A literal one-woman show, Susan Ortmeyer is the owner/founder/baker of Fika Bakeshop, a licensed home bakery (officially known as a Cottage Food Bakery) based in Ben Lomond. A self-described “recovering lawyer,” she went UCLA Law School then practiced law for several years before doing private investigative work, as well as getting married and having a child.
Then burnout set in, and she began looking for a new path. She had a love of baking since childhood, instilled by her Swedish-American mom—herself an accomplished baker who owned a café where Susan worked while growing up. Ortmeyer says she was inspired by her mom’s cultural traditions and customs, and how her love came through in the food she made.
Continuing this legacy, in 2021 she opened Fika, a Scandinavian/American specialty pastry shop, with imminent plans to expand the menu to include savory ready-to-eat dinners like Swedish meatballs. Her fare is offered via occasional pop-ups at her house, but more generally at Mountain Feed and Farm Supply in Ben Lomond and direct through her website for scheduled pick-ups.
Her primary passion is coffee-paired pastry; the raved-about best-seller is the Cardamom Bun: fluffy, yeasted and delicately sweet with cardamom/brown sugar filling and topped with chai-spiced syrup and freshly ground cardamom. Other favorites are the Semlor, with almond filling and the Swedish Sticky Chocolate Cake, a slightly undercooked and gooey chocolate brownie cake made with gluten-free almond flour. Further classic offerings include seasonally inspired scones, apple/cranberry streusel pie and chocolate Guinness cake with vanilla butter cream frosting.
Tell me all about Fika.
SUSAN ORTMEYER: It means coffee break in Swedish, but it is so much more. It is a long-held cultural tradition as a mindful and intentional pause in the middle of a busy day to either reconnect with other people or oneself. In Sweden, most workplaces have a dedicated space for this exact practice.
Where does your passion for Swedish pastry come from?
It’s a way to reconnect with my mother, my grandmother and all my Swedish ancestry. It makes me feel grounded and provides me with a better understanding of who I am and where I come from. And sharing this with other people fulfills something in me that I didn’t know was missing.
For information, call 562-761-0697 or visit fikabakeshop fikabakeshopbenlomond.com
