PHOTO COURTESY FOOD NETWORK
Christmas
Cake Expertise Earns Beth Townsend A Spot On Food Network Christmas Show By Deborah Welky
Wellington resident Beth Townsend has put a difficult childhood behind her, making a name for herself in the cake decorating industry, and earning a spot on the current Food Network show Christmas Cake Wars. Townsend grew up painfully shy. “I was bullied at school,” she recalled. “Kids would bark at me in the hallways. One boy came right up and punched me in the face. So I was super scared and couldn’t bear to go to high school.” Townsend, now 35, was homeschooled following middle school and spent 17 years doing murals and faux painting for her father’s company before turning her talents to cake decorating. After all, she loved watching the Food Network’s challenges and discovered she was “a rock star” on treat day at her three children’s schools. Five years ago, she entered the Ulti-
mate Cake-Off in Palm Beach Gardens and took first place. She then entered four more competitions, taking first prize every time. Then she got an email from the Food Network. They had seen some of her cakes online and wanted her to compete in their Christmas Cake Wars show. Instead of being excited, Townsend was worried. “To be on display for all of America to see? No,” she said. It was Wellington’s PBSO Capt. Jay Hart who talked her into going. Hart had been one of the judges for the Wounded Warrior Project cake competition in Wellington, which Townsend wellington the magazine | december 2015
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