Jaciva's Bakery And Chocolatier

Jaciva’s Bakery did a fantastic job with our wedding cake and cupcakes! They were absolutely delicious and our guests loved them! They all turned out looking amazing and well put together! Their staff was very friendly and helped us with picking out what we needed and wanted. We are so sad to hear that they will be closing and we might have been one of the last customers of theirs to have been made a wedding cake!

We ordered our wedding cake from Jaciva's Bakery. My Husband and I were super happy with how our wedding cake turned out to be. It was something that I was personally looking forward to seeing on our wedding day. We received a lot of compliments from our guests about how delicious the cake was. We had two flavors for our cake. The top tier was a poppy seed pudding cake with the mixed berry filling and the bottom tier was a vanilla pudding cake with a fudge mint and hazelnut filling. Erin and Miles handled our order and we enjoyed our interaction with both of them. Miles was extremely helpful in answering questions and helping us put our wedding cake flavors and design together. They also accommodated our request to have our own wedding cake topper put on. Each of our visits to the bakery has been pleasant, their staff are friendly and courteous. I would recommend this Bakery to any person looking to have customized cakes ordered. We will definitely be back again!

Coffee cake. Truffles. Sea salt & chocolate caramels. No place better in town. Devastating news, September, 2023, that Jaciva's will be closing soon. They were our source, on our 30th anniversary, for the cake that my wife tried to get for our wedding. They've been my chocolate go to for every Valentine's Day, birthday, and anniversary since we moved to Portland. Thank you for your service

My family and I have enjoyed purchasing cakes from Jacivas for many years. I recently ordered a wedding cake from them, it looked beautiful and tasted great! We went with a simple icing design and had our coordinator help with placing flowers on it. It was challenging to communicate with their wedding team to both submit and confirm our order, which added stress to our overall experience. To avoid miscommunication with future clients, we would suggest noting which forms of communication are preferred by their team (ie. phone, email, in-person appointments, online portal etc.).

My daughter ordered a lemon cake for myself and a chocolate cake for my brother to celebrate our 60 year twin Birthday. That was the best cake I have ever eaten!!!! It was beautifully made!!!! My cake was lemon layered and had a beautiful edible flower on top of the icing. The icing was very light and delicious. I want to thank you for making our Birthday so memorable. I could tell that the cakes were made with love. I know that I am repeating myself but I must say, that was the best cake I have ever eaten!!!! Thanks again :-) Kimberly Davenport

Worst cake I have ever tasted. No aroma whatsoever. You can taste butter and sugar! Save your money and go to Petite Provence,Whole Foods or New Season. Wayyy better quality!!!! Never coming here again. How do you sell this stuff??? What a joke!!!Glad I tasted the cake before going to the party!! Going to go to Petite Provence in the morning and give the cake to the trash!!!

Jacivas Bakery made our wedding cake for our ceremony at Timberline Lodge. We chose two flavors; the poppyseed cake with marionberry filling, and a layer of carrot cake. They make the best carrot cake I have ever had. It’s incredible. Not only was the cake delicious, it was also beautiful! Highly recommend this bakery for any baked goods!

My husband’s company sent us this cake for our virtual baby shower. This cake was so delicious. Every part was so good, from the cake itself, to the chocolate chip frosting inside, to the crunch of the sprinkles, and all the caramel on the outside. It was outstanding. I wish I had ordered my wedding cake from them.

It is a tragedy that this great bakery is closing down because I just found it! I'm grateful I got to pick up their German Chocolate torte for my partner's birthday. We loved it! The bakery itself is cute with a low key vibe. I had a wonderful conversation with the young person (I forgot their name sadly). We talked about video games and anime, which is truly weeby and made my Wednesday better!

Best dessert shop in town! I have been coming here for 30 years. They have the best truffles. I wish they weren't planning to close. I recommend everyone stop in while they can. It is surprising how big Portland is, that this gem can be in the same place, with the same name, and still people who have lived here their whole life have never heard of or seen JaCiva's.

Sometime in 2023 I had their chocolate raspberry torte cake for the first time and it became one of my favorite cake. The flavor was good and not too sweet, and I love the perfection of each of thin and even layers of cake and filling. The skillset to make this is high and not easily found in the area - reminds of tortes in Europe. Ever since, I had their vanilla cupcakes. It wasn't anything special, tasted like box cake mix. Although the icing flowers on top are nicely done. I've bought their carrot cake torte. That one wasn't anything special. The icing was sweeter. The cake layers were thicker and not precisely sliced, perhaps because of the ingredients (nuts) in the cake makes it too difficult to slice it thinly. For me, I would go back for the chocolate raspberry torte and hope it was as good and skillfully crafted as the first one I've had. I went to support them and hope they don't close down. They expect a tip to hand me a cake. It seems like the reasons for tipping has lost its meaning these days.

