Meet Beth Townsend

Behind the Sugar: Blog Edition

Meet “Sugar Angel” Beth Townsend in Wellington, Florida.

We are very fortunate to have over 8,000 Sugar Angels throughout the U.S. We are so grateful for the time, expense and love you give to bring Icing Smiles’ mission to families dealing with the critical illness of a child. It is because of you we are able to serve! Today we are excited to share our interview with the fabulous Beth Townsend of CakePro Shop in Wellington, Florida.

“What a wonderful job we have as Bakers. We get to see people on their most special days; birthdays, weddings, anniversaries, all kinds of events, but, none more important than the ones where families get together to celebrate a child who has been through so much. I first learned about Icing Smiles seeing other decorators post about it on Facebook. After researching what it was all about I realized this is something that I definitely would love to be a part of. I signed up and anxiously waited to be called to duty. It was such an honor to receive my first email that you were looking for some help in my area. That was about 4 years ago,” Beth said when asked how she learned about Icing Smiles. Since then, Beth has gifted many extreme cakes to children facing critical illnesses.

Beth loves to go ‘all out’ on her Icing Smiles cakes. “The look on these children’s faces is priceless. Their families are always so wonderful and appreciative; it is such an honor to work with each and every one. Anything that we can do to make these children smile makes all of the construction and long hours so worth it,” she said.

Beth believes her background has helped her tremendously in the sugar industry. When she was younger she was an avid crafter and loved to figure out how to make things. That upbringing is what helped her figure out structures and supports. Later in life, her faux finishing profession of 17 years helped her discover how to paint murals and add texture to walls and furniture… many of the same techniques that cake artist use today! Beth loves to challenge herself making cakes bigger, better, and more risky. She contributes those tests and trials to helping keep her interest and passion in the exciting and sometimes challenging world of cake.

It’s awesome that Beth loves a tough challenge, because we contacted her to create a dream cake for 8 year old Elijah to celebrate his birthday. Elijah was diagnosed with very high risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on 4/14/14. While the news was devastating to his family, Elijah has received excellent medical care and support. Treatment unfortunately has taken its toll on Elijah emotionally and physically, however, his family is thrilled to report that he is currently in remission and he is pushing through treatment like a HULK! With that being said, Beth constructed the coolest Hulk cake we have ever seen! Beth said, “When I first made contact with Elijah’s mother I could tell that she was a wonderful and caring woman. She was willing to let me design the cake at will and put full trust in me to surprise them. The Hulk seemed like a fun project. I didn’t want to just do his fist to represent him, I wanted to actually make his head and body – therein lied the challenge [laugh out loud].”

So how exactly do you make a cake big enough to feed a large number of people and still strong enough to sustain an hour long delivery? Beth said she came up with a skeleton made up of galvanized pipe that she found at the home improvement store. With many angles and options to choose from, they had everything she needed. After the pipes were sterilized and wrapped in food safe material, they started stacking the cakes. Beth said, “We baked a ton of cake! We only needed about 20 servings but the finished cake ended up feeding about 60! Go big or go home we say [laugh out loud]. Hulk turned out being almost life size and super heavy.”

The cake was a mix of decadent chocolate and sweet vanilla with creamy vanilla buttercream filling. Hulk’s head and arms were sculpted from rice cereal treats and covered in modeling chocolate for stability. The whole cake was covered in Satin Ice fondant. Using Satin Ice gave her a great base to add detail and took the airbrush colors very well.

What about delivery? The pipe and construction Beth used did the trick! It held up well on their hour long ride to Elijah’s birthday party. A good support system is always the key! Beth said, “Upon delivery I met his father and siblings who all were absolutely wonderful. His father took the time to tell me Elijah’s story and how strong he has been throughout his life and how proud they were of him. Hearing the stories of what these families go through makes it all the more worth it to keep going ahead and helping out as much as I can.”

Beth absolutely loves volunteering for Icing Smiles! She loves the reactions from the child and their families when the cake is delivered. She said you can definitely tell how appreciate everyone is and that feeling makes you want to contribute over and over again. “There’s no better feeling than knowing that you have touched somebody’s life in a positive way even if it’s just for a couple of minutes until the cake is eaten and then all that is left is cake crumbs and photos. I always have hoped that I made a lot of smiles that day.”

Elijah’s mom said, “We give our heartfelt thanks to Beth Townsend of CakePro Shop, Wellington, FL and to Icing Smiles for a spectacular cake to help make his 8th birthday celebration even happier. This was a truly spectacular experience! Thank you, Icing Smiles and Beth Townsend for such a special celebration!”

Thank you Beth for bringing a BIG smile to Elijah’s face! Being that we are midway into our Best Cake Ever contest, we loved the advice you offer on your website, “It’s ok to have failures; they will only push you to work harder and figure out how this happened so it won’t happen again in the future. Remember that it’s just cake. Cry a little, clean up the mess, eat the cake [laugh out loud] and start over. Don’t be scared to try new things that you’re unsure of. Feel free to think outside the box. There is no one set way to do things, make it your own.” We are so excited to have you as a Sugar Angel and look forward to seeing more “smiles” from you in the future.

To view more of Beth’s wonderful creations and tutorials visit her website.