Customer Reviews

Ace of Cakes: Inside the World of Charm City Cakes

5 star:		(52)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Let me just start off by saying that I have the utmost respect for Duff Goldman and his staff at Charm City Cakes. I went to Culinary School and worked in a bakery right after graduation, so I can respect what they do day in and day out. And I only wish I had a fraction of the talent that they do. And after reading this book, everyone can also understand what they go through into making those beautiful, awe inspiring cakes that they produce every day. This is no cookbook. This book goes deep behind the scenes of the show Ace of Cakes. You learn all about Duff, how he got his start and how his crew at Charm City Cakes came to be. The book is filled with excellent photos of the cakes they make and of the staff themselves. And spread out through the book are stories about the staff and how they came to meet Duff. What makes both the book and the television show, Ace of Cakes, so special is that these are not just a group of people working in a bakery every day, doing a job. These are a group of friends that have grown into a close knit family and you can see that they love what they do and it shows in each and every cake that goes out their front door. So if you are a fan of the show or just have an interest in baking I highly recommend this book.

I'd give this book 10 stars if I could! I love the program so was curious to learn more about the "cast," their stories, more about what its "really" like to work together etc. I had no idea that Duff's brother was one of the co-executive producers of the show. Hearing about that story alone gave me goose bumps all over. Duff is an awesome writer as well as a cake designer, so the narrative was "extremely" enjoyable to read. Lots of pretty photos of very inventive cakes too. This isn't a cook book or a how to book but it does offer inspiration and some recommendations if you are interested in becoming a cake designer/decorator, but mostly its about the background story of the people working on the show which is incredibly interesting, fun, heart warming, and extremely rare and unique.

Though I am an avid Food Network devotee...I never really watch "Ace of Cakes". It's not that I have anything against the show itself...it's just that I am one of the, what, 5 people in this country that despise reality TV. The snark, the nastiness, the stupid game-playing, the total lack of shame and/or pride of the people involved...no, thanks.

And yet, from reading "Ace of Cakes"...it appears that this is one reality show that has none of what I dislike about reality TV. This show is real, for one, and is about nice, talented people who love what they do and where they work. Whod've thunk?

The creator of the style of cake, the place (Charm City Cakes) and the great working atmosphere is Duff Goldman. In this book, the reader learns a great deal about him and the people that he's drawn together to create magic. His talent and outlook on life and art are what inspire his business, his show and now, this book.

"Yes, art can be something that hangs on a wall, but it can also be the shape of a building, the sleek lines of a race car, or lighted images projected on a screen. And, yes, art can be something you can eat. Food as art is a temporary medium, but, like all lasting art, where it matters most is not on the plate but in your memories."

I think what made this book so interesting for me was the love and passion that came through...mostly from Duff, but also from the other artists at Charm City Cakes and those who are now part of that family by way of the show. These people love what they do and where they work. They also love their city (Baltimore) and the man who brought them all together. All parts of "Ace of Cakes" come together in this book...the artists, the clients, those involved in the show...even those people who blog about the show. It's a multi-faceted look at an amazing (and very positive) phenomenon. It made me think of the "If you build it, they will come..." quote from Field of Dreams. Duff Goldman imagined it, started it...and then drew people to him with his talent and personality.

The pictures and illustrations are very well done. If you can eat with your eyes...I'd better avoid the scale for a while. And the gorgeous and outrageous designs...well, there's no putting those into words. Well, except maybe this quote from one of the decorators, Ben, might sum it up a bit: "...combining an aircraft carrier, a dog named Randolph, and a left-hand turn signal into one cake can be a daunting task."

This book provided a fascinating look for me into an art form, a place, and some very talented and wonderful people that I knew very little about. Though I doubt I will be able to ever experience Charm City Cakes first hand, this book provided just a taste (sorry...couldn't avoid that forever...) of what this "more than a bakery" has to offer.

"...mixing friendship with business is risky - because close camaraderie among management and staff can complicate hard business choices. Yet somehow we've made it work in most cases. We're all friends who enjoy applying their skills to cake decorating...treating everyone the best you can installs a loyalty that contributes to the collective success of the business."

And Charm City Cakes/ "Ace of Cakes" is a success indeed...and? It now has one more loyal viewer.

You'll love this book.