Amazing customer service, very sad to hear they are closing. Wishing the family the best!

I have bought Jaciva's bakery cakes for several birthdays and each one was delicious and beautifully crafted. They were loved by all who ate them! I would hate to see them go out of business. Super nice staff

A wonderful find, lovely little place, we ordered the 9inch Carrot cake for a house warming party and it was amazing, I mean soooo good!  The cream cheese layers and everything just melts in your mouth moist and perfect Service was excellent!

Amazing. Woman behind the counter (redhead) was SO sweet and kind, made my day! She had great recommendations too. Cookies were delicious. Definitely a must for the neighbo

We needed a cake for a birthday party and called a couple of the usual suspects, with no success, then remembered JaCiva's and were extremely glad we did. Not only were they able to have a cake ready for us but they had an impressive variety to choose from. We focused on the tortes and were torn between the the Chocolate Raspberry (chocolate fudge cake with raspberry preserves and chocolate Swiss buttercream filling, iced in chocolate Swiss buttercream and poured in a dark chocolate ganache), the Raspberry Poppy Seed (poppy seed cake with raspberry preserves and vanilla Swiss butter cream filling, iced in vanilla Swiss butter cream), and the Luscious Lemon (lemon cake with lemon jelly and lemon Swiss butter cream filling, iced in vanilla Swiss butter cream). After a long debate we opted for the Luscious Lemon. Absolutely delicious. Slam dunk. Great service, and when we picked up our cake we also bought some of their fine chocolates. We'll be back.

I used to buy cakes here all the time and they were delicious all the time. I bought one for my son's birthday and unfortunately it tasted like anything you can buy at Safeway. I paid $55 for a cake that was unimpressive. The frosting tasted like granulated sugar and the filling was the same with chocolate chips mixed in with it. I was really excited to taste it, but wasdisappointed

It's during pandemic, I wanted some sweets, chocolates, cakes anything that fulfills some cravings! We were in the neighborhood, so there! There's a small window, to view what they've got. Cookies are not what I have in mind. So, I asked the clerk, what else. . . we almost left not getting anything, none that she mentioned tempt me, UNTIL she mentioned CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE. OK, we got a slice, already packed inside a box, ready to go. It took me longer to find some $$$ in my purse, than for her to walk and turned around to hand me a box. We shared everything, and it was a perfect FINALE to our lunch!

Jaciva's is a Portland staple, opened by couple Jack and Iva Elmer on December 6,1986. When I heard they were closing I had to make my first (and what I thought of as my last) appearance and purchase. I ordered a three tier chocolate cake for my birthday, when I went in to pick it up I saw so many delicious looking chocolates (also a chocolatier) and had to snag some for my party. When I say everything was delicious and the service was excellent I really mean it. I will continue coming until (unless) they close, but hopefully our support can keep them open! They have hosted weddings in the past and hopefully in their future, check them out on SE Hawthorne today!

Soooo yummy cookies were delivered to the inflight room at Portland Airport. The artwork is amazing! Thank you!

The folks at Jaciva's are ARTISTS! Plain and simple. They create absolute masterpieces that taste as good as they look. I've been going to Jaciva's for years for special events. They created our wedding cake and a cake for my daughter's baby shower. Both were absolutely spectacular & delicious. Moist, flavorful baked beauty! Their staff are friendly and appreciative of your business. If you're looking to impress & delight loved ones, look no further. Bonus: Their amazing selection of chocolates, and hand held baked items are always available as soon as you walk in their door. The Hawthorne district is so very lucky to have this long standing iconic Portland establishment. I just love this bakery to the moon & back! XOXO

Great customer service, nice location and has really lovely desserts! Totally recommend this place for any occasion.

Hands down... The best bakery in Oregon. I moved here a couple years ago and have been disappointed because the greater Portland metro area Lacks fantastic bakeries. However I stumbled across this place and have to tell you that it is by far the best bakery anywhere in the state of Oregon! The quality of the baked goods is incredible. Skip voodoo donuts which is ridiculously bad and make a beeline for this bakery because they have a lot of different baked goods to offer and everything is utterly fantastic! I am a loyal customer and will consistently return.

