Why Jordan Rondel credits her ‘naivety’ for The Caker’s success Jordan’s Quick Shots

JORDAN Rondel, known as The Caker, is one of Sunday News’ resident bakers and recently judged The Great Kiwi Bake Off alongside chef Peter Gordon.

The 33-year-old, who became ‘‘The Caker’’ in 2010, lives in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and has a store on Auckland’s Karangahape Rd. She sells her cake mixes in retail stores around the world, has released a handful of cookbooks and has a successful bakery in Los Angeles.

Rondel is also the queen of collaborations. She has just finished working with an olive oil company, and has been inspired to try more collabs in 2023, especially with up-and-coming food brands that have ingredients a cake company might not necessarily work with, including Sichuan flavours.

Tell a joke / Hear a joke Cake / Slice

Sweet pie / Savoury pie Kittens / puppies Sunrise / Sunset

City / Beach

Karaoke / Dance floor Apples / Oranges

Tea / Coffee

Cook / Do the dishes Night in / Night out

I wish 10 years ago I’d known . . .

This may be a controversial answer, but I would tell myself absolutely nothing. Because I think it’s kind of my naivety and bright-eyed, bushy tail take on this adventure that led me to take risks and face challenges head-on.

I think if I’d told myself anything I might not have been as adventurous with my business decisions and probably scared myself right out of it. I’m happy with how it unfolded and I wouldn’t tell myself anything.

I wish I could swap lives with . . .

The person who recently won the $2 billion Powerball ticket, only a couple of neighbourhoods away from me in LA! I have spent a bit of time fantasising about how I would put that money to very good use.

I wish I could live in . . .

Paris. I have a really deep connection with Paris. My dad is French, so my grandparents lived there right up until a few years ago when they moved to Brittany. Every year as I grew up we would go over to see them. Usually it was our summer holidays, their winter. Paris is where I found my love for being in the kitchen and baking. I’ve got such a strong pull to that city.

I wish every day I could eat . . .

My grandparents’ cooking. They are the best cooks that I’ve ever eaten food from. It is funny because it’s the simplest dishes they cook that are the ones I wish I could eat every day. Grated carrot salad – the way they dress it and serve it with boiled eggs and amazing bread and butter. Just the simplest stuff that I would eat in the kitchen is what I would love to eat every day.

The person I wish was on a banknote is . . .

David Attenborough, because he’s a hero – he opened up so many people’s eyes to the wonders of the natural world and he dedicated a lot of his life to supporting environmental causes.

The noise I wish I could never hear again is . . .

The crunching of my car when I got backed into recently, and it was just the worst possible time that could happen. And just at that moment that was just the last possible thing I needed in my life.

I wish I could spend a Sunday with . . .

Demna from Balenciaga, he’s my favourite designer of all time. I love his view on the world and how he brings that into fashion and I think I could be really inspired by spending a Sunday with him.

I wish New Zealand was more . . .

As much as I love New Zealand for its four defined seasons, there is something you miss about that when you live in a place such as LA, which is just one season the whole way through. I wish New Zealand was a little warmer all year round and a bit more consistently sunny like LA.