BANGKA -- Traditional cakes always have a distinctive taste, recipes passed down from generation to generation with natural ingredients make traditional cakes always a menu that you want to always enjoy.
Currently, we are still easy to find traditional cakes, such as in Belinyu, and Bangka Regency, but there are still many traditional cake makers. One of them is that Ayu Septyani and her mother Aryani still exist as traditional cake makers.
Ayu Septyani, who is also a foster partner of PT Timah Tbk, has been a traditional cake maker for more than ten years. She and her mother make traditional cakes such as sago layer cake, srikaya sticky rice, gandus, ulen-ulen sticky rice, steamed baulu and various other types of traditional cakes.
In one day they can produce around 1000 pcs of various traditional cakes which are marketed in cake shops in Belinyu Market, Mantung, Batu Tunu, and other cake stalls such as the Bang Ipul stall.
"There are many types of traditional cakes, in a day we can make five to more types of traditional cakes if the grain count can sometimes be up to 1000 grains. Thank God it is very good if the marketing in the market and cake shop in Belinyu reaches Mantung," said the woman who is often called Ayu this was some time ago.
She said, apart from selling to markets and cake shops, they also often serve cake orders for parties, events, and meetings.
"I often get orders for cakes from event people, because maybe people have known for a long time that sometimes people order via Whatsapp, via Facebook, come directly to the house. Thank God for orders and sales," said a resident of Jalan Kampung Jawa, Kuto Panji Village, District, Belinyu, Regency Bangka.
In running this business, there are several obstacles experienced such as equipment for making cakes that must be replaced because they are easily damaged. She also needs capital to stock up on raw materials such as flour, sugar, and others.
"The most often damaged are the baking sheets, because they are often used, they leak easily. With the capital from PT Timah Tbk, I bought equipment for making cakes such as pans, basins, cauldrons, and others. To stock up on raw materials, such as sugar, and flour, because if it's more expensive, right? pretty good," she explained.
She said that by becoming a foster partner of PT Timah Tbk, she learned new things, such as encouraging her products to have their own brand so that they could be easily recognized by the public.
"There have also been fostered by PT Timah Tbk so far, people know that the cake is Bik Aryani's cake. But it turns out that we really had to make a brand yesterday, we already thought about the name, "Jajanan Rumah Dou A," she explained.
Not only that, but their products are also encouraged to have a halal certificate so that they can increase their selling value. In fact, before he had not thought of it at all.
"I was also registered yesterday by PT Timah Tbk to get halal certification from MUI, there was training as well. Previously we didn't think about having a halal certificate because people think that the important thing is that the cake is delicious. But here and there it is necessary and PT Timah Tbk facilitates this. If you want to pay for it yourself, it's expensive," she said.
She told me that the cakes they produce are made from natural ingredients, so they have a distinctive taste and are well known to the local community.
"Like the pandan layer, we don't use pandan paste, but we use real pandan which we filter so that the taste is different. Hopefully, our cakes will continue to be in demand by the public," she said.
In the future, she hopes that PT Timah Tbk's PUMK program can continue so that more MSMEs will be helped by the guidance and capital provided.
"This capital and coaching program from PT Timah Tbk is important for MSMEs, so that we can increase capital and our business can grow," she said.