This is the show in book form. No, they don't teach you how to cook or make frosting. Yes, they show you a few ways to make their cakes.

But mostly this is how Duff started his business and how the TV show came about. You'll learn about everyone who's in the show (and even some you never see) and everyone behind the scenes.

It's a funny book and a good read, if you love the show you'll want this book. If you like the show (as I am, I see it once and that's enough) and this book a good one time read. You'll laugh and then you'll laugh harder. But overall, this is a coffee table book. It's not something I would read more than once. And for this it's a 4 star rating.

Mind you, I enjoyed it enough I was glued to it until I got to the people in the production of the show part then skipped to the end (sorry behind the scenes guys). But would I read it again? Probably not.

Tons of pictures, lots of laughs, if you have an Ace of Cakes fanatic, they'll love it.

Love the show! Love the book! Ace of Cakes Fans: "This One's for You!"

All the ingredients for what goes into the show. This is an Ace of Cakes "family album," including the cake decorators, an episode guide and of course the incredible cakes. You can follow the history of Charm City Cakes from its start to becoming the Food Network's Ace of Cakes.

This is a beautiful book full of great pictures and fun facts regarding the show and the cast of characters that are on the show.

The Book covers all the different aspects of the Food Channel's Ace Of Cakes show in a fun and informative way.

Besides the fun bios of all the people involved in the show there's a Episode guide that covers all 97 episodes spread over the Eight seasons.

In each show's synopsis is a listing of the original air dates along with the main techs that produced the show and input from Duff & his incredible staff along with many fun facts for each show.

My copy of this wonderful book is perfectly bound and printed absolutely correctly and I gotta tell you this sumptuous treat of a book is a joy to behold

Ace of Cakes: the Inside World of Charm City Cakes, by Duff and Willie Goldman is a somewhat unconventional coffee table book that will appeal to fans of that somewhat unconventional Ace of Cakes reality series. It is heavier on the prose than most such books and the pictures, uncharacteristically small in size for a book such as this, show the incredible variety of cakes made on the show. Although the casual viewer may want to take a pass on this one, this is probably a must read for the hard-core, Ace of Cakes fanatic. The book is a mixture of the enthusiasm, off-beat sense of humor, and love for all-things cake and iced with that rock-star bravado that makes the television show so successful.

Just a quick warning: this is not a book about making cakes. Threre's not a recipe to be found between the covers. If you want a how-to book, Duff gives you a few references at the outset. It is not a book about how to run a cake business. It is a book about the origins of Charm City Cakes, the origins of the Ace of Cakes television series, and all the people that make the business and the show such a success.

Coffee table books are usually first and foremost about the pictures. Quite oddly, most of the pictures inside this book are of a much smaller size than expected. The reason here appears to be two fold: for one, there is a heck of a lot of prose; and two, the authors really wanted to show a lot of pictures of a lot of cakes. In fact, the only fold out, that occurs near the middle of the book, is not a large picture. Rather, it is a collage of a huge number of postage-stamp sized pictures of the many cakes made on the show. This gives you a wide variety of pictures to choose from, but doesn't give you the large, detailed pictures that you might expect in this kind of book.

And then there's the prose. There's a lot of it. This book was not just made for gawking, it was made for reading. We have everything in here from the history of Charm City Cakes to profiles of everyone who works at the bakery and works in production of the show. And in spite of what your preconceived notions might be, these people are not only incredibly well educated, they are well spoken. Duff, himself, really expresses himself in both an authentic, highly articulate, lighthearted, and humorous way. There is a lot of back history about how each person profiled who ended up working at Charm City Cakes or working on the Ace of Cakes television show. In most cases we are also treated to their vital statistics: likes and dislikes, favorite books/movies, favorite cakes etc.

When it comes to the staff Charm City Cakes, you can really tell that the 'characters' that you see on the television shows are exactly who those people are. There are no disappointments here. At least for Ace of Cakes, what you see on TV appears to be what you get.

There is also a complete episode guide with summaries at the end of the book, for the most devoted fans.

Are there any problems with the book? Sure. I would have preferred at least a half-dozen larger pictures of some completed cakes. Also, there are a number of times when the writing refers to cake and a picture of that cake either isn't shown on that page or didn't make it into the book. The profiles of the cast and crew seem incredibly authentic. The ones by the executives, however, don't seem to ring so true. The cast and crew seem to be able to let their guard down, making the executives' profiles seem incredibly humorless and stiff (possibly a hazard of working in network television administration too long).

