About Us

Generations Cakes history starts in the early 1950’s with my Great Grandmother Mrs. Lucie Martin, who worked as a cook for the Symington family (Lloyd Symington, Governing board member of the prestigeous St. Albans School) of Washington DC. She was well known for her delicious pound cakes and pies, whose recipes she created from trial and error as she found the recipes of that day inadequate for the level of company that visited the household. Her delicious desserts were often requested by the many VIP’s who visited the Symington household.

After her retirement , she shared her secrets with her daughter (my grandmother), Mrs Mamie Garnett, who used them while serving as a cook for Lenard Meeker , the Ambassador to Romania during his duties as ambassador and continued after he left his position until the late 1970’s. Her amazing pound cakes and pies were eaten and loved by some of the most powerful and influential people in the world at that time and were often requested by many of them before they returned to their respective countries, states or businesses. After her retirement from her position, she then handed the secrets to her oldest daughter, my mother, Mrs Gwendolyn Townsend.

Although my mother never baked on a world stage like her mother and grandmother, she did use the recipes, secrets and techniques to bake for local churches, civic groups and community functions, as well as family functions in her hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.

As a young man, I developed a love for cooking at an early age, especially for baking and growing up watching my mother and grandmother baking some of the most delicious pies and cakes ever, my love only grew. While serving in the military, I would bake cakes for the holidays and give them to our friends as gifts. While stationed in Japan, I did the same thing and my cakes became so popular it was not uncommon for us to have a house full of Japanese nationals during the holidays and this was before I knew of our families secret recipes or history. I would call home and tell my mother about how people loved my cakes and had started requesting them for their special occasions and were willing to pay.

When my mother saw my love for baking, she then told me of our family’s history and sent the recipes and techniques for me to use under the strictest promise that I not share them with anyone and that I add something to each recipe to make it my own and adding value for future generations. After years of practice, I Marvin Townsend, along with my wife Octavia now share with you the wonderful cakes made throughout the last 3 generations of my family with you and the future generations of yours.

We have added many new flavors and twists to our family recipes, but have maintained the same techniques, never straying away from the basics of those recipes.

We hope you truly enjoy what we have done and hope you can taste the over 3 generations of love in every bite.

From our hearts to your taste buds with love.