'Amazing experience': Competing on Food Network dream come true for Brockton cake artist

BROCKTON — Brockton native Michelle Scurio will be competing with other “ho-ho-holiday enthusiasts facing off for a chance at the $25,000 prize” on season 4 of the Food Network’s “Holiday Wars,” a holiday-themed baking and cake-decorating competition show.

During the competition reality show, "teams of cake masters and sugar artists face off in jolly battles to create mind-blowing, fantastical holiday displays that are as festive as they are delicious," according to the Food Network website.

Scurio, the founder and owner of Cake Monstah in Weymouth, creates luxury wedding cakes and custom-sculpted theme cakes, including "realism cakes."

Realism cakes are cakes in the shape of everyday objects that look so lifelike, they might just fool your eyes.

Scurio has whipped up these delectable optical illusions in the shape of everything from a Converse sneaker, to a 3D sculpted fish to Sauron from Lord of the Rings.

And if she happens to offer you a plate loaded with a juicy cheeseburger and fries, she might just be handing you dessert. Her realistic "cheeseburger" is actually a sweet creation of fluffy white cake and fondant, and those "fries" are none other than rice cereal treats garnished with a dollop of "ketchup" made from more tasty hand-sculpted fondant.

Scurio said her personal favorite confectionary creation is a Harry Potter "Monster Book of Monsters," complete with a little green sculpted dragon perched on top and fleshy gums and spikey fangs guarding the creamy, scrumptious contents — made all the more fun to dig into by its forbidding exterior.

Scurio, who grew up on the north side of Brockton near the Lithuanian Village, attended Brockton schools, graduating from Brockton High School in 2010.

“I was raised by a single mom who worked very hard to give me any opportunity at the life I have now,” she said of her mother Diane Scurio, who still lives in Brockton. "My mother has spent the past 30 years of my life rallying behind me with support."

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Michelle started her company, Cake Monstah, at just 17 when she was still a senior in high school after she had started baking for family and friends.

“I got better and better as time was going on and I realized this was my passion and I wanted to go to school for it,” she said.

“Both of my parents are artists,” she said. “My preferred medium is cake.”

After graduating from high school, Scurio attended Johnson & Wales University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she studied culinary arts, earning a bachelor’s degree in baking and pastry arts with a concentration in management in 2014.

Scurio even spent a semester abroad in her sophomore year, attending pastry school in France.

“It was a really amazing experience,” she said.

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Scurio worked for two high-end catering companies in Boston, becoming an executive pastry chef by the time she was just 25.

But in 2018, she decided to quit her industry job and pursue her business full-time. Since then, she’s been working for herself creating artistic, elegant wedding cakes and custom sculpted cakes.

“Combining art and food together is my dream scenario, so anytime I can incorporate painting, drawing, sculpting and air brushing, those are the projects I enjoy the most,” she said.

The Food Network found her Instagram page and "was impressed with all of the cakes," she said.

They told her they thought she would be "a great fit for the show" and that they would love to do an interview with her, she said.

The Food Network selects different people from all over the nation and puts them into a group together. Participants meet for the first time on the show. There are three members in a team, each with different specialties: a cake sculptor, a sugar or chocolate artist and a baker. Teams are expected to come up with something cohesive from all three of their creative styles.

“Some teams are lucky enough to have someone with chocolate and sugar knowledge," she said.

Scurio and her mom knew they had to pick a team name before she got to the show, so they started throwing around names and came up with “Red Velvet Vixens” and it stuck.

“Red Velvet Vixens felt fitting for the season. Vixen is one of Santa’s reindeer, but we're all women, so it seemed very fitting,” she said.

Scurio pitched it to the group and they loved it, she said. Each team voted on which name they wanted to use and hers was picked.

Scurio traveled by herself to Salt Lake City, Utah, to film the show. She was picked up at the airport and whisked away to begin filming.

Each team member wears an apron given to them by the show. Team members were asked to wear white shirts and festive accessories.

She has finished filming but can’t say how many weeks she'll be featured on the show.

The show isn't the first time Scurio's been recognized for her sweet creations. Her cakes have been featured in “American Cake Decorating” magazine and in "Cakes & Sugarcraft" magazine in the United Kingdom. Her work was featured in “The Knot” wedding magazine and she has won “The Knot Best of the Weddings” award for the last five years. She’s also been featured in "Satin Ice," the largest fondant brand in the United States, and BakeDeco, which sells baking supplies.

Williams Sonoma reshared photos of her cookies on its Instagram page last year, and Peloton reshared a photo of a custom-made cake on its Instagram page.

Since announcing that she's going to be on the Food Network, the outpouring of love and support has been overwhelming, she said.

One of her kindergarten teachers reached out to her as well as a Franklin Elementary School friend she had lost contact with.

Her almost 5,000 Instagram followers have increased by 250 since the announcement.

“I've had so many new inquiries and brides reaching out to me, it’s been amazing. I can’t even imagine what’s going to happen when the show airs,“ she said.

She said she has loved the Food Network’s "Halloween Wars" and "Holiday Wars" for years. And in college, she watched the Food Network and read food magazines.

"I never imaged I’d be in magazines or on television for my art,” she said.

“It means so much to me to have the entire community of Brockton behind me,” Scurio said.

The first and second episodes of “Holiday Wars” air on the Food Network on Sunday, Nov. 6 starting at 9 p.m.

“It’ll be a surreal experience watching myself on television,” she said.

To place a custom order with Cake Monstah, visit her Instagram page or her website at www.cakemonstah.wixsite.com/cake, email cake_monstah@yahoo.com or call 508-577-9603.

Staff writer Kathy Bossa can be reached by email at kbossa@enterprisenews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Enterprise today. 

This article originally appeared on The Enterprise: Brockton cakes: Michelle Scurio appears on Food Network's Holiday Wars