It's graduation season, which means two things: Uncomfortable polyester robes and cake.

Of course, I've never needed an excuse like graduation to order and then devour a custom cake (Congrats, it's Tuesday, here's a cake!), but if you need to justify your consumption, I'm sure you can think of something. Birthdays, anniversaries, new jobs, new babies, new houses, quitting your shitty job, divorces, days that end in "y." All of these are legitimate excuses to eat cake.

But if you're going to eat cake (it's a lot of empty calories, after all), you'd best make sure it's a good one. Fortunately for those of us who like to throw a party any time we go a week without getting a parking ticket, Houston is full of great bakers who produce not only delicious--but also beautiful--cakes.

Here are the best places in Houston to get your next cake, no matter what you're celebrating.

Honorable Mention: Jodycakes, for making gluten free, vegan and organic cakes (three terms I generally want nowhere near my baked goods) that don't taste gluten free, vegan or organic at all. In fact, the cakes are so beautiful and delicious, if they weren't labeled as such, I'd never know the difference.

10. Central Market Yes, it's a chain, but Central Market and H-E-B actually make wonderful cakes if you steer clear of the sugar sheet cake variety. For a customized cake, you need only to give the Central Market baking department about 48 hours advance notice. If you want to customize a cake already in the case, that can be done at any time. Central Market's cakes are quite lovely, too. Don't even pretend that you haven't gotten sidetracked in that bakery section while drooling over the chocolate mousse cake.

9. Three Brothers Bakery Yesterday, Three Brothers Bakery celebrated 65 years in the bakery business here in Houston, but the Jucker family can trace their baking roots back to the 1830s in Poland. After surviving Nazi concentration camps, the brothers moved to Houston, where they've been making pastries, cookies and cakes ever since. Today there are three locations to satisfy your cake needs. The bakeries create everything from 3-D cakes (you know, the kind that don't actually look like cakes) to gorgeous, multi-tiered wedding cakes. Prices vary, so go online to check out the options and get a quote.

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