05/12/2026
PJ's Cake of the Day...."MOTHERS' DAY!"....
Sunday was Mothers Day...my Wife Tara and I took our dog Lily and a big Photo Cake to my Mom...Laura 🥰 in the Summerland Seniors home! The Cake was big enough for her to share it with the other residents and the great staff!!!
The Photo on the Cake was going to be a Black&White picture that was taken in about 1965 when we lived on Gabriola island and my Mom had caught the biggest salmon we had ever seen...but...the photo was a bit out of focus. So I played around with it on the phone and turned it into a colourized oil painting of Mom with my two sisters...Shelly and Pam and my older brother Danny and myself! Then I printed it with food colour on a sheet of fondant and put it on her Cake!
My Mom was the reason we started "PJ's PARTYCAKES" 50 Years ago!!!
Her passion was Cake Decorating!!!
All of our lives while growing up we always had the greatest cakes on all of our Birthdays....Holidays ...and special occasions!
My Mom was so intrigued with creating Cakes that she took any courses she could find to expand her knowledge and abilities in working with Icing...she even went to Wilton's of Chicago for Cake Decorating courses...earning her Masters of Cake Decorating certification. She also took a course from John MacNamara (a Icing Cartoon decorator) in San Diego California.
She taught Cake decorating for years throughout BC through the "Woman Institute"
And night school courses when we lived in Penticton. My Mom and Dad...Douglas...also ran a mail order business from home selling Cake Decorating supplies! So us four kids grew up around Cake...Icing...and all of the supplies and accessories making them!
In 1976 my parents informed us that they were going to start a "CAKE SHOPPE" and that we would all have to help!...except for my older brother who was working on the radio as a DJ!
1976 was the year I graduated from Penticton High school and was unsure of what I wanted to do so I said I would help out for ONE year...then possible go on to study Art!
(Well that didn't happen!)
When we started in June of '76 we opened two Stores...the main one was in the Penticton Plaza Shopping centre on Main street...and a satellite Store in Kelowna on Ellis Street!
Our family had discussions on what to name the business ...and the name had to work for both towns....we had always heard of a relative on my Dad's side of the family that had owned a Cake Shoppe in "Clapham on Pavement" in London England in the late 1800's into the 1940's....but no one could remember the name of it!...so...we picked PJ's Cakes...because it was my Granfathers and my sister's initials!
And I didn't really care because I was only planning on helping out for the one year!
It turns out the cake shoppe in London was called..."The Big Cake Shoppe "!!
So...the rest is history...because I had always been around Cakes...and had accompanied my Mother when she went to places like Oliver to teach night classes on Decorating...where I would mix up the icing for her and colour it and fill the piping bags . The very first cake I ever made (with help from my sisters) was a 3 tier Cake for my parents 25th Wedding Anniversary on June 28th that year! It turns out I was sort of a "Natural" at Cakes!
After years in Penticton I relocated to Kelowna in the early 1980's...starting on Hwy 97 near Spall Road...then to Springfield Road...before purchasing the BoBetty's Convenience store building in 1997 and opening up as PJ's Cakes&Icecream on Richter Street.
Those were exciting days!!! We were open 7 days a week...til 9 or 10 pm in the summers for about 14 years there!
My Mom and my Dad would come in and help on weekends !!!
I moved the business in 2011 to a Home based operation to my house at 651 Grandview Road in Kelowna...into the building attached to my house that used to be the swimming pool building before i bought it!!!
It has been an Honour...a truly joyful experience to work creating Cakes for you and your families and friends special occasions...and the greatest part was being privileged with the time I got to spend working with my Mom ...carrying on her legacy!
She will be 96 on June 28th (Yes...she got married to my Dad the day she was of legal age in 1951!)
Iam still working Tuesday thru Friday Noonish-4ish...creating Custom Cartoon...Photo..Wedding...and all occasion Cakes !!!
I still love what I do...and have plan to keep doing them!
Thanks...Daren Williams
