Architectural Style
Michelle Scurio, Weymouth’s sculpted cake queen
WEYMOUTH – Michelle Scurio made her first professional wedding cake when she was 17 and still a student at Brockton High.
It was the cake that would launch a career.
Four years later, he graduated from Johnson & Wales University with a degree in bakery science and business administration; She paid for this training by running her own small business that makes elaborate, luxurious wedding cakes.
At the age of 30, Scurio was discovered and filmed to appear as a top-notch baker on the Food Network’s popular “Holiday Wars” show.
Scurio has had a part-time job since he was 13; spent nearly every weekend of his adult life baking cakes; and he spends all his free time cooking, sculpting and designing unique, edible creations that are truly works of art.
Its purpose? To turn home-based pastry business Cake Monstah into “an empire”.
“You have to pretend until you succeed. You’re your biggest fan and you have to keep pushing and trying,” Scurio said. “There are people as talented as me who will never have the opportunity to get on the Food Network. I am so grateful. … I want to turn Cake Monstah into an empire of art, entertainment, passion. everything is cake.
Scurio’s small business, Cake Monstah, started as a way for a Weymouth resident to combine two of his childhood hobbies: cooking and the arts.
She said she grew up in a “huge” Italian-Portuguese family with two artists as a grandmother and parents who love to be in the kitchen. To cut her teeth in the industry, she began making wedding cakes and desserts for other events and spent her free time sculpting fondant, items and characters from Rice Krispies Treats, and modeling chocolate.
“What I always enjoyed most was the creative side. Yes, I love to eat and make people happy with food, but being able to sculpt, draw or paint while cooking has always been my passion.” its creator until the last few years. Now people come to me and say, ‘I trust you, here’s my idea, do it’. This is truly my dream come true.”
The cake that first introduced Scurio’s face into the world of edible sculpture was the cake he made in the shape of a fireman’s jacket. After that, someone asked him to make a Converse sneaker, and from there he was commissioned to make birthday party cakes out of beer cans and liquor bottles.
Her portfolio now includes a realistic-looking sub sandwich, a stuffed cat, and an elaborate Christmas-themed cake featuring hand-cut naughty and beautiful lists, sculpted ornaments, and a lifelike reproduction of Santa Claus.
“Visually, as I begin my creative process, a different part of my brain starts to take control,” he said. “I create from a joyful place, and that’s where I express all my creativity. I go into a relaxation mode. I start with the basic shapes, then I start compressing, editing and stepping back, I look at it from afar and it goes back in.”
While Scurio can easily make three or four wedding cakes in a weekend, creating one of his cake sculptures can take up to eight hours in a few days – and that’s assuming all goes well. From drawing a structural drawing with dowels for support to using brass treatments to shape items that would be too heavy when made from cake, every design is a long and well thought out process. And since his time at Food Network, they’ve been getting better and better.
(“Holiday Wars”) was great. I got caught up in this atmosphere and it really changed me as an artist,” Scurio said. … This experience has really made me a better artist overall and has pushed me to improve.”
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His experience is extensive, but pales in comparison to his plans for the future. For Scurio, working for Boston-based celebrity clients and appearing on television is just the beginning. In the coming years, she hopes to launch a series of cake making classes, build an online community of like-minded bakers, and see herself in Netflix’s new hit series “Is It Cake.”
“I really want to be sought after for my artistry and skills and really valued for my experience in making an event even more special. “I want to bring the magic of something edible to a celebration.” “It’s also fun. It’s the kind of work you create from a place of truly joy and whimsy.”
Uniquely Local is a series of stories by Mary Whitfill highlighting the farmers, bakers and manufacturers on the South Shore. Have a story idea? Reach Mary at [email protected]
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