Baked from the heart

Baked fresh. Good taste. Whipped cream cakes. Low price. Now you’re talking about one of the best-known bakeries in Hua Hin.

At age 16, Chutima Muanjun decided to enroll in the gastronomy major of a vocational college in her hometown—Ta-yaang, Petchburi. The young girl thought she wasn’t gifted in academic subjects and believed that it was practical career training that would pave way for making her living.

After three years in college, the 19-year-old new graduate took on another phase of journey, getting herself wrapped in the swirls of baked goods’ aroma. Bakery “Cake Chutima” was given birth to in that step of her life. The first branch in her neighborhood started off with only a few items and a small number of regulars. Slowly but surely the little baking house was blooming.

Fifteen years strong, the young lady has matured into a fully-grown woman. The young mother is now permanently based in Hua Hin, supervising the six-year-old larger second branch of her Cake Chutima, which is located on the peaceful Naeb Kayhart Road.

Today baked goods no longer serves her as a mere tool of making a living. Chutima is making a life—one filled with a great variety of tastes, flavors and textures. Today baking the best for her customers is Chutima’s passion. Opening seven days a week from 7am to 9pm, Cake Chutima in Hua Hin caters to bakery lovers with tasty goods made of high-quality ingredients and sold at low prices.

Baked fresh. Good taste. Low price.

There has never been an hour when its glass doors stay unswung or the cashier isn’t fronted by a long queue of sweet tooth carrying filled trays in their hands. Once you pay, you may be on a go, or get yourself seated at the wooden tables outside the shop. Ask any locals for a place to make a pit stop where you can grab good bakes to eat plus a cup of coffee to sip, Cake Chutima will definitely top the list of suggestions.

Over ten hours everyday Cake Chutima’s kitchen is kept in continual activity by bakers who are busy baking and garnishing. On the other side of the glass windows, the display area and the cashier never ceases to receive a number of customers at one moment.

“Baked fresh. Good taste. Low price. We sell high quality bakes at the prices anyone can afford. When the products sell out fast, it allows us to bake all new and fresh stuff daily. Bakes always are good when they are fresh.” Chutima speaks of the selling points of her bakery.
Going the whole nine yards

Good taste and low price—how could that be possible? The combination of great qualities that contributes to Cake Chutima’s success may sound almost illogical, but it is not impossible.

Chutima dedicates to her passion of baking even though the desire for the best equals higher costs of ingredients. “We don’t expect to make huge profits out of the bakery. We just want to stay. The ingredients we use may be more expensive than out there, but it’s worth it.” says Chutima.

Out of the selectiveness, she opts to order ingredients from nearby province Petchburi despite transportation costs, citing the greater availability of high quality products. The buttery cream used on cakes here is even imported all the way from the US.

The endless menu

Aside from the determination to keep the quality of the products on their top, Chutima is always on the move to expand the bakery’s kaleidoscope of delectable choices. Twice the size of usual shophouses, more than 150 items are on the shelves, in the fridges and in the heating glass cabinets. A variety of cakes, including Tiramisu and Blueberry Cheese Pie, are taken out fresh and cool while puffs and pies are kept warmed and crispy all day.

Getting whipped by whipped cream

The list of baked items here is ever-growing, and lately Chutima’s focus has been cast on expanding the array of whipped cream cakes as more customers are tapping on the health-conscious trend. Non-dairy and lighter in texture, whipped cream poses less threat to the cardio health and is receiving attention from health watchers.

Recently, the bakery has introduced sponge cake with whipped cream coconut pudding topping and zalacca-flavored whipped cream cake.

One non-hotelier who makes whipped cream cakes
Whipped cream cakes may be regarded as a signature product line of Cake Chutima. Not only due to how extensive the array currently is, but also because whipped cream cakes are not usual items for a downhome kind of bakery like Cake Chutima. The cakes mostly are sold only in upscale bakeries housed in hotels.

Thai-style bakes, drinks and snack boxes

Aside from the standard range of baked goods westerners are familiar with, Thai-style buns and cakes are also found in Chutima Cake bakery—for example, shredded pork bun, sweetened yolk bun, cake with sliced Thai banana, sugared taro and Thai-style curry puffs.

Complete your chill-out moments with a glass of drink of a cup of freshly brewed coffee. You may pick orange frappe, coffee frappe, lemon iced tea frappe, milky Thai tea, milky coffee, sugared black coffee, beer or water.

Organizers of outings or seminars may order snack boxes, with no extra charges. In addition, Cake Chutima also sells ingredients at reasonable prices. This mainly caters to housewives and gastronomy students in the area since ingredients are quite hard to find in Hua Hin.