hmmm...this is strange! So...it's past the 18th...did you receive your cake!? how was it??

YEs yes- I am here!! I haven't been able to access this post - I think it is a victim of when the big Crash happened and all the info was lost - sometimes I'm able to read stuff other times I'm not. So I will try to post on this thread and see what happens!

I wrote about it on the Wilton site so I'm just going to copy it over from there so I don't have to rewrite it all.....

So here is the scoop - I pick up the cake Friday afternoon - when we pulled up I saw them all sitting across the street at a picnic table - the whole staff!! LOL So we parked across the street and went up to the front door and Mary Alice and another girl came running across the street asking if we were here to pick up a cake - I said yes and she said sorry , they were having a staff meeting and they were doing it outside b/c it was the first warm beautiful day in Baltimore this year!! And yes, it was a perfect day. She said they don't get to get out much so the grabbed the chance while they had it! She went in the back way and then unlocked the BIG wooden doors and let us in! I was sad that I didn't get to see them all up close and in action, but that's ok.... When the doors opened it smelled incredible!! So I tried to take in all that I could while I was there -the place is a lot smaller in person then it looks on TV - they do have a lot of stuff crammed into the space! So Mary Alice carried it to our truck and that was that!

The cake itself is pretty - very simple - something I know a lot of people on here and cakecentral could easily do - and I probably could to if I put my mind to it. I do have to say it was larger than I thought they were going to give me. THe bottom tier is around 12in and the top tier around 9in.

So as for the taste - ok, this is where the disappointment really sets in!!!!!! So the cake is VERY crumbly and it's very dry tasting. But the worst part for me is that it's very BLAND!!! I mean if I have chocolate cake I want a deep chocolate flavor and that's not what I got it was supposed to be chocolate cherry and I see cherry in it but I don't really taste it. The other layer was Almond Ameretto and it was a little more flavorful than the chocolate layer but not much. And there is VERY little buttercream between the cake and the Fondant. I think they do a very light crumb coat and that's it. And sorry to say, I am a BUTTERCREAM girl all the way and I would have at least liked a little more buttercream between the cake and the fondant.

So there you have it! The real scoop on CCCakes!

We did kind of make it a "Food Network" day! LOL- Warren Brown has also opened up a CakeLove store in the city so we stopped by there to and bought some cupcakes - again, very disappointing - very bland flavor and I do not like their buttercream at all. I guess I'm just used to a sweeter buttercream and this is a classic real buttercream. I just didn't like it -

Hey guys- I will try to take a picture of the inside of the cakes after I cut them too - I think you all will be surprised at how much filling is NOT used - it looks like someone butchered them now - I chopped them up and brought part of them to work - even these people didn't like it and they will eat anything!! LOL - but I will still take a pic so you can get a peek at the insides!


So the part written above was from a couple of posts I wrote on the wilton forums. I will attach the pics here so you can see them as well....

I hope this goes through - maybe I should have just started a new thread - I would have people send me replies to this post and I couldn't see it - didn't mean to ignore anyone - just having technical difficulties I guess!!

awww...sorry it didn't taste up to standards! that stinks! Maybe they are all scratch cakes...and scratch cakes really DO have a different taste and texture!

It is still a VERY beautiful cake! i love the design! I can say, as a cake carver myself, the top tier you would NOT want to have that much bc in the middle...only because it just causes problems when you are carving. I am still not use to doing this yet...but it's a must when doing a shape like that.

as for bc under the fondant...again...you don't want to have a squishy cake! But, I think that the carved cake has WAY more bc than the regular cake does! that's really strange!

Glad to hear you liked your design! sorry you were disappointed about the taste! Hope you had a good bday!?

Duff is my hero. CCC is so incredibly creative and he makes decorating fun! I have been handicapped for 14 yrs. and I decorate cakes as therapy, stress relief, and to keep from losing the use of my hands!
Belated Congratulations!

Bturpin

I'm so dissapointed for you, and yes the cake is not something to write home to mother about, even the colors are kinda wimpy.

I think all the effort was spent on the dangly shiny bits on the wire.

I'd rather have a yummy cake with no wire than all that mess on top.

Did the cake have any supports or structure inside to hold the cake on top? where the wires stuck into the cake itself or where they put into straws or something sanitary?

If not, I wouldn't have eaten it, since they are always touching their hair and faces and then just grabbing that wire and shoving it into the cake.


BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! as Snoopy, Charlie Brown's dog would say! lol

Thanks for posting the photo's and your story....I think the total experience is what it was all about, always, bound to be something to disappoint, but still very exciting!!

