Jon Cake's cakes land in Les Corts

Jon Cake lands at number 42 Gelabert Street, right on the border between Eixample and Les Corts. The opening of its second store, which had been announced since last May, is now a reality, and the look of satisfaction on Jon García's face, the architect of the project, says it all. "It hasn't been easy, but we are here now."

In this new space, which has a 90-square-meter room with capacity for 40 people, cheesecakes continue to be the protagonists, but the "& Wines" on the sign is not just for decoration. For Jon, wine is the ideal dance partner for his cakes, which, as he always likes to emphasize, are not excessively sweet, because "they taste like cheese."

At Jon Cake there are always five fixed cakes, with slight variations. The current starting lineup looks like this: the classic (which combines mascarpone, parmesan, Grana Padano and gorgonzola), the Manchego (which has unseated Brie), the smoked cheese (San Simón has replaced Idiazábal), the blue cheese (Cabrales out, Valdeón in) and the chocolate (now more intense, with 70% cocoa).

In addition, every two weeks, Jon incorporates a new variety of cheese that gives its name to his "special cake." 2023 has started with the finesse of Comté, which repeats by popular acclaim.

Prices range from €13.50 for the small cake (to share between two), €24 for the medium (for 5 or 6) and €40 for the large size (1.5 kg of cake, ideal for a party of 10-12 people). If our hunger is equivalent to a single portion, they will serve it to us for €6.30.

"To reach the current recipe, many tests were needed." Jon García, an aeronautical engineer by training, leaves his job in 2019 to study cooking at the Bellart school in Barcelona. His internships take him to La Tasquería, Lera and El Celler de Can Roca. The pandemic truncates Jon's incipient culinary career, just as he joins the team of the Casa Garras restaurant in Vizcaya.

But he takes advantage of the time to cook at his home in Barcelona. And he gets into cheesecake. But not just any cheesecake. What he wants is to perfect the style of cake whose authorship is attributed to the La Viña restaurant in San Sebastián: baked, well toasted on top and creamy inside.

Jon, in his effort to find the best possible version, compares La Viña's recipe with the interpretations of Cañadío, Zuberoa, Kava or Estimar, other great exponents of the "basque burnt cheesecake". At the end of 2020, after many tests, Jon approves the formula and his friends are the first to try it. The response is unanimous: "You nailed it."

After his friends, friends of friends try it and, in a matter of days, he already has to fulfill 60 orders per week. During Christmas 2020, his phone is buzzing and the business infrastructure is reduced to an Instagram account, his hands and a shared workshop. The ball gets bigger and bigger and, after hitting it big as a delivery service, in the spring of 2021 Jon Cake opens its first physical store on Assaonadors street, in El Born.

At that time, Jon Cake's workshop produced about 400 cakes a week. Today, the figure is around a thousand. Eggs, flour, sugar, liquid cream, a pinch of salt and of course, cheese. Lots of cheese. With these ingredients and the art of knowing how to combine them, Jon Cake sells his cakes like hotcakes. Specifically, 24 tons last year. Yes, tons. Jon likes to count in tons, because before being an engineer or a cook, he is Basque.

If we ask him how much he invoiced in 2022, Jon hesitates, but pulls out his phone and tells us that the calculation is simple. Considering that he sells his cakes at €33/kg, last year's 24 tons are equivalent to… about €800,000. Jon massages his forehead and smiles. The business is his. Well, 99% his. The remaining one percent belongs to his mother, María Jesús.

Every day he receives offers to franchise, but he refuses. His cakes, his rules.

With the new store, Jon estimates that he can produce seven tons a month. The machine is well-oiled and demand continues to grow. Today, Jon Cake has a team of 10 people, but in a few days there will be 20, or 25. There are many cakes to make and hands are needed.

About a thousand cakes now come out of Jon Cake's workshop every week, with a turnover of 800,000 euros in 2022

Is it crazy to combine a smoked cheesecake with red wine? Or a blue cheese one with an artisanal spirit? Jon García is very clear that it is not. He has been insisting on this for some time on his Instagram account and also organizing tastings, presented as pairings for his cheesecakes. The public has responded by filling the sessions, emptying the glasses, and scraping the plates clean. The combination seems to be a hit.

Jon loves wine, but to offer his customers a wine experience worthy of his cheesecakes, he has put himself in the hands of others who know more than him. A sign of intelligence. The wine list for the new establishment has been built with the help of Partners in Wine, the consultancy founded by Rubén Pol and Lucía Viz.

Pol, a chemist by training, was the director of sommeliers at Disfrutar for seven years and a few months ago decided to leave the restaurant of Eduard Xatruch, Oriol Castro, and Mateu Casañas to launch his own project. In this adventure, he is accompanied by Lucía, his partner and "partner in wine," with whom he won the prestigious couples' tasting competition organized annually by Vila Viniteca two years ago.

Their collaboration with Jon Cake & Wines has resulted in a list with 65 references. Jon wanted many wines by the glass, and in the end, there will be 31 options available among reds, whites, sweet wines, sparkling wines, rosés, and, pay attention, 12 Sherry wines, one of Jon's weaknesses.

Initially, the list was supposed to be smaller, but as Jon himself explains, as he tasted the wines that Rubén and Lucía offered him, the list kept growing. Faced with the dilemma of having to discard this or that, Jon kept both: "people can't miss this."

Renovation of the Born store

Apart from wines, the alcoholic section also includes artisanal Brebel beer and a selection of spirits handcrafted by Carles Bonnín, from Destilateca. For teetotalers, there are local alternatives: specialty coffee from Tornado Coffee Roasters, artisanal sodas from Caravelle, and Kombuchas from LOV Ferments.

Jon Cake & Wines will open from Thursday to Monday, continuously from 10:30 to 20:30. Taking advantage of the inauguration of the new establishment, the Born store will remain closed for renovations until the end of the month, but from February, it will reopen at its usual hours: Tuesday to Sunday, from 12:00 to 20:00.

The Barcelona epicenter of cheesecake moves these days to Gelabert street, in a new space that widens Jon Cake's usual playing field. Now, wines also play.