JaCiva’s Bakery

JaCiva’s Bakery is a great place to go if you like pastries and sweets.. .especially ones made with chocolate. They are well known for making fine chocolates as well as being a traditionally popular place for wedding cakes. Their shop has a «sweets room» with different candies, and the main «bakery room» with cakes and pastries. Chocolate eclairs are sort of like a «benchmark» item for me whenever I go to a pastry place. I saw a tray of eclairs in their display case and it sat amidst a bunch of other tempting chocolate-​centric goodies. For a brief instant, I considered buying other items in addition to my «mandatory» éclair.. .but I came to my senses and just got the éclair (I definitely don’t need extra calories). Well, the éclair passed my test.. .it was very good. The dough part had a nice texture.. .chewy enough without being mushy, the pastry cream filling was tasty, and the chocolate on top was richly chocolatey and delicious. OK, I’m glad this place is near my house too!

The cakes were good looking and priced right.
But … I remember Jaciva cakes as being dense and satisfying. I purchased a small red velvet and 7^th heaven for father’s day. Both cakes were fluffy and cloying. Even the butter cream was fluffy. What the, whaty what? I won’t make that mistake again.
Dear Jaciva’s staff, please go to to New Seasons, sample their cakes, do that. That’s where I will go next time.

The best bakery in Portland hands down. Cutest little shop ever with so much to choose from. I always get cakes for special times here. High quality everything and great service. Will keep retuning time and time again. Thank you for helping make my special times even more special!

In a word, world class. I’d had the carrot cake from JaCivas before (ohnuuum). I decided to order a non-​chocolate cake for my son’s 25^th birthday. Talked to «Laura», the owners’ daughter, who was delightful and helpful and deserves the highest award for customer service. Wound up going with a vanilla layer cake with berry and cream cheese filling. OMG… it was incredible! Because it was for a man, she had it decorated with «manly» flowers and their signature Swiss butter cream frosting. I wish I’d ordered two! Our guests inhaled the entire cake (which was huge)! I’m sold. I’ll never order from another bakery again. Customer service A+, baked goods A+, price competitive and for me, coming from Hillsboro, worth twice the drive.

I’ve never had a bad cake here. My favorite is the Chocolate Mousse. Super moist and full of layers of deliciousness. The cakes in the case look so good they look like they weren’t made in-​house. The service is good. I’ve ordered a barbie birthday cake for my daughter’s birthday and it looked great. Jaciva’s is one of those places that consistently delivers good quality cakes. I can’t say the same for other places where they’re hit or miss depending on the cake you order. Everything is good here!

I’m seriously picky about baked goods. Even what other people think is fantastic doesn’t warrant a calorie intake for me. By the looks of this place you’d think «old bakery» and nothing special. ., how does it even stay in business? But it’s freaking better than any crêpe, waffle or trendy donut place in town. Try a lemon or raspberry Danish — flaky soft gooey heaven. Try a cookie — then try to stop eating it: P

After 30 years this place has perfected all it has to offer. I come here for those special occasion cakes. So when I need a red velvet cake every year for the other half’s birthday, or for valentine’s day because the caramel pecan chocolates are some of the finest that I have tasted this is the place. I don’t think I have even considered going anywhere else after tasting quite a few other cakes and chocolates. Don’t get me wrong there are other places that have various other types of chocolates that they do very well but JaCiva also has their own chocolates that are superb.
The red velvet cake is what keeps me coming back. So much so that I have only tried one other cake from here and it was just as good. I think the thing with red velvet cakes is that I have had so many others that were not up to snuff that this one just blows me away. Most common issue with red velvet cakes is they tend to dry. Some places try poking holes in the cake and adding various touches to try to moisten the cake, this is not a good solution. Whatever magic goes on behind the swinging doors at JaCiva they manage to get this cake so moist and fluffy that it almost begins to melt in your mouth. Then for a sweet touch there is always a chocolate label on the cake that reminds you this place does chocolate just as good as it does cakes. It is honestly the easiest part of birthday shopping that takes place.
What’s even better is most times I don’t have to call in an order since they usually have a few cakes in the case of various sizes. There is also a stand with cards if you are running late or this was an after-​thought. I really want to order a cake from them because I have seen pictures of their design works and they are fantastic, i’m thinking a harry potter themed cake in my future.

Wonderland of desserts. Most anything you can imagine. I bought one everything. They are delicious. Nice customer service.

I ordered my baby shower cake for our little girl’s baby shower at JaCiva’s last weekend and when I came to pick it up I was met with the most beautiful cake! It turned out just how I imagined it would and it is exactly what I wanted for this special day! Thank you for the intricate detail of the tiles on my cake and the colors were blended perfectly!

I recently picked up a carrot cake here for a coworkers birthday. It might not have been the absolute best carrot cake I’ve ever had but it was pretty darned good. And I think the price was consistent with other bakeries in the area.
I even picked up some cupcakes and goodies for a later birthday and hope the goodies are worth what I paid. I spent more on 2 cupcakes, some truffles, and various packages of goodies than the cost of the cake. If the cake we had today was any indication, they will be very pleased.
The young woman behind the counter was quite friendly and made sure to direct me the ‘chocolate room’.

I love JaCivas. I’ve been here multiple times to get little goodies. When I take visitors from out of town to walk up and down Hawthorne we always stop here to pick up treats.
I decided to have them make our gender reveal cake so that I could tell my coworkers in a fun way.
I called them about 24 hours prior to when I needed it, and they gave me great flavor and design ideas.
I was very pleased with the final product, the price, and it tasted delicious. My mom was a baker, and she agreed that the detail was perfect.
I wouldn’t hesitate to use them for future specialty cakes.

