The humble cake has come a long way since its origins in Egyptian times; its uses are multi-faceted. Cakes are accountable for revolutions, freeing prisoners, comedy gold, and many, many food fights.
With such cultural gravitas front of mind, I decided to dig deeper into our local Auckland cake scene and ask two of our most talented cakers and shakers, Jordan Rondel of The Caker and Bernadette Gee of Magnolia Kitchen, some cutting edge questions about their relationships with cake.
Is there a ‘bucket list’ cake you have yet to make?
Jordan Rondel I’ve never made a crêpe cake, so that’s definitely on the list!
Bernadette Gee Oh that’s hard because my inspiration is consistently changing, I think it would definitely be something art related and I am loving impressionistic art currently! Hand-painted for sure.
Do you consider sustainability in sourcing your ingredients and would you consider using ingredients such as cricket flour?
Jordan Rondel I’m all for sustainability when it comes to baking and consider myself pretty open to interesting new ingredients so long as they taste good.
Bernadette Gee I would definitely love to experiment with alternate ingredients and am often looking for more sustainable and ethical ways to operate my business.
Is there a cake you can’t stand?
Jordan Rondel I don’t think any cake is offensive, but I certainly have my specific ideas on what a good cake is.
If you were a cake, what cake would you be?
Bernadette Gee I would definitely be dramatic, probably really tall with ruffles, gold leaf and loads of flowers.
What would be your cake of choice in a food fight?
Bernadette Gee Hmm, something soft and delicious so people won’t get hurt and can eat it while they fight.
Which cake would you never eat?
Bernadette Gee Christmas/fruit cake bleurgh, though I’m told my recipe is amazing!
What matters more to you – how a cake tastes or how it looks?
Jordan Rondel My motto is that a cake should taste even better than it looks.
Bernadette Gee How it tastes! That will always be the lasting memory people have of cake.
