If your photos are too large they won't go through...I just had that happen when I posted a pic on the Helmet Tips thread.

Go to http://www.shrinkpictures.com/ ...and right on their first page (scroll down a little), you'll see where you have to 1. choose a photo from your computer...2. choose a pixel size (I chose 600 to be safe, 800 is the size for CC)...leave 3 & 4 as they are, and click 5. RESIZE

When your new photo appears...right-click and save it to your computer, then you'll be able to use it in a post.

What the H$$L. Are you telling me my Duff cake induced high blood pressure was for nothing.
Anyway lu9129 i'm sorry you were dissappointed,well it just shows you don't have to be a "duff" to make great cakes.I better go and make some solascakes to heal myself.

I can't believe that it didn't taste good and that your nephew was treated poorly. I'm so sorry you're disappointed! Kinda takes away all of the "hype".

Patiently waiting for pictures.....

You'd think someone would have been at the bakery to meet this customer who flew in to pick up a cake! If was was paying that kind of money for a birthday cake, from a famous decorator, I'd expect to at least meet one of them! how disapointing. Isn't that worth part of that $2000???? lets remember ... it isn't a wedding cake. I know I'm disapointed for you!

Where are those pictures!

re: freezing .... there is a local bakery that advertises you can order your wedding cake 24 hours before your wedding and they don't freeze the cakes. now, maybe they mean they don't freeze their WEDDING cakes, because my co-workers bought me a birthday cake from there because they thought I just HAD to taste this great bakery's cakes! It was so frozen we couldn't cut it. My supv took it back to the bakery and made them cut the new one in front of her to prove to her it wasn't frozen. When she brought it back to the office, there was condensation on the top, so it looked like it had been frozen (no big deal to me if it's frozen or not, just don't lie about it).

About 6 people stood around my desk waiting for me to taste the great and wonderful cake ... I took a bite, looked at them and said, "Yep. That's a bakery cake all right. Tastes like every other bakery cake I've ever eaten."

Ok. I am going to try adding the pictures.

The fondant was hard. You could knock on the cake. The cake had no flavor. The icing between the different layers tasted just like whipped cream out of the milk carton before you put the sugar and vanilla etc in it. It was not dry.

Ok, I just tried to load the picture. It says the extension ink is not allowed. What does this mean? I am really computer illiterate folks.
Help please.

Lu

LU - open up microsoft paint (start, accessories, paint). Open the picture in there, then file, save as, and save as a JPG. Attach to a reply if it isn't too large, or put in your photos, and send the link.

I can't wait for the pictures!!!

I love to watch Ace of Cakes, but I am not really surprised the cake's flavor is only so-so.

If you took the time to make a ribeye steak (or any other food) look as decorative, the flavor would suffer too, I'm sure.

Of course, that's when you have to decide what you want to pay for, taste or looks. I think I'd choose taste.

I want to clarify .... I'm not implying that a $2000 order "isn't worth their time" when I compared it to a $1.95 order. I only meant that while some may think $2000 means "roll out the red carpet, here I come to get the cake", when you rank it up next to the orders that I see going thru their shop, it's probably just a quick-simple order.

I meant to disrespect to Charm City or the customer re: the amount spent.
-------
edited to add: Geesh my brain is DEAD this morning! I meant to say...

I meant NO disrespect to Charm City or the customer.......

im dying to see the pic of this! to be honest i think the cakes are crazy overprice - the minium order price is ridiculous if you think about say a single tier birthday cake.

also just to be a little bitchy, when watching the programme i cant help noticing a lot of flaws like bumps and lack of detail in figures etc. saying that some are spectacular cakes like the topsy turvey cakes and carved beaver cakes etc but for the prices they are charging i think a lot more care and detail could be taken, the cakes are far from flawless and this is particularly obvious seeing them close up on tv. my husband is always pointing out bumps and flaws and telling me not to worry so much about tiny flaws in my cakes when they get away with it. to be honest i think my little figures are a lot nicer than some that ive seen them doing and im my own worst critic!! - i suppose a lot is the fact they are famous and novelty etc but i think they are waaaay overpriced and to hear the cake wasnt even that nice tasting, well that is a nightmare!! at the end of the day a cake is for eating and no matter how nice it looks it needs to taste even nicer.

I love the show and think the artists do amazing things, but have sometimes had to shake my head in wonder when I see some of the things that go on ...people walking around eating food then grabbing fondant and working with it. Also there was one episode where they were doing a plantation cake and a new decorator was making the trees and she used the "leaf" tip and none of them even knew there were different tips.
Its disappointing to hear about the flavor though, because they show their chef at the stove a lot making the different recipes and it sounds like they have some good flavors. My guess is that its baked so early in the week, I mean they show them baking on mon for a sat cake.

Cathy24-I think the same thing, I also see a lot of flaws in their cakes and decorations. If I ordered a cake from them and paid that much I would want it almost perfect.

I love watching Platinum Weddings on WE and some of the cakes they feature. See a lot from Sylvia Whinestock. Well this one southern wedding, this couple had one that Sylvia gave to them as a wedding gift. Beautiful big cake with anormous amount of flowers on it. She is always talkiing about how great her team is and that she "dares you to compare the flowers to real ones". So I often pause the tv so I can view the cake better. Well looking at some of her flowers, I was really amazed how bad they were! The white filler flowers looked like they just cut them out and slapped them onto a stem! No coloring in the middle and no shape! I guess when you have that many flowers it gets pretty teadous but would expect with a $3000 price tag on most of them that you would have more fuss!

Wow for $2000. I fly to your house and bake the cake with your kid.
Let them design what they want hahahaha.

Indy, you will be surprised that there are people out there that dont know jack- about cooking or basic things! I had one lady that freaked out because I had told her that I needed my SFSS sent back to me or there would be a charge for it. She had no clue that there were supports in a tiered cake! And this woman was the MOB!!! Probably in her late 50's!! I had to literally explain to her how a tiered cake was made and put together and then she was ok with it.
What we think is common knowledge there are people out there that dont set foot in a kitchen and dont watch tv that would have no clue of things like that.

I know people who DO cook at home and cook for a living and still don't have a clue

lol, Yep! You got that right too!! Too funny!

true that, indy

As far as knowing about the tips...I think I've heard them say on the show that Duff is the only one who's been to pastry school. I get the impression that most of the decorators are artists turned cakers and since they do all fondant, maybe it's not all that surprising.
As far as the flaws... most cakes do have small flaws of some type. I think it would be unfair to discount Charm City's tremendous talent because their cakes aren't perfect. It's also good to keep in mind that we (as cakers) see lots of flaws that cake muggles would never notice. I pretty much count on that whenever I do a cake.
And for their prices....well, I would never pay that much for a cake, but it's clear that they have a solid demand for their product, so more power to 'em! If someone was willing to pay $2000 for my cake (yeah right! ), I'd take it!
All that said, I am so sorry that the cake was disappointing IRL and just like everyone else I'm dying to see the pic. I appreciate Lu's honest opinion, I just hope this thread isn't on its way to being a Charm City bashing.