Water ice cakes are a big hit at this South Jersey store

Name something more Philadelphian than a birthday cake made out of water ice — I’ll wait. The hitch: The only place that makes them is across the Walt Whitman Bridge in South Jersey.

The aptly named Water Ice Factory — located at 302 Evesham Rd. in Magnolia, N.J. — has been selling multi-tiered birthday cakes of out water ice and gelati since current owner Ralph Skidmore opened the shop in 1987, according to current owner Victor Morella, who is also Skidmore’s grandson.

Water ice runs in Morella’s blood, he told The Inquirer. Morella bought the cash-only Water Ice Factory outright in 2024. He had been working there next to his grandfather since he was 15 years old, constructing cakes out of water ice with a Cake Boss-level flourish while Skidmore tended to customers inside the rainbow-splattered brick storefront.

His grandfather’s most sterling piece of advice? “Not to tell anyone our recipe,” Morella, 30, said.

The Water Ice Factory sells more than 38 flavors of water ice (plus gelati, milkshakes, hard ice cream, and pretzel rods) from late March through early October, when Morella tends to close up shop for the season.

What makes the store’s water ice so distinct from competitors like John’s and Pop’s is the texture. Here, the scoops are frozen enough that you can almost lick them like a Bomb Pop from the ice cream truck. Somehow, the difference makes every flavor taste more electric.

» READ MORE: https://www.inquirer.com/food/best-water-ice-gelati-philadelphia-suburbs-20260429.html

Morella said the Water Ice Factory’s most popular flavors are classic mango, cherry, and strawberry lemonade. Still, the zanier the options get, the better, like the cherry Coke variety that tastes like someone cracked a cold can of soda over a mound of shaved ice, or the Tutti Frutti, which involves hand-scooping slivers of the Water Ice Factory’s 15 fruit flavors to create a multi-colored ripple.

The store has developed a cult following for their margarita water ice, which customers are known to buy by the quart and freeze for at home happy hours. “Some people bring in a little shot and say, ‘This is for later,’” Morella said. “We just laugh about it.”

The store goes through “hundreds of gallons” a day of water ice during the height of the midsummer busy season, Morella said. He makes most of the water ice himself and spends nearly every day hunched in front a mixer for hours, swirling together his grandfather’s top-secret blend of ice, sugar, fruit, and syrup until close. To keep himself sane, Morella said, he plays 102.9 MGK, Philly’s classic rock station.

“It’s back breaking work ... You’re bent over the machine all day, lifting sugar, putting buckets into the freezer,” said Morella. “People think it’s easy.”

» READ MORE: Rita’s latest owner hopes year-round sales will finally make the Philly-centric chain a national name

The cake making, however, is Morella’s happy place. The Water Ice Factory water ice cakes start at $40 for five tiers and climb to $45 for six tiers or $50 for seven tiers. Gelati cakes — which involve sandwiching a brick of water ice between two layers of vanilla or chocolate soft serve — start at $28.

Morella claimed that his grandfather was the first to invent the water ice cake, though you can find other versions across South Jersey. At Cherry’s Ice Cream and Water Ice and Primo Water Ice, both in Cherry Hill, three layer gelati tortes are topped with icing for a more traditional birthday cake look.

Morella is unfazed by the competition. “They don’t hold up like ours do,” he said.

The Water Ice Factory’s cakes can feed up to 60 people, and require at least 24 hours notice. “You have to make a layer, freeze it, make a layer, freeze it,” said Morella. The icier varieties have to go on the bottom, too, he said, to give the cakes a solid base.

Morella said the factory makes too many cakes each summer for him to count. They do weddings often, he said, and Fourth of July cookouts, where the piece de resistance is often a red-white-and blue tower of water ice. His most ambitious creation was an eight-layer lemon and Blue Hawaiian ice cake for a 10-year-old’s Frozen-themed birthday. To achieve the brief, Morella said, he used scoops to create the craggly blue-and-white appearance of the North Mountain.

Morella recommends letting the cakes defrost for a half hour before serving, and scooping instead of slicing through them. They’re not built to melt either: Morella said a perfectly intact cake once made it to North Carolina in a cooler.

The best part, according to Morella, is seeing the reaction from customers.

“I love when we’re making cakes and a kid looks over the counter and says, ‘I want that for my birthday,’” he said. “It becomes a tradition for some people.

The Water Ice Factory, 302 Evesham Rd. Magnolia, N.J., 856-627-6831, watericefactory.com. Hours: 1 - 9 p.m. Monday through Friday; 12 - 9 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.