Cake Bakeshop, Manhattan Beach

When the bakers at Cake Bakeshop decide what creation to craft each day, they usually use one important criterion: are the ingredients for this recipe in season? If the answer is yes, then they add it to their roster of small-batch bakery items for that day. This means that their ovens can be cooking anything from fruit tarts in the summer months to pumpkin-spice blondies in the fall. During the cool winter months, they rely upon the interplay of nonfruit flavors such as their ginger-molasses cookies and brown-butter rice-krispies treats. No matter what the season, however, they create traditional three-tier cakes—including german chocolate and the slightly sweet-and-sour margarita—topped with edible decorations and swirls of buttercream for customer celebrations.