This review pertains to the German Chocolate cake I bought from JaCiva's for a friend's birthday at the coast. (1) I rarely ever write reviews, (2) I detest German Chocolate cake (and usually all cake in general) and was not happy it HAD to be this flavor, (3) I have never ordered a cake from JaCiva's before - it just happened to be somewhere on my route that made German Chocolate cakes and could have a fresh one ready for me on short notice, and (4) Holy SH** THIS WAS THE BEST DAMN CAKE I HAVE EVER EATEN!!! (This was also the sentiment from the guest of honor and everyone else at the party as well.)

Ordered a cake for parents anniversary. Picked it up Saturday and ate it two days later. Still very fresh and very moist.

We do love this bakery. The products are always delicious! It's the getting the products or the correct products that is difficult. I have ordered three cakes. The first was perfect! Everything about it. The second cake was also great, except it wasn't ready when it was supposed to be and my son didn't have his cake for his party. ( this was rectified) This year we ordered a cake. When we initially called for a quote he said he wanted a white cake with a caramel filling. When we got off the phone I explained to him that it wouldn't be caramel, only caramel flavored. He immediately changed his mind. In the email for the picture of the cake, I included this change. He decided he wanted chocolate. I also confirmed over the phone when she called with the price of the cake. I also confirmed this change when we went in and paid for the cake. When we cut the cake it the day of his birthday, it was caramel. He didn't eat his birthday cake. We don't live very close to the bakery, so we have called a few times to let them know and whenever we call, it's I will have this person call you back. It may be a minor issue to some with a cake but a 7 year old was disappointed and didn't eat his cake. It's not like we called the week of the cake to make the change, it was immediately after we got off the phone and sent the email.

Luscious lemon cupcake: very lemony. Full of flavor and super moist. The jelly lemon slice on top was quite cute abd tasty. Almond chocolate dipped cookie: big cookie that reminded me of the drumsticks ice cream. The chocolate didn't overwhelm the cookie ans the added almond bits were tasty too. Would like to try more items from this bakery!

For a fresh, moist, flavorful and gorgeous cake, go to JaCiva's, they make the best cakes in Portland! For me, they are the benchmark Setting the bar for others. The white cake with raspberry filling and buttercream icing is simply divine! And while it looks small for the price, don't let that stop you. It's deceiving! When you slice through all the layers, the small cake feeds several people. We always buy one for our Christmas dessert table and there is never any left over even with all of the other treats available. For this reason, I take a slice and hide it in the refrigerator for the next day. Sssshhhh, don't tell anyone! For special occasions, their decorated cakes are a marvel! Amazing the detail and the fact that it's all edible and delicious! At Christmas, Halloween and Easter, the bakery is filled with gorgeous creations, both cakes and chocolates. Cars line up outside so if you are going, plan an off hour if that's possible. JaCiva's sells their cakes at New Seasons, Zupans and Whole Foods so if you can't make it to SE Hawthorne, you can still enjoy their treats any day of the week. But stopping at the bakery is a treat in itself! Not only do they have cakes, coffee cakes, pecan rolls, chocolate chip cookies and other baked goods, they have an entire case of homemade chocolates and truffles! At $1.80 each, you can make your own assortment. When I moved here from NJ, where phenomenal bakeries exist in every town, many Italian or German, I was shocked and disappointed in the lack of bakeries and the quality in and around Portland. Then I discovered JaCiva's. *Sigh of relief.* Now if we could just get a good Italian Bakery, we'd be set.

Had a wonderful milestone birthday with lifelong friends and the finest cake I have ever tasted

Ok... bakers I get you want to be all fancy, I get it... I get you get what you pay for... I know... these days a 3 dollar cookie is standard! What about the working man! The man that just wants to eat his cookie in his Coleman lunch box on a skyscraper steel beam?? Seriously though this place isnt cheap, and the only reason it got a 4 star. Let it know, this is a 5 star taste.. well.. 4.5... I mean, always room for improvement. Got a couple cookies and a bag of day old pecan rolls. They were very day old. Should have just gotten a single fresh one. The cookies were amazing!! It might have been 105% butter! The chocolate was good, but at that price, I might just have to not be going to heavy. Cakes looked great, and this is one of the (2) bakeries my favorite half LOVES. The chocolate work is amazing, see the photos.. a damn 2ft tall santa!! About 10lbs of chocolate filled with jelly beans!! Daaaang.

An all time favorite bakery of mine. The cookies, pastries and petite brownies are delish. The gals could step it up a bit with energy but overall loved business by all.

