my entries are part of my daily production range. I’m sure just like all other bakers, I started baking very early on the morning of the entry day, and carefully packed, labelled, and delivered each item. I’d already submitted the entry forms to the Baking Association of Australia a month earlier, and had no trouble delivering to the competition area.

Some of the creations available at Piece of Cake bakery

Without giving away any secrets, what do you think the secret to baking a great product is?

I believe the secret is just to be obsessed with baking! It takes practice and perseverance to craft a recipe, and it takes care to continue to love what you do.

What’s your favourite thing to make and to eat?

The sourdough viennoiserie is close to my heart. Barbecue is also a big favourite.

What’s up next for you?

I continue to trial new recipes. We introduced the sourdough panettone during the Christmas season last year. This year, we are excited to trial the sourdough-based hot cross buns over Easter!

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Yes, I’d like to give my heartfelt thanks to Baking Association of Australia, Baking Business Magazine and the competition sponsors. I never realised how hard they worked to support the baking industry until I heard they are always travelling for the next event across the country, every year.

Each event has plenty of things to organise and coordinate. It was very impressive that they travelled back for a presentation with me and all the first place awarded bakers in Melbourne and regional Victoria. They truly stand alongside us.