I enjoy watching Ace of Cakes as much as the next person & don't have any bad feelings about Duff's new products. I saw this description on a cake supply website though & think it is absolutely absurd-

"Decorate just like the Ace of Cakes Duff Goldman with this bubbles inspired cake kit. Pretend you work at Charm City Cakes while decorating your cake designed by the owner himself, Duff Goldman. This bubbles kit contains clusters of gum paste bubbles, bubbles on wires to give the cake a 3-D look, large white non-pareils and a gum paste Happy Birthday plaque. All of the gum paste pieces are white and can be airbrushed to any color scheme."

hmm so I guess all you need is a perfectly iced, level cake with smooth buttercream or fondant? as if! well maybe if you "pretend" it will all be ok ROFL

Definitely pretending to be professional! And I would add that just because he gives you the kit with all the 'decorations' doesn't mean you'll end up with a pretty cake. But, if it makes him and the company money, that's all that matters to them.

I should add that I have a Facebook page and one girl "liked" one of my cakes. Her mom is also a fan of my fag and commented that she had all everything she needed at home to make a cake that looked just like it! What...! Seriously!?! Give me a break!!

to someone like that you want to say, go ahead & then we'll compare

That and...I'm sorry...I hate Duff. I really do. Can we say lumpy fondant? I see artists on CC all the time that put him to absolute shame. I hate all these new products on the market too...the "do-it-yourself" kits and even the cricut cake, because people think that if they have the tools they can just bust a cake out. As if a lot of us haven't put blood, sweat, and tears into leaning technique and developing recipes. Ugh.

Lulusweetart-I agree with you! I put ALOT of research, education, time, and creativity...not to mention money into my cakes! It goes far beyond what it looks like. It irks me when people think they can just bust one out-usually the people around me that have tried fail (I smirk inside hehe). I also have the cricut!!! I'm glad someone else out there feels the same as me. I think its nice to have everything cut so perfect, but it bores me to death. Get an iced cake and a cricut machine and all the sudden you're an "artist"...I don't know...to each his own I suppose!

hehe, my first thought was that this post was going to be about the Cricut cake.

Duff's new line should have been my next guess...

I personally prefer Buddy from Cake boss. He does work I relate to more I guess. I find that on Charm city cakes they tend to use a lot of unedible stuff. I'm from the old school, so I believe a cake should be edible, not good to look at and here's the sheet cake we're going to serve you. Butttttt.....between these shows on tv and all these new articles to build your own wedding cakes.....everyone is an artist.

Back to the original quote...

So a person who has no experience in decorating is going to have an airbrush handy?

The airbrush thing kills me- I didnt even want one- but hubby made me do it for the tartan cake- and even though I workd with it for a solid 15 hours, I still cant USE it right... I can just imagine trying to rely on the whole thing for a cake I'm making... My cakes turn out bad enough when I know what I'm doing (okay, so not often) but shoot- I'd really have a mess if I didnt.

Maybe Duff will team up with WalMart soon...and then...you buy the covered cake and use his pieces to decorate with!!

Duff is a marketing genius...give him props for that. Its the "bubbly" personality that makes him "likeable" and why people trust what he has to sell. It's his team that has put him on the map!

HEck...I'm getting to be the gumpaste queen...I think I should forget about selling a cake (no matter how hard I try, my fondant work is still not clean!) But I can sell someone colored fondant and gumpaste figures!!!

I think it's great that everyone wants to do cakes...let them see how much work it is and how a kit doesn't make perfect, and next time around they'll be more likely to understand why people charge what they do for nice cakes.

I'm not a Charm City Cakes fan either, as I object to the amount of inedibles they use. And it certainly seems to take a long time to work on some of those creations, so I question the end quality of the cake.

But all that aside, I can appreciate great marketing.

And in the end, my prediction is that all these cake muggles will spend $$$$$ on "stuff", find out they actually CAN'T put together a decent looking cake, and run back to us.

I am thinking that Cake Wrecks will soon have a section just for those Duff kit and Cricut cakes!

I also agree, let them try it...they will see how much skill it DOES take to make a "simple" cake. You all are spot on, they will be back.

I was looking at the reviews on Amazon.com regarding Ace of Cakes kits...mostly rated 1 star and the majority of the posts were like these :
"My daughter received this for her birthday and was so excited to make her own cakes. It was a disaster!! She couldn't bake her own cakes - had to use a real microwave. Then the frosting wouldn't roll out properly and the cakes were disgusting. What a big mess!! And there are too many junky little plastic pieces that ended up in the trash. Don't waste your money!! "
"..Loves Ace of Cakes -- What A big disappointment - fondant never became the right consistency - cakes are tiny and rubbery - just a lot of plastic junk that I will probably throw out by the end of the week...Duff - get your name off of this product as fast as possible!"
"How disappointing. We tried both cake mixes and neither one would bake into anything that looked like a cake. On top of this, the batter and the cooked mix taste gross. Save your money. Very disappointing."

I love wedding cakes. I love going to web sites and just looking and thinking.......hmmmmm WOW they sure are doing some neat things with cake nowadays LOL. Then you look further down and they have this for an article "SAVE YOUR MONEY AND DO YOUR OWN CAKE". The articles then proceed with the process of making a wedding cake. Well, if you read the article they set the person up for failer everytime. I think those are the brides that come to a caker last minute and say this "omg, I'm getting married in a month and need a wedding cake! can you please help me?" or the mother of the bride calls on Monday looking for a cake for Saturday of the same week. It's sad but funny at the same time. (but what do I know....I've been doing this for years...and I still laughted at a customer recently!!)

As an FYI, people who have NO idea what they're talking about are hired to write copy for product descriptions. They're written to entice people to buy the items, not to provide sound information.

Ace of Cakes, etc. inspired me to finally do what I've always wanted to do...take cake decorating classes. I'm sure I'm not the only one. Through the classes, I've learned valuable skills, made friends and have had the chance to get out and do something I love. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I'm some kind of pro, but every person I've made a cake for has loved them and appreciated the thoughtfulness and time. Maybe that's what some "cake muggles" want to do too. Sure, some people are delusional, but some just want to do something nice for someone.

Okay, I am by NO means a professional- BUT I have people every week begging me to make them a cake- and they come back-

BUT, seeing the cakes ON the TV made me realize there was more out there then just a walmart cake with plastic toys on it- between that and having no money one year for my sons birthday I set about making my own cake- you can see it in my pictures. its the baseball feild. I had NO expeirience, had never made anything other than an apple pie or cobbler before. I used canned icing, food coloring and alot of imagination-

I actually got an order off that cake. I like to watch the shows, I pick up tips and tricks. Idont have access to classes, heck, I dont have access to youtube. LOL

I agree, selling these things and making people think they have the next 1,000.00 birthday cake is wrong. Heck, he has some amazing artists working there.

I do think they are worried more about looks then ediblitity, where as I strive for both, - and I cant imagine paying that for a cake- I'm too cheap- hell, I know y'all are good, and I wouldnt pay y'all to make me a cake. LOL

BUT, I'll gladly let someone pay ME 150.00 to make them a cake. not a problem. and I'll make sure its a cake I would be happy to take into my own party.

I guess I see the good and bad in the shows. People think I can make a cake in less than a day- they expect me to be able to build the taj mahal, and want it for 50.00. BUT, it also makes people see there is some work that goes into it, problems DO arise, and in some cases you have to have artistic talents. (luckily none of mine have called for it yet)