Yea- I get that you don't want too much in the cake that needs to be carved and I think they used a 9in which they torted then a skinny 8 inch and then another skinny 9in on top b/c you can see it in the picture that the bottom part of the tier is obviously torted b/c the color is the same on both sides of the filling and then the middle section the color where the filling is is darker (the baked top of the cake) and then again the very top portion is darker on top too b/c that would have been the very top of the cake exposed to the heat while baking. So I don't see them doing a super whole lot of carving b/c the middle layer would have already been smaller in size then the top and bottom and they were simply rounding it out. Hope that made sense!! LOL - I have carved cakes too and I know you don't want to do a ton of filling - I get that - but the bottom layer I think would have been fine if they would have put more filling in......

It was pretty but I love to EAT cake more then I like to look at them so I was just a little dissapointed with how the flavor was so bland and how dry it was. Even if it is made from scratch is it still supposed to be dry?

Don't get me wrong- I love Duff and Ace of Cakes and the whole staff and concept but I would not be a returning customer... I will continue to watch the show and love them all the same - I just won't eat their cakes!

It was a super fun experience and I guess maybe I did have high hopes but that's ok - I had a wonderful day with my boyfriend - we took off work early and had lunch in the city and went to Cake Love before we went to Charm City Cakes and it was a lot of fun.... A very good memory for me even if the taste fell short of what I expected!

The wires were stuck directly into the cake. There were no straws or anything... The funny thing was that Mary Alice told me when we picked it up how I should unassemble it and I was like ok, yea, I know and then she told me that the bottom layer would have tea straws in it and to look for those and I was like, ok, I know what you're talking about - I use them too - (my bf was just laughing!) so when I took the cake apart there were no straws!! LOL they had a plastic plate that had the thick wooden dowels jammed into the bottom of the holes on the underside of the plastic plate and that was what the top tier was sitting on.... Guess no one told Mary Alice!! lol

Bturpin

I jus took a look at your gallery and Duff doesn't really have ANYTHING on you! lol

What an interesting thread to read. Thank you for sharing it with us. You did confirm what I'd heard about Charm City Cakes - they look much prettier than they taste. Sorry. At least the money went towards a good charity and, if no one else, you got to meet Mary Alice and even better, see the shop in person.

If it's any consolation, I've tasted cake by Sylvia Weinstock and it really was no great shakes neither. Good, but nothing I couldn't have done myself as my husband told me after the first two fork fulls.

It really was a beautiful cake! I am a bit surprised about the cupcakes though. I thought Warren Brown's products would have been excellent as it's not every day you quit a promising law career to become a full-time baker.

I am glad that you had a good time. Seems like MaryAlice could have taken you to meet Duff and the crew. Oh Well, I had heard that their cakes weren't very good but they made a point of saying how good they were on the show. Your cakes are really beautiful!

It almost looks like pound cake, and that can be rather dry, especially with little icing...

I watch this show all the time and the thing I notice is that they seem to work on some cakes for up to a whole week and must keep refrigerating it which would make it dry. Also, when they are carving, the cake looks very crumbly and dry.

Not to mention when those girls deliver cakes, they pick the entire thing up by themselves! My gosh....one of my 18" double layers on a stand for a wedding is so heavy that I would throw out my back if I lifed by myself. There is absolutely NO WAY I could lift an entire 4 tier cake.

So all of that always made me think the cakes were light and dry....beautiful yes...but I'm all about BOTH aspects of the cake.

I feel so much better about MY cakes now! Too bad I can't charge a million $$ per serving tho.

Congrats to you!!!

I think that was a pretty cake but if I paid $500 I would expect much more then that!

I've heard thier cakes don't taste that well before. I'm kinda suprised over that though as Duff has been trained by some top notch places. I would have expected something really good.

I just can't get over the fact that he would charge $50 a slice. Didn't you say the cake was meant to serve 10-12 people and was $500 value?

Wow!

Happy late birthday though. No matter what I would still love to have a cake by CCC.

Joanne

On their website it states that their cakes are 500 dollars MINIMUM. So you're paying that no matter how small or simple the cake is.

Oh I'm so jealous

I think I would let them create something as a surprise after all it will be your birthday and surprises are nice plus you know whatever they do will be OVER THE TOP.

Congrats!!!

Definitely let them know you're a cake decorator so they can design a cake around that. That would be VERY Cool!

Congratulations! Totally Awesome!

Ohhh ...wow I'm crushed! It serioulsy tasted that bad? Well dang Duff has been my hero and I'm sad to hear this.

Happy belated B-Day! Wow i'm sorry to hear that your cake tasted so poorly a great cake is supposed to taste as good as it looks! and for 500 I had better had both! I don't blame you for not being a return customer it's sad that someone with his training can't make a decent cake. I've just worked with a chef who couldn't make a nice cake to save his life and wouldn't let me do any wedding cakes. Anyway i'm glad that you had the experience.

I had a duff cake for my wedding back in '03 before he got really big and started his show. I'm can verify the dryness. Even my guests complained to me about it.

I am really disappointed to hear yet another customer complain about the taste of CCC. Shows you that no matter how big or famous that you get, the cake better taste great!!!!!!!!!!