I have a sweet tooth. I mean a really sweet tooth, like I could eat cupcakes for breakfast, have a slice of cake with lunch and finish the day off with chocolate. It’s a problem. It’s made worse when everywhere I look I find the most exquisite cakes dotted all over Auckland—at store launches, weddings, my favorite café and most birthdays I go to. Each perfectly finished with a sprinkle of nuts or fresh flowers. There is only one person to blame. The Caker aka Jordan Randel.

The truth is there is a reason everyone is talking about The Caker. Jordan simply bakes the most amazing cakes. Her clients range from Karen Walker to Huffer, Verve and Hotel De Brett. Jordan has been baking fulltime for 3 years now and The Caker has gone from strength to strength. It all began with her blog ‘The Caker’ in 2010 which was a little way of selling her cakes. One of her first customers was Karen Walker who ordered some cakes to sell at the Department Store Café and word of mouth has done the rest. Jordan has just opened her own premises on K’Rd. The Caker shop will be run by appointment only with small groups able to book for afternoon teas, meetings or even elegant hens parties. The shop, with high ceilings and wooden floors, fits about 15 comfortably and is sure to book up just as fast as her cakes are ordered.

As if that wasn’t exciting enough hold onto your aprons because The Caker has just launched an amazing cookbook with “50 new and unusual cake recipes”, which means I can channel my inner Caker all in the comfort of my home. This could be dangerous.

I got to chat to the lovely Jordan and pick her brain about all things sweet.

FM- You have a bachelor of Commerce in marketing…how did you get from there to baking cakes? I suppose I always knew I wanted to own my own business rather than work for someone else, hence why I chose to do a commerce degree. But despite my obsession with baking, I never really thought about owning a cake making business. Still, I would bake a cake a week for my family while I was still at university, and then one day after baking a particularly successful one, my dad suggested I make a career out of it. So I started a blog called ‘The Caker’ in 2010, which was a little vehicle for selling cakes. One of my first customers was Karen Walker who ordered some cakes to sell at the Department Store cafe. This was a great starting point for me. Ever since then, word of The Caker seemed to spread like wild fire and before I knew it I was making my first wedding cake. I think that’s the beauty of Auckland – it’s so small and everyone talks so it was really easy for The Caker to become well known almost overnight. I hadn’t been baking and selling cakes from home for long before I decided I needed to be in a commercial kitchen and make a real go of it.

FM- When did you first realize that you could make a living off of your cakes? Almost from the get go I was bombarded with orders, so as soon as it became a full time job I realized I was onto a good thing.  

FM- You are known for your vegan, dairy free and gluten free cakes, how did you come to specialize in this type of baking? I suppose it was when a lot of people started ordering these types of cakes. I don’t have any food restrictions myself, so it’s nothing to do with that, but I do find that cakes full of ground almonds instead of white flour, coconut oil instead of butter and maple syrup instead of white sugar have a beautiful texture and taste divine. So it was an easy decision to take my baking style down this more wholesome road.

FM- Who is your favorite customer to bake for? Anyone and everyone!

FM- Do you think your French roots are connected to your love for all things sweet, and what would your favorite French treat be? Yes, my earliest memory of baking was at my grandmother’s knee in her tiny Parisian apartment. We would make tarts and crepes and jams. It’s tough to pick my favorite French treat, but I’m an absolute sucker for buttery pastries, so I’d have to say a warm pain au chocolate, fresh out of the oven.

FM- Where do you get your inspiration for new cake recipes? Mainly by what fruit is in season, as most of my cakes are full of fruit. I also follow a number of amazing food blogs which lend inspiration, as well as a few trusty cook books. Travelling to New York and Paris always helps too.

FM- What are some common mistakes that home bakers make, that could be easily avoided? Over melting your butter in the microwave is a big one. Butter really should be at room temperature for baking or it simply won’t cream up. Over mixing cake batters is another easy thing to do, but can make your cake a bit tough.

FM- What’s your best advice for someone who is new at baking? (This one is for me)

Follow the recipe!

FM- You use quality organic ingredients, how important is that to your baking? Very important I think. I only use organic stone ground flour, pure vanilla extract, NZ butter, and unrefined sugars. It’s quite logical – the better quality ingredients you put into a cake, the better the cake will be.

FM- Your business has taken off immensely, how do you keep up and what is next? I do struggle to keep up a bit! But I’ve been doing this full time for 3 years now, so I’ve learnt how to cope with the stress. I’ve just hired my first employee, a patisserie student, so that will help to take some of the pressure off (I don’t really get enough sleep). I’ve also just moved into a new premises, which I put a beautiful commercial kitchen in, and have the opportunity to do a bit of retail situation in the front part of the space, so that’s exciting.

FM- Where do you see yourself in 5 years? Good question. I’d love to be living in New York, running The Caker over there. I’d love to have a few Caker spots scattered around the world, a couple more cook books, and a big team of talented bakers working for me.

The Caker a short film from jordan rondel on Vimeo.

 Visit her website www.thecaker.co.nz

To make an order Email: [email protected]

Phone: 021 314 677

Follow her blog and Instagram to see all her daily creations.

You can purchase her amazing book ‘The Caker,’ from all leading book stores!

Where you can also find The Caker’s sweet treats: Eighthirty (553 Karangahape Road, Newton) Dizengoff (256 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby) Giles (21 Shortland St, Auckland CBD) Fred’s (181 Ponsonby Road, Ponsonby)