Jordan Rondel – The Caker
Jordan Rondel by Tom Roberton
She’s not the most obvious poster-girl for a baker. Slender, young and wide-eyed, Jordan Rondel is a far cry from the jolly middle-aged pinny-wearing stereotype.
Otherwise known as The Caker, Rondel is changing the face of baking.
At just 21 and fresh out of university (with a degree in marketing) Rondel makes cakes with such delectable and unusual flavours as Chai Latte and Vegan Dark Chocolate and 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.”
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!”
Favourite STOLEN Rum cocktail: STOLEN Mojito.
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