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Writer's pictureAlanis Harjanto

Ella Etc Bakes

So, all throughout my studies at Raffles, I was living with my sister Ella and brother-in-law Mike. My sister has a small baking business she does on the side. I know she'd want me to include a link, so just click here to see her Instagram.


We're both huge fans of The Great British Bake Off, and in that show, the competitors' creations are first shown as an illustration. It works great, because the viewers get to see what the bake is supposed to look like and get excited for it. My sister had the idea to do the same thing for her business, because it means that she doesn't need to take a picture before promoting it.

October 2021 Box

February 2022 and November 2021 Box


Food illustration is a unique challenge. Oftentimes, the colour of baked goods like bread, pastries, and cookies are described as golden brown. In practice, though, it's quite difficult to draw something that looks edible, and actually looks good enough to eat!


Variation of colour makes rendering tricky. In theory, the top surface of an object will be lighter, because it is lit from above. However, the top part of bread is the one closest to the heating element in the oven, so it will become darker.


Sometimes organic shapes are very forgiving and easy to draw, because they aren't so confined to the rigid perspective of hard surface objects. Other times, it's even more of a challenge. When I draw meringue blobs or buttercream icing (like in the illustration of a lamington below) it needs to look just right, otherwise the effect will not be convincing.

I liked adding the coconut flakes, though.


This series has always been very good practice for me. Every new idea my sister has means I have to think about how to create the effect anew, and how I should draw it to make it look appealing. Sometimes though, she wants to do variations on an existing idea. It makes my work easier, and is also a good opportunity to tackle rendering different textures.

April and May 2022 Box


I get to eat all her test bakes though, so no complains here. What will we come up with next?


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