Amazing chocolate and cookies! This place is a Portland staple and me and my family have been going there for many years. On the outside it looks kinda sketch to be honestly but as soon as you step inside you are hit with the smell of amazing food and the sight of delicious display cases.

JaCiva's seems to be pretty hit-and-miss. Some items are far better than others (their chocolate chip cookies really not good, but their oatmeal cookies were much better). Their pastries are also a mixed bag...some are really good, and others are not. The staff seemed to be pretty disinterested when we visited, too. Some of their cakes are very well decorated, and look really good. I cannot attest to their quality as we didn't partake, but if you're in need of an adorable bumblebee cake with a manic facial expression, JaCiva's is the place to go! What drew us in was their chocolates. They have lots of varieties, and these, on the whole, seem to be far better than their baked goods. They're a bit on the pricey side, but they're worth stopping in for.

JaCiva has delicious tortes available most of the times and I have been buying these for years and the ones I have had have been really tasty. They recently raised their prices $20.00 per cake. I got a seventh heaven cake at the end of August and it was $35.00 and bought the same cake last week and it was $55.00. Signs in the store point to needing to charge more to cover increased costs from suppliers. I realize many suppliers have increased their prices and that needs to be passed onto the customer, but $20 per cake (or about a 40% increase) seems extreme. Unfortunately, I didn't ask about the price when I ordered (not realizing the price would go up drastically in a few months) and so didn't learn of the increase until I went to pick it up. The people who work there have always been nice, but such a price increase seems extreme. Too bad :(

Ja Civa's been around for a long time! I pass by them often, so I finally tried one of their cakes. I ordered their chocolate mousse torte and everyone loved it!! Tortes are offered in petite, 6" and 9" sizes(not all flavors). The mousse was super rich and the sweetness sends you to sugar heaven!!

This bakery has consistently delivered over the top customer service and cakes for us. This time around, our daughter had a very specific cake in mind, and they were so sweet to take our photo, discuss if they could do it, call us back that day, and not only confirm that they could but also share their excitement about getting to work on it. The cake came out exactly as her daughter had envisioned, and she was over the moon excited for it. Great buttercream, great (moist) cake flavor, and incredibly kind and attentive staff. We'll continue to come here for cakes and more for years to come. (Cinnamon rolls are also great!)

My history with Jaciva's goes back about 30 years, and my fondness for this place remains unabated. I don't eat as much coffee cake as I once did (not really by my own choice), but the Jaciva's version is burned into my food memory as the coffee cake all others should be judged against. A few years back, for our 30th anniversary, my wife chose Jaciva's as the place to make up for her disappointment with our original wedding cake (in another time zone, in another time). Jaciva's made her very happy by creating just the cake she wanted this time. And when Valentine's Day rolls around, there's no better place for chocolate.

They were so helpful in helping me put together this cake for my son's birthday. I can't believe how beautiful It turned out to be! They were so friendly when I came to pick it up, telling me how much fun they had making it and even giving my son a birthday cookie to celebrate him! I highly recommend them and can't wait to place our next order.

Phenomenal red velvet cake! Last minute purchase.. and $65 for a 9 inch cake! Fantastic.. service was amazing as well. Highly recommend the red velvet cake here.

This place is great, last minute cakes and chocolates. They're a staple of the neighborhood and I've never had a bad experience.

Ordered a 1/4 sheet cake for a birthday party yesterday. It was amazing! Beautifully decorated, moist, everything you'd expect in a chocolate cake. The ordering person was super helpful in suggesting flavors for fillings and decorations. Awesome and I'll always order my cakes here!

Always friendly, always fresh. This is everything you'd expect in a local bakery and more! I opted for the frosted cover brownie and chocolate chip shortbread cookie (quite the combo if you like shortbread or even know what it is exactly). The brownie was divine. I could taste the natural ingredients, the love, the dedication put into making it. It was delicious! I look forward to coming back and trying their other delectable creations! See you again soon JaCiva!

I've walked by here many times to go eat in the area but never really walked into this place. I've had their cakes before, but one thing I didn't know is that they have a wide range of truffles to choose from. It's a great challenge I'm deciding which ones to try out. I ended up with 5 and was satisfied. I enjoyed the milk truffle, kahlua, raspberry, and hazelnut one. Most of the truffles are priced at $1.80 a piece. The service here is friendly and if you don't know what you want, they can help make some recommendations.

