Blue Ribbon Cake

gh his frosting was fairly standard, Mr. McSwiggin concocted it using a secret recipe that made it memorable. “It’s a 50-year-old recipe that still exists today,” said Christopher Post, his surrogate son and the current owner and operator of the bakery. “People just love it. They say it’s sweet, but not too sweet.”

A lifelong resident of Salem, Mr. McSwiggin was born and raised in the same building at 118 Boston Street where he would later open a business. After graduating from Salem High School in 1928, he joined his father in the leather-tanning business. He enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942, and was stationed in the Salem barracks. Upon discharge, Mr. McSwiggin, a self-taught confectioner, committed himself to full-time cake-making after conducting a makeshift marketing study.

“He put a sign on the house that said ‘Bakery, Coming Soon’ and watched to see if people would come by the window and read it,” said Jim Wood, his other surrogate son and former apprentice. “He saw all the smiles and decided it was a good idea.”

Mr. McSwiggin converted his house into a bakery and lived upstairs. He would arrive each morning and operate the bakery with a small staff during the day. Responding to the needs of the community, the business tackled other endeavors over the years, including selling baked beans on Friday nights. The bakery achieved it’s greatest success, selling fresh coffee and doughnuts for more than eight years in the 1960s.

“He realized people enjoy a cup of coffee and something sweet on their way to work,” said Wood. “How clever of him to foresee that much in advance the passion Americans had for coffee.”

Eventually the business flourished and reached exclusive heights. McSwiggin’s friends and family, the frosting was a particular favorite of the late John F. Kennedy Jr.

“In the 1960s we were shipping cakes all over the world,” said Wood. ”Limousines would often pull up and guys dressed in suits would get out. Phil eventually admitted they were Secret Service men picking up orders to ship to the Kennedy compound.”

Never married, Mr. McSwiggin made it his mission to help hundreds of young men get their lives on track. He was somewhat of a foster parent to local children and adolescents who were either parentless or in a difficult situation at home. He would hire them as apprentices and provide room and board. In addition to teaching them how to bake and frost cakes, he taught them how to succeed in life, said his family.

“His real legacy was the kids,” said Wood. “He taught them all a trade and taught them about life and work. It’s a nice thing to know Salem had a person like that; a person we can look back on and see 100 kids who benefited from him. The value structure I got from him was hard work, always hard work.”

It was his own youth — growing up during the Depression and losing his mother when he was just 2 years old — that generated his desire to help Salem youth find their way in the world, said his family. “He was a grandfather to everyone in the neighborhood. He was always there to give kids words of wisdom and encouragement,” said James Morton, who lived with Mr. McSwiggin for 25 years while working at the bakery. ”He was your typical frisky Yankee stubborn bachelor. He wouldn’t sugarcoat anything. He was a very upfront, no-nonsense kind of guy.”

“Friends are the family you get to choose,” he said, according to his friends and family.

“He had a big influence on me. I’ll always be very grateful to Phil,” said Post, who took over operations, including making the frosting, nine years ago after Mr. McSwiggin retired. “The business will continue, hopefully for another 50 to 60 years.”

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