Our Story
Over 40 Delicious Years of cakes
Jill Phillips Cox
Jill Phillips Cox, owner of Jill’s Cake Creations in Santa Clarita, is the perfect recipe for a cake decorator: a meticulous eye for detail, a steady hand, a healthy dose of determination, a sprinkle of creative genius, and a warm caring heart to top it off. But even with such a serendipitous mix of ingredients, Jill’s career in specialty cake decorating started by accident.
As a young, single mom of three boys, Jill baked cakes for their birthdays and other special occasions. They always had requests, and no matter how fantastical, Jill found a way to make it happen. Cakes shaped as bears, trains, robots, dragons and more came out of her small home kitchen until one day more than just her boys began to notice.
How Jill Got Started
One by one, family members and friends placed their orders. Waitress by day, Jill began baking cakes in her spare time. Steadily, she was honing her craft by taking on ever-more challenging requests. And in 1976, she did her first tiered wedding for her brother’s ceremony in Las Vegas, carrying it in her lap as the family drove through the desert. It was a success.
Almost 10 years later, in 1985, when she was no longer able to balance both jobs, Jill quit her “real job” to continue Jill’s Cake Creations. At first it was just Jill, and over the years, she shared space with a caterer, restaurant, and bagel bakery. She began to make a name for herself with her unique designs, just as delicious taste, and willingness to create anything her customers could imagine. Her son gave her the biggest challenge, when he asked for a wedding cake to match his tropical Malibu wedding. Using a cordless pump, kiddie pool, clear shower curtain and other household goods, Jill built a working waterfall that cascaded down the side of his five-tier cake, where a clay topper depicted the couple dangling their toes in the water.
As Jill’s ambition grew, so did her Santa Clarita cake shop, in 1998 she eventually moved to a space of her own on Bouquet Canyon Road. Today, she’s made 1000’s of cakes, the biggest one serving 2,500 people. Jill’s Cake Creations is the top choice for the City of Santa Clarita, local country clubs, and hotels including the Hyatt Regency Valencia, Bonaventure Hotel, Newhall Mansion, and more. She’s now serving her second generation of brides, as mothers bring their daughters into her store with memories of their own Jill’s Signature Cake.
Jill’s Cake Creations is regularly featured in the entertainment world, as a favorite of many Hollywood studios, as well as in national publications such as People Magazine. Ervin “Magic” Johnson, Forest Whitaker and the cast of Entertainment Tonight have all enjoyed their custom-designed specialty cakes. Jill’s team has served cakes to many sets and productions, such as, Disney and CSI. Their attention to detail that is needed when making identical cakes for the movie and tv industry has made them a go-to company for set productions such as the Wedding Band, Blackish, CSI, Monk, and GLOW.
Jill’s has proudly made several cakes for Ervin “Magic” Johnson and his family. In 1992, Jill made a towering birthday cake for “Magic”, which was featured 20 years later in a tv show based on “Magic’s” history.
Jill’s is also a founding member of Santa Clarita Wedding & Event Professionals (SCWEP), an association of industry leaders dedicated to providing education to brides that will make their wedding day turn into the perfect memory. In the community, Jill’s cakes have been centerpieces for many favorite nonprofit organizations including SCV Child and Family Center. She has been a participant in Taste of the Town every year since its inception.
Though she never planned on being a fearless cake decorator with a talent for bringing sweet dreams to life, Jill has found her lifelong passion. When she’s not wielding a pastry bag or searching the garden for the perfect flower, Jill is spending time with her children and grandchildren, cherishing the memory of her late husband, Russ Cox. She’s filling her days with magic, one delicious design at a time.
