I've been thinking the same thing the OP stated. Three of the cake shops do nice work but that Merci Beaucoup is just not even close to producing the quality work that the other shops produce. I think they have a major case of overdoing it to the point their cakes are just gaudy to me. I hit the mute when I'm watching this bakery because between Reva's voice and Marc's drama, I just can't take it. I know they get orders but I don't get it. The way he slaps buttercream on and throws it around - I really can't watch it.

NOW...I could watch the staff at Christopher Garren's Cakes all day long. The attention to detail, the clean lines (most of the time), the amazing work they do - it's outstanding. I wasn't much of a fan of Marjie simply because my only reference was seeing her on some cake challenges and she was very intense and kind of not too nice to the gal who was her partner, but after seeing her on AWC, she really does have a sense of humor and now I'm a big fan of her and her work.

I really enjoy watching some of their techniques... like the buttercream forest god Mark created last night. Who would of thought that buttercream would stand up to 'carving' like that. There are some very talented artists on the show. I must admit that the Ultimate Cake Off shows (or whatever they're called) seem a little too scripted to me. The judge from Cake Divas was just plain grumpy and mean when it came to some of her comments. I also agree about Chris Garren - he seems to do a lot of supervising and 'critiquing', and its never in a polite way. His attempts at trying to casually point out that the decorator's work doesn't look right reminds me of an awkward pubescent teen trying to ask a girl to dance, with very little confidence. Does that make sense? He just doesn't do TV very well. His cakes are beautiful and his kitchen is very neat and tidy, however I would kill for the open airy work space that Mark and Reva have. Not exactly baking-professional decor, however it does look like they enjoy what they do, and they certainly have plenty of room to throw the buttercream around! LOL

Is it possible that maybe the 'sloppy' portions everyone is referring to on the Renassaince cake was part of the 'naturalist' effect of the cake? Maybe? (Silver lining to every cake disaster, right?) You have to admit, making the separators look like trees was such a good idea.

I think shabby chic is an art form.

I do shabby chic and I can appreciate Merci Beaucoup's style.

One of the adjudicators at the Ices fiasco almost swallowed her teeth when I commented that my style is indeed shabby chic.

Perfect cakes are not for real. You don't slice & eat, you put perfect cakes on a shelf.

Check out Margaret Braun's work for flaw after flaw after beautiful stunning heartfelt artistic flaw.

The sloppiest stuff is not from one show. It's from they don't give squat!

They are sloppy! They don't care if the fondant meets in the middle of the cake. They don't care!

I bet they have a new bakery because Cake Divas told them to take a hike!

Marjorie from Garrens has been on some of the cake challenges on the Food Network.

She was teamed with another gal, in one episode, and she ripped the fondant off of the cakes because the other gal hadn't put it on right.(according to Marjorie) I get a kick out of it when she makes a mistake.

I thought the two of them would kill each other before the day was out.

Marjorie was on another challenge as well and they teamed her with the same person from the first show. I thought she would drop her teeth when she saw who her partner was.

Marjorie rocks my world.

I really like how immaculate the Cake Girls cakes are. They are pretty elegant. Sometimes all the designers seem to go a little overboard talking about how awesome they are. Like when Cake Girls did the concentric circle cake, they were acting like the one lady invented color flow! I hope that was just editing on the network's part, but come on!

I love watching all cake shows...good or bad.... they are fun & it amazes me to see how badly some people behave, I always feel encouraged when the 'star' cake designers!!! make mistakes... not happy they made them but it encourages me to know thay can make mistakes too. I love what I do but will never profess to have made a perfect cake & I know I never will, but I keep trying! LOL

I never made the connection that was the same woman.

I wanted to reach in the tv and slap her on that challange

Sorry, I love that chick! She just gets my emoting crap right out and front.

Now I'm not in love with Stevie, I don't care that KV hates her. I do care that Stevie hates KV.

If you are an artist, you will take your lumps. You will not do your best to make fun of a judge. No offense, it's cake, it won't last long. Last I heard, this stuff is worth museums for the end or time.

I agree that their work is sometimes sloppy, but how would you be with cameras, lights & sound crew in your face??
As cake decorators we are all highly critical of others work, often spotting things most wouldn't see. I like to watch to get ideas though I can't see myself making a Russian Monstrosity anytime soon!!
Thses shows need to have more realism. Talk pricing, time etc because we all encounter folks who want what they see on TV for $50!!

I'm not a professional but I do think some of the things Mark can do with buttercream are amazing. He sculpted some animal this season and then covered in buttercream and it looked real but like it TASTED great. Not all clients want a "clean" sophisticated cake that looks too fancy to touch (or that lacks taste appeal).

