Nontraditional Desserts to Spice Up your Valentine’s Day

Love is in the air… literally!

Photographer: Joseph Griffen

Opening your eyes to a lovely heart shaped box of assorted chocolates or an array of decadent chocolate covered strawberries is nothing out of the ordinary on the most romantic day of the year, but what if we want to spice things up in the kitchen this Valentine’s Day? Not to count out the tried and true tradition of chocolates and strawberries, but we are looking to make our crush blush this heart season with sweet scents of baked Valentine’s Day treats to really show how much they mean to us. We have brought back cake connoisseur and cookbook author Jordan Rondel, a.k.a The Caker, to share with us her top three desserts to get us outside of our heart shaped comfort box.

“I actually happen to really love Valentine’s Day, and I’ll be getting dressed up to the nines, because why not.”

Never one to play it safe, each recipe and cake kit presented by The Caker is carefully curated with a mélange of unique flavors and unexpected pairings that will have you reaching for that second piece. “My team of bakers in Auckland are SO talented and are a constant source of inspiration to me,” shares Rondel. “Eli, who manages The Caker there, is my right hand man who I riff ideas with all the time — we’re always creating new mood boards and sending each other recipe concepts. At the core of it though, I’m inspired by which fruits are in season when it comes to creating new recipes, and I love to incorporate ingredients which you wouldn’t expect to find in a sweet setting.” Now we know that this is the one day a year that chocolates are a guaranteed hit, but lets try out a new V-day accessory, shall we?

The Caker’s Top 3 Desserts to Crush Your Date Night 

Prosecco and Raspberry 

Of course we could not take away all of the classics, so what better way to celebrate your girls than with a bottle of bubbly. Perfect for your Galentine’s get together, all you need is a sweet glass of wine or prosecco. Who says you can’t have your cake and eat it too? 

Photographer: @jennabaydee

Salted Caramel Popcorn Peanut Cake

As we know, not everyone has a sweet tooth, so we had to add a little zest this Valentine’s Day. Perfect for a movie night in or watching the latest anti-V-day flick on Netflix. Brew up that sharp espresso and press play! 

Matcha Strawberry

After that special date night may we suggest a little dessert night cap? Paired with a chilled glass of rosé or a refreshing cup of green tea, this dessert will be the cherry, or shall we say strawberry, on top of one great night! 

For someone who marks this day in the calendar as one of the busiest days of the year, we just had to ask — How does The Caker truly feel about February 14th? “On a personal level, I actually happen to really love Valentine’s Day, and I always celebrate it in one way or another,” beams Rondel. “I do love a surprise, and I know that my boyfriend has something planned, which will no doubt be perfect. I’m guessing it’s a beautiful dinner somewhere and I’ll be getting dressed up to the nines, because why not. I have a couple of outfits in mind — one is a skirt suit by my friend’s label Apple Save, which I might pair with my Margiela Tabi’s, and the other is a vintage beaded dress from the ‘20s, which will look great with my Prada mules.” 

Always an admirer of The Caker brand, we just loved the new concept of her Caker Crush series. “I ask photographers who I love to shoot people I admire making a cake from a kit and the content I get from that is so valuable because even if it’s just a hand in frame, suddenly it turns from product photography to situational, artsy photography. When it comes to shooting my products I have to think outside the box, literally,” laughed the baking expert, “because it’s not that easy to shoot a box in an avant-garde way. I usually like to include a human element because I think seeing someone interacting with the product makes it way more interesting. You’ll often see me in shoots too. I am the face of the brand after all and I absolutely love getting dressed up and being in front of the camera! The photographers I choose to work with are most often friends of mine — Emma Bassill, Meredith Devine, Liz Barclay and Saye Wuo — who I feel so comfortable with and who are talented beyond belief.”

Careful to reveal only a taste of what we can expect to see next for The Caker brand, “Without giving too much away, I can tell you that I’m side-stepping into the beauty industry,” reveals Rondel. “We’re creating something crazy  in the metaverse space, and I’m releasing a product, which is related to cake, but is unlike anything you’ve ever tried before. Much more to come on all this soon!”

Photographer: Tristan Kallas

Shop all The Caker’s cake kits at TheCakerUSA.com.