Jordan Runnels Stime has been baking since she was just old enough to reach the countertop. The precision of the art, she said, is something that has always intrigued her.

“I really love the scientific side of it and how precise everything needs to be,” Stime said. “If you add one extra gram of this, you get the cake to be fluffier, or if you take away two grams of milk, it changes it completely.

“Just that little bright spot in your day of bringing somebody a cupcake or cookie because you were thinking about them — being able to be that bright spot for people’s lives is an extreme joy for me.”

Her passion for baking led her to pursue the culinary arts. Today, Stime — a classically trained pastry chef — owns a pastry and baked goods business called Super CAKED.

Operating out of Tolleson, where Stime lives, Super CAKED offers custom cakes for special occasions with various flavors and fillings, as well as decorated cookies. Stime said she can also accommodate various allergens and dietary restrictions her patrons may have. Customers can pick up their orders or have their baked goods delivered throughout the West Valley, including Tolleson, Avondale, Goodyear, Litchfield Park, Glendale, Surprise and Buckeye.

Stime said decorated cakes and cookies are her most popular items. She said the aspect of her decorated cookies that customers appreciate the most is that they don’t sacrifice flavor or texture for aesthetic appeal.

“Cookie-wise, my most popular is my decorated sugar cookie — they’re beautiful, but they’re also still soft,” she said. “A lot of decorated sugar cookies are pretty, but hard or not so tasty.

“I hear people say that all the time that mine are soft and taste good.”

The pastry chef also said one of her favorite cakes to bake is her cookie dough mousse cake — a vanilla base with chocolate chips, brown sugar mousse filling and vanilla whipped cream frosting.

The bakery also offers various seasonal items such as loaves, bagels and various desserts — many of which Stime said showcase more of her “professional pastry side.” One such dessert she enjoys making is a torte, a cake featuring multiple thin layers, with dark chocolate ganache and a coffee mousse.

“Occasionally, we’ll throw in a little bit of orange or other citrus to go with that coffee — and while your brain doesn’t initially love the idea, it’s absolutely wonderful on the palate,” Stime said.

Though the pastry chef lives and works in the city of Tolleson, she is originally from California. She moved to Arizona to attend college and to complete culinary school — which she completed in six months at the Arizona Culinary Institute in Scottsdale. Though she is a pastry chef, she has trained in both cooking and baking. Stime said she remained in Arizona because she felt the opportunities for pursuing pastry were better there, rather than in her small hometown.

Additionally, the journey to opening Super CAKED was not without its challenges. Stime found her first job “right out of culinary school,” working at a local pastry shop. She explained that, unfortunately, her overconfidence got the better of her and after approximately five months, she was terminated. The experience made her realize how much she still had to learn and ultimately helped her grow professionally.

From there, the pastry chef went on to work at hotels, pushing through instances of impostor syndrome along the way. One of her opportunities was at the Marriott Phoenix Resort Tempe at The Buttes. Following a year of employment there and then getting married, she found a job at Sheraton Phoenix Downtown — and then the pandemic happened.

“COVID hit and closed us all down and that’s where the business kind of kicked in and started to do its thing,” Stime said. “It’s always been an idea in the back of my brain to be an entrepreneur of some kind — as a child, I would run a lemonade stand as often as I could and I would be involved in all the garage sales.

“I loved the idea of hustle and entrepreneurship.”

She added that her grandfather opened an almond-processing business in California. His work inspired her to open a business of her own as well.

After six months of staying home, she said she returned to working in the hotel industry with Mountain Shadows in Paradise Valley. As of approximately two years ago, Stime has run Super CAKED full time.

In reflecting on her journey, Stime said she is happy with where she is now and feels excited for the future to come. She explained that while the young culinary student thought she would open a storefront within five years of graduating, the experienced pastry chef and businesswoman understands now that she greatly benefited from taking more time to learn and grow.

As a more seasoned professional, she said she is looking forward to opening a storefront in the future and training the next generation of pastry chefs.

“Take a breath — it’s OK. You’re going to make it and it’s going to be great,” Stime said. “I have a couple clients that have been with me from the start that I’ve done the baby shower cake, the first birthday, the second birthday, the third birthday.

“Getting to watch and be a part of their family growing is awesome and I adore being a part of their lives.”

For more information about Super CAKED or to place an order, visit supercaked.com.