“I can never remember a time of not cooking or baking,” exclaimed Teresa Davis, owner of Teresa’s Family Table and the former Teresa’s Cakes. After 46 years, Davis has made the decision not to reopen the café after the pandemic shutdown.
“I always said I wouldn’t close until God closed the door,” said Davis. “I believe the pandemic was his answer that it was time to close that chapter in my life.”
Davis said she grew up in a family that was always in the restaurant business. Her maternal grandfather, Ray Stanziola, was actually the first to bring pizza to Laurel.
“There was a little Italian restaurant in downtown near the old Commercial National Bank. I think the name was Garbo’s, but I’m not sure. I don’t think they even made pizzas. But Pasquale’s was the first pizza chain in Laurel, and he was from New York and made his own pizzas.”
She said her grandfather’s restaurant was named Angelas, and it was the first individually owned restaurant to serve pizza in Laurel. Davis said she cooked with her grandfather and learned a lot about cooking from him.
“But my mother and I always baked ever since I was a little girl,” said Davis.
Davis said the first cake she ever mixed and baked on her own was a Jiffy box cake mix and frosting mix, which sold for 10 cents that her mother got for her. She was seven or eight years old at the time. After making that first cake, she was hooked and was always fascinated with baking. Davis’ cousin had a copy of one of the old Wilton Cake Decorating books that served as a catalog for their cake decorating supplies. Back then there was nowhere locally to purchase cake decorating supplies.
“It had pictures showing you different borders and roses, and from that, I learned how to decorate by practicing,” explained Davis. “I always have to give the Lord credit. He gave me the talent because it’s hard to teach yourself. It takes a lot of trial and error. I didn’t really have any trouble learning it, though.”
As a teenager, Davis made all the birthday cakes for her sisters. At age 18, she made her first wedding cake for a friend.
“That was quite an undertaking at the time,” exclaimed Davis. “It came out okay. She liked it, and that was the main thing.”
Davis said her grandfather, Stanziola, was a driving force in her life. He saw her talent and kept encouraging her to take steps to improve her skills.
“My first job was at PDI,” said Davis. “Then my grandfather insisted I go to Roses for a job.”
Roses had a cafeteria, and Davis went to work in the cafeteria, where she was the dessert and salad maker. After about a year at Roses’ Cafeteria, her grandfather learned of a new bakery located in the North Laurel Shopping Center by Delchamps that was owned by Roy Ward and run by Ruby Clark, The North Laurel Bakery. According to Davis, Ward and his family would later start Ward’s restaurant, which was formerly known as Frost Top. Her grandfather took her to meet Ward and Clark. She showed them a few pictures of the cakes she had made for friends and family, and they hired her on the spot.
“My best memory of that time was making a special cake for Mr. (Bill) Wallace’s wife for their daughter Amy’s first birthday,” said Davis.
At that time Quinn Pharmacy was selling pretty party supplies. Mrs. Wallace brought her a napkin with Raggedy Ann and Andy Dolls on it and wanted her to decorate a cake with the picture of Raggedy Ann and Andy on it.
“Artwork on cakes was absolutely unheard of back then,” remembered Davis.
Most cakes were decorated with only borders and flowers. Davis decorated the Raggedy Ann and Andy cake, and it was a hit. Word got around, and people started coming in with “pretty napkins” to have turned into an artistically decorated cakes.
“My grandfather knew everybody in town,” said Davis. “He knew Miss Ethel Stewart at M&M Bakery.”
Margaret Moler started M&M Bakery, and after many years in business, the Stewarts bought the bakery from her. Davis’ grandfather introduced her to Ethel Stewart, and once again, Davis was hired on the spot. By now, at only 20 years old, Davis had quite a following of customers.
“They would call me at home and want me to make special cakes for them,” explained Davis. “I didn’t feel right about doing that. I talked to my grandfather about it, and he said ‘you should just do cakes yourself.’”
She balked at the idea of having her own business, but her grandfather was pretty persistent. “He said, ‘You will be a success, and I am going to set you up in business,” recalled Davis.
After working with M&M for approximately one year, Davis and her grandfather found a small barber shop on 84 West next to the Collins and Jackson Grocery Store and Holloway’s Dairy Bar.
“It may have been ten-foot-wide and no longer than fifteen feet,” said Davis. “It was not very big. My grandfather found that place for me, and I paid fifty dollars a month rent.”
With the help of her mother-in-law, Lavada Davis, she stayed there for about a year, cooking cakes and making family recipe cookies.