Pink champagne with strawberry preserve filling, vanilla frosting… everyone praised the yum.

I have been going to Jaciva’s for 10 years. They have done cakes for events for my family many times over. A metallic silver 3 tier wedding cake with Magnolias. A Stevie Nicks Birthday cake. Cakes for job promotions and parties and holidays, and cupcakes and chocolates and marzipan… It’s always great! I most recently needed a cake for a friend’s bachelorette party, and despite a technically tricky design, Jaciva’s was able to accommodate for a very reasonable price.
Staff are always very professional and courteous, and I have never had anything but exceptional customer service. In today’s world, that is *really* something to commend!
Thanks Iva! I hope you folks keep going forever!

You guys really saved me today. I was in charge of getting the cake for a friend’s birthday tonight. A red velvet cake, specifically. Of course I had procrastinated until the last minute. I didn’t have enough time to custom order one from any place. I wanted to go to a non-​chain bakery. I had called a couple places who were either sold out or did not have one available. So I was relieved when I called you guys and you told me you had plenty available. Plus you didn’t close until evening so I had time to spare.
At this point, I would’ve settled for an average red velvet cake just based on the fact that I could get one at such short notice. But even better, when we had it after birthday dinner, everyone was impressed with the quality. Including me! It was just the right amount of flavor and texture. It was one of the best red velvet cakes I’ve had in recent memory. So thanks for being a life saver and creating such excellent product to boot!

I have yet gone to JaCiva’s storefront but I have tried their treats more times than I can count.
Recently, my friend brought me a mini 7 chocolate layered cake for my birthday. It looks rather small but not at all considering the 7 layers of chocolate. Since there was 4 of us we decided to split the cake into quarters. Little did we know those quarters were actually big slices due to the 7 layers.
This cake would be cloud 9 for those who love chocolate. Every bite is sweet, moist, rich and delightful.
A cup of coffee would of been great with the cake (there is always next time).

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Galena!
Wanted to get a cake sent out to my brother-​in-​law for his birthday and one Miss Galena (great name, right!) was super-​perfect-​wonderful-​Nordstrom customer service with me on the phone. And after, probably, about 58 cups of coffee that morning, I’m quite sure I was more than a handful.
I’ve been a fan of JaCiva’s poppy-​seed cakes for longer than I can remember. Now that I’m in LA I go to my girl, Susie Cakes, of course, but JaCiva’s was my first introduction to the cake done right. (You young kids today may know P-​town as a foodie destination but many moons ago, before «Portlandia» and the Pearl District, we didn’t have a whole hellofalot. In other words, JaCiva’s was ahead of its time.)
In fact, being a little baker myself I rang them up 20+ years ago to inquire about oil. I always felt that vegetable oil was so ghetto. So although it’s what most cake recipes call for, I asked JaCiva’s if I could use olive oil instead… to which the woman on the other end of the phone replied, «We use olive oil in ALL of our cakes.»
Fabulous.

Delicious chocolates. We walked in and ordered from the glass case, so nothing specially made. However, YUM! Absolutely delicious. We got the hazelnut brownie and a piece of toffee. Toffee is a weak spot for me and this one was mouthwatering. All flavors were on point, with none out shadowing another. Highly recommend this shop!

Beautiful cakes and wonderful deserts

Got this really great cupcake here today. It had a small light fluffy chocolate cake with a mountain of peanut butter cream on top then dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with the peanuts. I couldn’t finish all the peanut butter cream it was so rich and there was so much of it. The cake was really good. I wish there had been less mountain of cream and more cake but overall it was very tasty. I would happily get a cupcake here again. I also thought the young women behind the counter were very helpful and professional and had a lot of patience with the little kids in the store.

Well, I was told that if I had gotten the triple chocolate cake with white, milk and dark chocolate that I’d probably not want to try anything else that they have to offer. They were on the money with that statement. The signature cake. The one on covers, on their brochures, etc. Although that statement is true, I still want to try some chocolate or red velvet cake or German chocolate or even some cookies.
By the looks of it, their wedding cakes are pretty impressive as well. I’m not getting married anytime soon, so I have little to worry about on that front. But the cakes are worth the stop. The cake that I got was only $ 12.95 and perfect for three for dinner. The next size up easily served around eight and I think that they even had a size larger. Anything else is special order and I’m guessing that’s their bread and butter.
Great service, great selection and I’d get a cake there anytime.
Enjoy.

I have had cakes from JaCiva’s on multiple occasions since it is a favorite go-​to for my coworkers’ birthdays. All cakes have been absolutely delicious. This led me to choose them to make my daughter’s birthday cake/​a gender-​reveal cake for a recent party. The staff was very nice, friendly, and professional. They did a fantastic job on the cake — it turned out exactly how I had hoped. My party guests exclaimed multiple times on how delicious the cake was as well.
While in the shop ordering our cake, I bought some chocolates for my husband and I. They were great! I have already been back with a friend since and look forward to frequenting JaCiva’s in the future.

This is the first cake I’ve had in Portland that I really thought was so delicious. I had a small red velvet cake for my birthday and I thought the price was kind of expensive but after having a bite, it was well worth it and even more. The cake wasn’t overly sweet but it was so moist. They had a perfect amount of frosting and seemed like four or five layers. I really hate when the frosting over powers the cake and you can only taste buttercream, but not with this one. Yum!!! I want lots of birthdays so I can eat their cakes.
The girl helping us was so cheery and helpful. It looks like they are keeping their old world tradition alive. All in all, a really nice experience.