Cake-Making Show is Cult Hit

Last week, a trio of Food Network stars entertained a crowd of groupies in Anaheim doing what they do every week on TV: talk and decorate cakes. KPCC's Special Correspondent Kitty Felde sat down with the aces behind "Ace of Cakes" and whipped up this profile.

Kitty Felde: The premise for "Ace of Cakes" is simple.

Duff Goldman (from show opening): After pastry school, I decided to make cakes my way. So I set up shop and hired the most talented people I know, my friends.

Felde: True, or just TV hyperbole?

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Goldman: It is true.

Felde: Duff Goldman is the owner of Baltimore's Charm City Cakes. After culinary school and a stint with the famed Napa Valley restaurant French Laundry, Goldman wanted a job that let him take weekends off to play with his band.

Goldman: And the only time you really get time off when you're in the cooking business is when you quit. Or get fired. So I had to own my own place. So I started a cake shop.

Goldman (from show): Well, I'm making a guitar cake for Aaron for his bar mitzvah.

Felde: Whether it's sculpting a cake that looks like a guitar, or one that resembles Orioles ballpark Camden Yard, the more complicated design work usually falls to fellow musician and cakemaker Geoff Manthorn.

Geoff Manthorn: I worked in architectural models before this, building all these, you know, like, large scale models out of foam, and paper, and everything. And, you know, once I started working with Duff at the cake shop, I was, you know, I kind of figured out how to make these edible materials do what I had done before with inedible ones.

Felde: The elaborate cakes are more than just fondant and royal icing. The crew uses PVC pipe, fireworks, and lots of power tools. There's a bit of Marx Brothers madness about the place. Keeping them all in line is the Margaret Dumont of Charm City Cakes, manager Mary Alice Yeskey.

Mary Alice Yeskey: My former life, I was a marketing and Web designer for nonprofits. I always tell people that the day that Duff walked into my office and asked me to come work for him was literally the day I was planning on quitting. I was so done. And he was like "Hey, do you want a job?" And I was like, "Yes!"

Felde: But how did a cake shop in Baltimore end up on national television? Duff Goldman says it all began in a warehouse.

Goldman: We had a live theater cooking show, not taped, not televised, not advertised. It was very... guerilla. Yeah, that's a good word for it. Not "family friendly," you would say.

Felde: There was a straight man, a pretty girl in sequins, and a musician.

Goldman: We would have a lot of banter back and forth, I'd fight ninjas while decorating a cake, or making souffles, or doing whatever. It was just ridiculous. It was completely, like, just off the wall.

Felde: And then what, you fed the audience at the end?
Goldman: And then I would feed the audience, and then they would vote on whether or not they liked what I fed them by throwing eggs at me, in "the Circle of Death," is what they called it. So I put on a helmet, and a cup, and a full bodysuit, and the audience would take turns throwing eggs at me.

Felde: I can't understand why Food Network didn't buy this show.

Goldman: Yeah, the title was pretty bad.

Yeskey: The show was called "Fuck You, Let's Bake." (laughs)

Felde: Someone videotaped the show. Duff showed it to his brother in Hollywood, who showed it to a production company. They shot a pilot, and three years ago, "Ace of Cakes" was born.

Goldman: We were just like, "Why would anyone want to watch us making cakes? This is bizarre."

Goldman: We get a lot of wedding cakes this week.

Manthorn: And the wedding cakes.

Goldman: Wedding cake.

Yeskey: Grooms cake.

Manthorn: We all have nightmares. Cake nightmares.

Felde: The show has a cult following. Duff and his crew are treated like rock stars at public appearances. And when Mary Alice Yeskey dyed her hair from bright red back to brown, the blogs went wild.

Yeskey: I never thought that changing my hair would be a national crisis. It's actually worked to my advantage. People tell me now that I look like Mary Alice from "Ace of Cakes." They're like, "But your hair's different."

Felde: Fancy charity events and Hollywood premieres all boast of Charm City cakes. They start at a thousand dollars, and Mary Alice Yeskey says the bakery is booked up through the end of the year. And how has the show changed Duff Goldman?

Goldman: I think the biggest change is that we all have a lot more choices now. You know, we can look to the future and sort of, kind of choose what we want to do, as opposed to sort of being pushed into a corner and being forced to make a decision. But other than that, I mean, we're still who we are.

Felde: If you want a Charm City Cake, too bad. They don't ship 'em. But Duff Goldman is looking at property here... maybe for a Charm City Bakery in Tinseltown.

Goldman (from show): For me, it's all about the cake. (laughs)