When I moved to Portland almost 28 years ago, I used to drive from NW 23rd to JaCiva's to get a few cupcakes and they were so flavorful and moist. It has been at least 10 years since I've stopped in and we were walking around Hawthorne yesterday and we made it a point to stop in. It was just after noon and the shelves were almost bare. They had only a small selection of cup cakes and I ordered four. I had one last night and one tonight. First....they are all tiny cakes and I seem to remember them being at least twice as big as these. Both were dry as saw dust and flavorless. No need to make a special trip any longer. I can save my time and money and make them at home.

I had a consolation with one of the decorators/managers, Miles and she was able to work her magic to put my cat on a playing card:) it was everting I could have asked for not to mention the 7th heaven flavor is to die for! You have to book out pretty far in advance but the results speak for themselves! If you are looking for a cut above anything else in town both in service and product your search is over.

7heaven cake is delicious. Every time Im in Oregon, I visited this place and buy one to eat and buy one to take home, California.

Chocolate heaven! Really delicious selection of chocolates and baked goods (especially the Chocolate Decadence and the florentines!) at reasonable prices. The staff was incredibly kind and even threw in a freebie when they learned that it was my first time there. They are also cat lovers, apparently, so they must be good people!

Third Strike. The first two times, I ordered a simple cake and both times, the cake was not ready on time and one of those times, they used the wrong ingredients. On the third time, not only did they not return my folliw up my email or phone call, they completely messed up the cake. When I was nicely asking questions about it at the counter, the girl walked away in the middle of me speaking. This place was probably once great when the owners ran it, but it looks like Millenial grandchildren are completely running it into the ground.

Bought the Banana Cream Cake.The cake looked great and the extra ($) Happy Birthday message was nice. But... I walked up to order and the lady seemed super annoyed with me. Almost like she expected me to know what I wanted, when it was my first time there. The cake was not good whatsoever. I couldn't taste any banana, and it was extremely greasy, as if it was straight shortening. Just a bummer and costly mistake to try some place new for a birthday. I would have been ok letting this go if I had spent $10 on it, not $40.

The Seventh Heaven cake is hands down my favorite! You cannot go wrong with this cake if you're a chocolate lover. They also offer this flavor in their cupcakes and in the form of a unicorn! Seriously, what more could you ask for.

Nothing but great things to say about this bakery! Wonderful customer service. Absolutely beautiful cake. And it tasted just as good as it looked. The fondant is soooo yummy and i'm not a huge fondant fan. We got the white cake with raspberry and lemon filling and it was DELICIOUS! 10/10 would recommend and I'll be ordering all my cakes here from now on.

I love coming here to get bday cakes for my family for any occasion! Their cakes are super moist!! The frosting melts in your mouth! I simply love JaCiva's cakes and my family and I are regulars here. I have not had a bad cake here before! When you first walk into the shop they have a whole display case of cakes that you can choose from and you can also special order cakes! I have done both and have had great experiences with both! Once you have had JaCiva's, cakes from other places just don't some compare!

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.

When I worked at Consolidated Freightway, there was an employee who always went to JaCiva's bakery for her 2nd job. The next day, shed bring in "seconds" for all to share. They were so amazing and delicious, they seemed liked "firsts". I enjoyed your pastries very much! I'd give you a 5* rating! Nancy Gergen

This is one of the best bakeries in the world! I came here years ago and today,being back in portland, i stopped in. The buttercream frosting is so wonderful. Its hard to find better! Luckily they sell cupcakes so i dont eat a whole cake at once which would be easy to do given the fantastic quality of the baked good!

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.

We've been purchasing cakes from Jaciva for years, including our wedding cake 8 years ago. They never disappoint! I purchased a lemon cake for my mom's birthday a couple of days ago and it was amazing! Thank you, Jaciva!

Three stars because I'm sure the cake will be delicious. One star for customer service. We tried to order a small custom cake for my birthday with eight days' notice but they said that was impossible because "it's wedding season and we have covid to deal with". We've been dealing with covid for a year and a half, so either alter your website to reflect your new abilities or do what you say you will (website says 3-7 days notice needed). Also, no, they can't leave the ganache off one of their standard tortes that they make regularly (which is what they offered in exchange) but if I want they'll put writing on it??? When I asked how that's possible when nothing else remotely personalized is possible, saying it made no sense the rude manager said, "That's because you don't work here and don't understand." Thanks for making sure my birthday is a happy one. Over the years their cakes have always been delicious, which is a good thing, since apparently they're going through another period of substandard, snarky customer service.