EAT, DRINK + BE MERRY TREAT YOURSELF WITH THE CAKER Last month the Ponsonby News’ team held their quarterly editorial meeting and seven of us met up for a morning tea at PN-HQ. Martin Leach made egg, lettuce, chive and avocado, cucumber club sandwiches. Mathew at Icing on the Cake, Jervois Road supplied a selection of his delicious cupcakes. One of the team is gluten-free so we asked Jordan Rondel (pictured right) if she could make something to satisfy our colleague’s craving and get their creative juices flowing. Jordan’s not the most obvious poster-girl for a baker. Slender, young and wide-eyed, she is a far cry from the jolly middle-aged pinny-wearing stereotype. Otherwise known as The Caker, she is changing the face of baking. At just 21 and fresh out of university (with a degree in marketing) Jordan makes cakes with such delectable and unusual flavours as Chai Latte and Vegan Chocolate Orange and has them delivered around central Auckland. She also creates cupcakes and babycakes if her client prefers. A year old, the business grew from a lifetime love of baked goods. “I think it relates back to my French roots, I remember baking with my Grandma when I was little in her kitchen in Paris and loving everything about baking and have done it ever since,” she says. “Then one day last year I baked a particularly good banana cake and my dad said ‘this is good you should do something about it’ so I started a little website and from there it just took off.” Fluent in French, Rondel returns to France every year to visit her grandparents. “My Dad’s side is from France. I’m really close with my grandparents and I spent a lot of my childhood there.”
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Jordan Rondel also makes cakes for every occasion. Late last year she collaborated with Stolen Rum to create 18 large Christmas cakes for the annual City Mission Christmas lunch, something they are sure to repeat again this year. She is constantly trawling through cookbooks and websites for new ideas and inspiration – so much so she prefers to read cookbooks over novels at the moment. “I read them in bed!” PN www.thecaker.co.nz
PUBLISHED FIRST FRIDAY EACH MONTH (except January)