I love to watch the Amazing Wedding Cakes.....Cake Girls are my favorite!! I think they come up with some really neat looking cakes. I too don't like Marjorie, after watching her act the way she did on the cake challenge and act like she was so much better than the other caker......just made me want to smack her and say get over yourself already.
However I always thought Ruth did such boring cakes all the time.....it seemed like they were always doing white on white every cake they made. Some cakes white on white okay, but that's all they seemed to do...actually I just never enjoyed watching her anyway, she just seemed very boring to me....

I guess I am the only one who thinks that CG's cakes are often too elaborate and just look overdone. I think that they are beautifully made and I wish that in a million years I will get that good, but there are times that I think it would look classier if he would just tone it down.

It'd be the bomb to feature Mike McCarey's shop... talk about an education and gorgeous cakes!

Wow. Thanks for all the comments.

And yes, although I am not to fond of Merci Beauccup not so clean work, I have to say that Mark can make some neat stuff with his buttercream.

About Marjorie, well, I didn't like her on the Cake Challenges thats for sure, BUT my husband mentioned that no wonder she is like that, look a the boss she has to put up with!! LOL

I totally agreed. She has to be really hard shell to deal with him being such a perfectionist.

They are all talented and I love the show!

Guys, CG could mean Cake Girls or Christopher Garren so...heads up.

But that tension at ChrisG's makes me tired and turns me off in a nano second. That bs between Margie & Chris tarnishes their work to me--so unpleasant.

Mary & her sister have occasional 'issues' and life goes on. At ChriG's shop in California, it must be horrid to work there and be around that.

Dude, I've been in the shops with the egos that won't fit in one room --it's a technicolor hurl factory.

I love the show. I too, think it would be great to work in a place like Merci's space. But, I was so disappointed when I saw the fondant border go on and it was so crooked. They didn't even attempt to keep any of it straight. And the 'green man' plaque, while Mark did an excellent job making it-I kept waiting for him to 'age' it with some metallic dust or something, like the original they were copying.

Did anyone notice on the Disney challenge, that they ran in and immediately started handling cake-no hands washed? I hope this was just editing.

I'm not saying that MB's cakes are pristine by any means.

I am saying that the camera don't lie and then again it does sometimes.

Cake photos can be so frustrating. Sometimes I do a pic and I can't believe the booboos I see--din see those with my eye!

Then sometimes I'm just so glad I'm not a doctor gotta bury my booboos--I'm so happy when they slice it up and destroy the evidence--then I get the pic and I'm like hey not so bad after all--how'd that happen.

So there's that too.

Sometimes you're so busy focuing on the decor you totally overlook majorly obvious booboos.

Ok--let's play find the booboo--now in this cake there is a glaring major problem (and shoot now people are gonna find stuff I never even saw before, oh well) so keep in mind bridelette wanted less decor than was on Kerry's original so that part is not a booboo--but let's play find the flaw(like that children's magazine in the doctor's office where you find the hidden stuff in the picture--I still do those when I'm waiting)

http://acmecakes.com/images/R00109792.JPG

and how in hades do you manage to put it right smack dab front & center

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1853918598/?tag=cakecentral-20

Arrow left once to get to the back cover of the book

And of course I improved on the size of the crown but that doesn't count either.

i don't see a flaw! its gorgeous!

I love all of the cake shows out there... good or bad!!

I love the energy that Reva and Mark give off. They have fun doing their thing! But I do agree that some of the buttercream work is sloppy. I love the Green Man on the Ren. cake but some of the fondant borders were done haphazardly.

Chris Garren's shop, though the work is always beautiful, I was a little put off by the fact that he said in order to work in his shop you have to have a BA in Art. It makes for beautiful artwork on cakes, but I thought he was selling cakes!

Cake Alchemy, I could take or leave. She just comes off, to me, as being extraordinarily arrogant.

Cake Girls... Love them. They are funny and I love watching them bring their ideas to life.

Before I became "addicted" to cake programs, my husband and I would watch the tattoo shows. I like them for the stories behind the tattoos. Then he would occasionally watch a netwook challenge with me. (His least favorite person is Kerry Vincent) Next was the discovery of Duff. After awhile, my husband lost interest in him. He said that Duff's shop is a cross between a cake shop and a tattoo parlor. He said that is was a crazy idea to be using all of this hardware and power tools to make such weird cakes. The one thing that my husband didn't realize is that the WILD cakes they do are specifically ordered by real customers. He thought that they would make a cake in oddball shapes for the sake of getting it on TV. I had to explain that someone really did order a cake in the shape of a huge ear.

I love watching Buddy's shop too. Especially the girl (Danielle?) who can shape fondant and modeling chocolate into anything. Great talent I will never have. So it fascinates me.

Thanks for starting this thread. Sorry I was so lengthy!!