Stuffed Cakes at 9003 35th s.w. (near 35th and Hendrson) held a Grand Opening on Saturday, Nov. 5 but they've been part of West Seattle for more than a year. They make custom cakes, cupcakes and more, specializing in birthdays and weddings but the company grew out the owner's love of making cakes. It's often said you should do what you love and in this case it's working out well.

Owner Donna Lawson explained how the company got started.

"I was a professional graphic designer for 16 years and I got laid off and I came to a fork in the road as to what I wanted to do. I'd always made cakes and cupcakes for all my friends and family and they always told me they were the best and that I should do something with it. I took a few Wilton classes to refresh myself and that was a year ago last summer. In September, 2010 I started Stuffed Cakes. I was in a rental kitchen near the YMCA and business has just been taking off and growing and growing.

A retail store is the next step in her small company's evolution but so far all her business has been coming through her website StuffedCakes.com and through the ratings site Yelp. "Yelp has been absolutely my best tool," Lawson said. "I did a couple of those Groupon things, one was great but one I won't do it again."

"The core of the business is custom cakes (…) and the bulk of my business is birthdays," she explained. They will do weddings but they don't create large scale baked goods, preferring instead to offer products that are smaller but highly customized. Her cake sizes range from the mini cupcakes up to a 10 inch round and for weddings she can make a "three tiered cake being the largest. None of the huge six foot tall cakes, but I definitely do cupcakes and it's a really nice niche that's not being otherwise filled out there."

The original name of the company was just going to be "Stuffed, but people didn't get what that was and it had some connotations so Stuffed Cakes came around to mean a lot of different things. Our specialty is that we stuff them with things. You can get classic flavors or stuffed flavors or our boozy flavors are really popular too with alcohol for those who like that. As an example today we have a Strawberry Creme which is a strawberry cake stuffed with white chocolate genache and it has a vanilla butter cream frosting. We have a new one that is peanut butter and jelly. It's a vanilla cake stuffed with raspberry jam and topped with a peanut butter, butter cream frosting."

"Our tagline is 'Small cakes, packed with personality' and hopeful you eat so much you're stuffed, so the name has several meanings."

Stuffed Cakes is closed on Mondays, but Tuesday through Friday they are open 10 am to 6 pm (except for a 45 minute period or so during the afternoon so they can pick up their children from school).

Lawson is very community minded, has lived here in West Seattle since 1997 and supports her nearby neighbors too. "If people want to bring in a receipt from the West Seattle Fish House (next door) or Bird On A Wire Espresso (around the corner on Henderson Street you will get 10% off anything in our store."

A punch club will be started for cupcakes soon so after your 12th cupcake you get a free one.

Stuffed Cakes offers a gluten free flavor every day and they offer vegan flavors too.

The base price for a Stuffed Cake, cake is around $40 but Lawson suggests you visit the website for more details.

Cupckes in the store are $2.75 with gluten free, vegan or boozy flavors at .25 to .50 cents more.