■ ■ ■ WINTER 2024 | Typeline Typeline | WINTER 2024 ■ ■ ■

Jean-Claude Goubet says he could feel his cheeks turn red 

as a cheering crowd of GPO teammates eagerly awaited the 

Agency’s 125th red brick building anniversary cake. Goubet 

built the cake, a replica of the GPO building, while working as a 

young man at Roger’s French Bakery. He remembers carefully 

maneuvering the cart that held the cake around cables of video 

cameras set up to capture the event. 

“I was very timid in front of the large crowd at GPO, but 

it’s a fun memory I keep vividly in my mind,” said Goubet of 

delivering the cake in 1986. “It was a nice ambiance.”

Earlier in the day, Goubet had transported the cake from 

Roger’s French Bakery in Richmond, Virginia to the GPO 

Headquarters on North Capitol Street. During the commute, the 

cake suffered a bit of damage. 

“I went into the kitchen of GPO to repair the cake on the 

day of the anniversary,” remembers Goubet. “The people in the 

kitchen were very friendly.

Goubet says every part of the cake, made of spun sugar, was 

edible. He used a postcard with an image of the GPO building on 

it as an example to help him design the cake. He spent five days 

creating just the sugar.

“It’s a very long job,” says Goubet. “You need to be patient to 

make this kind of cake, and it takes a lot of special tools. It took 

longer to bake it in the oven than it did to assemble it.”

Goubet, just 25 years old at the time, spent one month 

working at Roger’s French Bakery while on vacation in America. 

His great uncle Roger Grison owned the bakery and offered him 

a job. 

“Seeing the photos at GPO 

brought me to tears,” said 

Goubet. “I have very fond 

memories of that time. I 

wish I had had a camera.”

Goubet got his start as a baker at just 11 years old in France. 

“I needed money for a bike,” said Goubet of his 11-year-old 

self. “I walked into a bakery and that was my very first job – 

pastry chef.”

Goubet spent seven years of his life working as a pastry chef, 

first at bakeries in France, and then at Bury Sync Edmunds, the 

home of Saint Edmund, the original patron Saint of England. The 

home is known as Suffolk’s Foodie Capital and offers awardwinning fine dining. He also worked at restaurant called Priory 

in England.

Though no longer a pastry chef, Goubet says he still bakes 

cakes for his family. 

“I don’t make cakes that look like big buildings anymore,” 

chuckles Goubet. “But I can still make pretty good cakes.”

Goubet now lives with his family in Cherbourg, a town in 

northwest France. Roger Grison lived in the United States until 

his passing. His body rests in Virginia.

A SWEET 

MEMORY

Four Decades Later, 

GPO Reconnects with 

French Baker Who 

Made the Agency’s 

125th Anniversary Cake

Top: Jean-Claude Goubet spent five days just making the sugar for 

GPO’s 125th anniversary cake. The entire cake, including the flowers 

and flag, were edible.

Bottom: Jean-Claude Goubet (wearing a pastry chef outfit on the far 

right) helps deliver the decorative spun-sugar cake, a replica of the GPO 

red brick building, that Roger’s French Bakery donated to GPO for its 

125th anniversary in 1986.

An article from “The New Typeline” in 1986 said of the anniversary 

party “the anniversary celebrations brought together GPO employees 

from throughout the Office, visiting retirees, and distinguished guests. 

Nostalgia and official greetings, mingled with colorful balloons and 

anniversary cake, created the perfect mix of dignity and frivolity for such 

a once-in-the-life of an agency event.” 

From left to right: Baker Jean-Claude Goubet, Co-Owner Roger’s Baker 

Lily Tran, Co-Owner Roger’s Bakery Roger Grison, and Toon Tran, son 

of Lily Tran, deliver the anniversary cake. 

Jean-Claude Goubet (right) says he pushed the cart shown above 

before a large crowd of cheering employees at GPO’s 125th anniversary 

celebration. 

Roger Grison, owner of Roger’s Bakery, looks on as GPO Public Printer 

Ralph E. Kennickell admires the cake.