How a Masterchef Ep Turned Raymond Tan From Accounting Student to Cult Baker

The first time Raymond Tan attempted to bake, it didn’t end well. “There’s a photo of me as a kid trying to make a cake in a microwave oven,” says the owner of cult bakeries Raya and Dua – both known for Southeast Asian-influenced desserts. “I was like six or seven, and it was a major fail.”

The second time around, in 2014, Malaysian-born Tan was a postgrad accounting student living in Melbourne. He’d flirted with cake content on Instagram and Youtube, but it was a Masterchef challenge that eventually coaxed him into the kitchen.

“I remember seeing that a contestant on Masterchef was making macarons, and it was such a tough thing to make. I just wanted to try for myself, so that’s how it all started,” Tan says. “I didn’t even have a big sweet tooth back then. I was just very curious about what it tasted like and why it was so hard.”

Curiosity is a word Tan uses a lot to describe his early approach to baking. Obsession is another. Ask him why he chose to start his baking journey with notoriously finnicky macarons and not something more achievable – say, cupcakes or Anzac biscuits – and he lays it out plainly. “Because it looked so hard. And I just wanted to try.”

Now a debut cookbook author – his newly launched title, You’re Welcome, is co-written by Broadsheet Melbourne editor Audrey Payne – Tan tutored himself early on by binge-reading cookbooks, watching hours of Youtube videos, and trialling and re-trialling dozens of recipes.

Sometimes, led by curiosity, he learnt by replicating favourite snacks. One recipe in the book, for example, started after Tan ate a particularly good cookie in New York and wanted to crack the code. “I see this thing and I’m like, ‘How is it made? Why is it so good? What’s so crazy? What’s the secret?’ I just want to find out!”

Aside from the odd exotic American cookie, Tan built his baking repertoire around what his mates wanted to eat, and how they celebrate occasions like weddings, birthdays and Chinese New Year. So the book is filled with recipes inspired by his friend Gary's 21st. Or his mum's chicken curry. Plus favourites from his bakeries. (There are even some recipes from his aunties back in Malaysia, who finally started to share their cooking secrets once he opened his first cake shop.) It’s inescapably “nostalgic”, Tan says. “I want to know what people eat, why we eat it, and how it’s made.”

Soon, Tan’s sweets were being enjoyed by more than just his friendship circle. After sharing his bakes on Instagram, he started getting noticed by big-name accounts like Vogue and Moma. Then came the invites to teach baking overseas – throughout Asia, then further afield to Paris, London and New York. And though he downplays it, the hype was real. “It was just very natural. I was just baking from home, making pretty little cakes, and then, yeah, I just kept getting noticed.”

The journey since then has been opening bakeries Raya and Dua – plus co-managing late-night dessert cafe Nimbo alongside his cousin. And of course, writing You’re Welcome with friend Audrey Payne. It wasn’t so long ago that Tan was a home baker himself, so he says he’s worked hard to make the book’s recipes as accessible and easy as possible. He’s already done the trial and error, so we don’t have to.

Moving to Australia all those years ago, Tan was driven to work hard and make it in a new country. And it’s probably as much of a surprise to him as it was to his family that his career came to be in baking rather than accountancy. Once a high achiever, always a high achiever? Tan laughs. “I think baking is my chance to finally have straight As.”

Broadsheet Access will hold an exclusive masterclass with Raymond Tan and co-author Audrey Payne at Raya on Sunday June 14. Guests can enjoy a selection of sweet treats from You’re Welcome, plus a live kueh demonstration showing how to make the traditional bite-sized Southeast Asian desserts, plus an engaging Q&A session.

A handful of tickets are still available so log in or subscribe to Broadsheet today to secure your ticket. Subscriptions start at just $1 a week.