The narrative is often repetitive--how Duff started Charm City Cakes and the story of how the show was picked up by Food Network, for example, are reiterated too often. Even so, given the lighthearted nature of the writing and that these stories are reiterated by different contributors who had different perspectives, this still makes for a good, quick read.

That being said, this book is just about the most fun to read coffee table book that I have ever read, and really documents the show in that off-beat, unconventional, and non-confrontational way that makes Ace of Cakes the best of the best in reality TV. It's a cake obsessed book made by cake obsessed people for people who like to watch a show about making of cakes. Just like the Ace of Cakes series, I have no idea why this book 'works' or was such a pleasure to read. But I guess that is just the icing on the cake...

I knew when I ordered this book that it is NOT a cookbook, or how-to book, though there are plenty of fun tips included!

This review could get bogged down in details, because there was not a page of this book on which I did not find something I absolutely loved--the tips, the photos, the fun facts. The best word for this one is "lush"--the incredible photos of cakes which are eye-candy masterpieces; the photos of people to whom viewers feel a connection; the details of what it is "really like" to work at Charm City cakes... the list goes on.

You have to LOVE the show to LOVE this book--but, isn't that obvious? If someone buys this book expecting it to detail for them how to start their own Charm City--forget it; but even the "show-uninitiated" could get pulled in by simply thumbing through this book. Show-LOVERS, such as myself, will only love the show all the more, as a result of reading ACE OF CAKES.

Some favorite bits: Mary Alice explaining herself explaining the no-visitors policy (I would need to keep Valium handy!); any one of the decorators telling his/her own story; anything, and everything, DUFF.

Duff says he does not consider himself particularly gifted. Where he errs in that statement is in the lack of detail. While he may not consider himself a gifted cake-decorator (I know; none of us who love him can understand THAT), his real gift, to my mind, is his incredible joie de vivre. I guess he must have a bad day and be a grouch sometimes; but it is hard to picture it. Also, my favorite episodes are the ones in which he donates an incredible cake to an important cause. What a large heart this "hairy baker" (An MA quote) has!!!

I cannot imagine this one getting fewer than five stars in a review; but then, I think ACE OF CAKES is one of the best things on television. The winning ingredients are the people, then the cakes.

This is not a cookbook. If you are a huge fan of Ace of Cakes on Food Network, or you know a fan, this is would be a super gift. I am a fan and I enjoyed this book. It is an autobiography of Duff Goldman and how he became the Ace of Cakes. Even if you are not a big fan of the show, the beautiful pictures in the book are sure to inspire any cake decorator to reach beyond their current capability to even bigger, better, and more beautiful art on their cakes. The story chronicles Duff from before he was born and talks about the influence his mother and grandmother and even great grandmother had on him. It follows him through school (briefly) and into college and along the way to where he currently is now. We also get to read about how the other members of the staff came to be with him and about where they came from and their inspirations. The pictures are fanastic also and reminds me of coffee table art books.

Charm City Cakes is one of Baltimore's wonderful quirky marvels, and then there came the Food Network to make Ace of Cakes, which some people still think is the name of the business or of Duff the man with the most amazing laugh.
This book shows Duff and the Charm City Cake crew at their eccentric best and why so many people adore them.
The front end paper shows a diagram of the CCC (Charm City Cake) and who works where. There are colorful pictures everywhere in the book itself showing cakes and the crew, both of CCC and the Food Network team - plenty of "eye-candy" pictures to satisfy anyone who likes the show.
It tells the story of Duff and how he came to be a chef and the beginnings of CCC. There are interviews of the CCC crew and stories of their work and `adventures' with making and delivering cakes. Stories of the Food Network filming crew are in the book and also an Ace of Cakes episode guide. Included is a foldout with small pictures of the first seven years of Charm City Cakes.
No cake recipes are in this book, but it has plenty of tips on cakes and decorating; the chemistry of cakes and what dangers lurk in the monsoon humidity of Baltimore.
You can learn much about this show and the people who have made us smile both with the TV show and here in the Baltimore area.
They are a part of what makes Baltimore a whimsical, wonderful place to live.