“All I wanted to do was cakes. I didn’t want to be in competition with Mrs. Ethel,” said Davis.
Before she left M&M, she talked to Mrs. Ethel about opening her own business. Mrs. Ethel told her to try it and said, “if you find out that you don’t like it, I’ll hire you back anytime.”
It became a joke between the two when they would see each other that Mrs. Ethel would ask, “You ready to come back?”
One year after Mrs. Ethel retired, Davis made her a birthday cake, a caramel cake, her favorite, and that was the last time Davis saw her.
After a year on 84 West, in 1974, her grandfather found an old beauty shop building across from Shady Grove School, bought it for $500, and moved it to her house on Old Amy Road. Davis took a leap of faith and obtained a personal loan from Commercial Bank in Laurel for $2,000 and added on to the old building, purchased a large conveyor oven and other baking supplies, and Teresa’s Cakes was born. Davis quickly became known for her delicious coconut cake and her artwork on cakes. Her red velvet cake would eventually gain popularity, too.
Her first big wedding cake was a six-tier cake.
“I had to stand in a chair to put it together!” exclaimed Davis. “I think I’ve taken at least one wedding cake to every church around and from Vicksburg to New Orleans. It’s been quite an adventure.”
Teresa’s Cakes was a family affair. Almost every member of the family participated in its success, including her mother, Janice Clark; sister, Kim Maslanka; mother-in-law, Lavada Davis; husband, Jim Davis; aunt, Pat Santora; and numerous other aunts and cousins. And, of course, her grandfather and grandmother, Ray and Hazel Stanziola.
Davis said she has been blessed to have only a few close calls with her wedding cakes. She recalled one particular incident occurring when her mother and mother-in-law were helping to deliver a large wedding cake.
“My mother-in-law was a lot taller than my mother,” explained Davis. “When they were carrying the cake out to the car, they tipped it, putting it in the car and caught it with their hands. I had to redo just about the whole thing. I was beside myself.”
Davis said it was nothing to have five or six wedding cakes a week. “I didn’t have the heart to say no, so I worked my hiney off to get them done,” said Davis. “But I couldn’t have done it without the help of my family, that’s for sure.”
In 2005 Hurricane Katrina hit, and the blue building on Amy Road that housed Teresa’s Cakes flooded with eight to ten inches of water. Davis thought about rebuilding, but at the time it was hard to find contractors with all of the damage and destruction in Laurel and Jones County.
After spending most of her life cooking and baking for the people of Laurel and Jones County, Teresa Davis is closing Teresa’s Family Table Café and semi-retiring.
Davis and her sister Kim already had a small gift shop and candy shop set up in the Pine Tree Village Shopping Center on 16th Avenue, in the space that once housed a Mexican restaurant, which Kim managed. So instead of rebuilding, they moved the bakery there and opened the doors to Teresa’s Bakery Café Gifts. Before long, they added a deli and made soup and sandwiches in addition to the bakery, gift and candy shop, and the tons of gift baskets that Kim made. Eventually Kim would phase-out the gift shop, and they turned the deli into a café serving plate lunches along with continuing the bakery. They would later add a catering service.
In 2014 Davis was approaching retirement age, and she asked Kim if she was ready to take over the bakery.
“I wanted to semi-retire,” explained Davis. “We were doing a lot of catering, and I just couldn’t keep up with everything. Kim has helped me since she was 12 or 14 years old.”
Davis had always told Kim that when she was ready to retire, Kim could have the bakery. Kim was a little hesitant at first but finally agreed. The plans were for Davis to help Kim get her new bakery going, continue with the café, and then after a couple of years, retire. During the planning stages, Davis said she had a dream that revealed the name of Kim’s new restaurant. She dreamed that “Sweet Magnolia” should be part of the name. Kim liked the idea and opened Sweet Magnolia Bakery Café. The restaurant then became Theresa’s Family Table Café.
“She’s doing an excellent job,” exclaimed Davis. “In many ways, a lot better than me. She’s more business-minded than me.”
Six years later, Davis is finally going to retire – well, sort of retire. She has plans to continue cooking casseroles, which will be sold in Sweet Magnolia Bakery Café. Her son, Michael, and daughter, Janna, will continue to do special event catering through Davis Catering Company.
“I’m sure I will continue to put my two cents worth into each of them,” said Davis laughing. “I may even decorate a few cakes. It’s been an adventure of a lifetime. I have been blessed to have wonderful customers, and I love and thank each and every one of you for being in my life.”