Watch Ace of Cakes Online

Ace of Cakes on Food Network - Includes Video Clips SideReel Page: Food_Network

Official Website of Charm City Cakes

Picture Gallery of Charm City Cakes

Charm City BLOG

Mary Alice's Fan Club

Duff's Band: "So I Had To"

Charm City Roller Girl's (Sponsored by Duff)

Chef Duff has been cooking since the age of four, when his Mom caught him in the kitchen watching Chef Tell and swinging around a meat cleaver. When Duff was in second grade, he almost cut his pinkie off while carving a pumpkin. He was destined to work in the kitchen. Chef Duff started working professionally when he was 14, and has been working in kitchens ever since.

When people ask how he got into making cakes, you might say he really had no choice in the matter. Duff's Great-Grandmother, Mommo, came from the Ukraine and was a baker and weaver. Her daughter, Duff's Grandmother, Nana, was an art enthusiast who did enameling and was an accomplished and recognized photographer. Duff's Mom, Jackie, is also an artist who began in ceramics and is now an accomplished stained glass designer on west coast (www.jackiesglass.com). Duff himself studied at the Corcoran School in Washington, D.C. and was at one time a graffiti artist of some notoriety.

Duff started working for acclaimed Baltimore Chef Cindy Wolf (www.charlestonrestaurant.com) while attending the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. After graduating, Duff left Baltimore to study pastries at the Culinary Institute of America (www.ciachef.edu/california) in Napa Valley, California. While in Napa, Duff was a stagiere at the French Laundry (www.frenchlaundry.com), working under acclaimed pastry Chef Steven Durfee. Duff left California to become Executive Pastry Chef of the Vail Cascade Hotel and Resort (www.vailcascade.com) in the mountains of Vail, Colorado. There he worked with such notable chefs as Jessie Llapitan, now Executive Chef of the Houstonian in Houston, Texas, and Chef Jason Rogers, late of Olives in Aspen and now at the Borgota of Atlantic City. Duff then left Colorado to bake bread for Todd English's Olives (www.toddenglish.com) in Washington, D.C., where he worked under Executive Chef Steve Mannino. Duff left Olives in 2000 when he came back to Baltimore to open Charm City Cakes.

In addition to owning and operating Charm City Cakes, Duff is also a sculptor, artist, and musician - he plays bass in the indie instrumental band "So I Had To" (www.soihadto.com) and is an all around good guy with the cleanest hands in town.

Charm City Cakes was started in March of 2000 when Chef Duff had tired of wandering the country and decided to settle in Baltimore. At first, Chef Duff was just making a few cakes for friends and family, but as word got out about his uncommon creations, business picked up fast. In March of 2002, Chef Duff was getting so inundated with cake orders that he decided to fling off the oppression of his day job and make cake baking his full time gig! He quickly outgrew his home kitchen and two bakeries; in August of 2005 he bought a 6,000 square foot cake compound in Remington. Today, Charm City Cakes has grown to a staff of eleven friends who make cakes, listen to music, and eat a lot of sushi.

Here at Charm City Cakes, we are motivated by constantly trying to outdo ourselves by making cakes that are beautiful, challenging, and as out-of-the-ordinary as possible! Our inspiration comes from everywhere: art, fabric, furniture, architecture, landscapes, science, music, anything! Most of all, our inspiration comes from you! Each cake is individually designed to match you, your personality, and the theme of the occasion you are celebrating. always fresh

We only have one rule at Charm City Cakes, and that is whatever we do, we must have fun! Charm City Cakes is a very relaxed, creative environment and that spirit is reflected in every cake we bake. Our staff is a ragtag group of musicians, artists, and creative souls with experience in architectural modeling, graphic design, sculpture, painting, DJ-ing, coffee slingin', performance art, massage therapy, and waitressing. Our designs are unique, our flavors are unusual and delicious, and our demeanor is chill but professional. Our cakes are all individually baked to order, and every cake is always fresh, never frozen. We have over 40 flavors, and experiment with new ones all the time - - if you don't see it on our list, don't be afraid to ask, cause we can probably make it.

There are no limits to what we can do here at Charm City Cakes. You dream it, we'll bake it, you eat it.

almond amaretto cream almond apples and cinnamon banana caramel bananas foster black forest blackberry sour cream blueberry muffin brownie beurre noisette butterscotch walnut cardamom and pistachio Caribbean black cake carrot cherry and almond chocolate chocolate cherry chocolate chip muffin chocolate espresso chocolate mint chocolate orange chocolate raspberry dulce de leche egg nog ginger and green tea Italian orange and vanilla lemon curd and berries lemon poppy seed lemon marble mudslide orange and ginger peaches and cream peanut butter and jelly peanut butter cup pear compote and ginger pear spice pecan pie pineapple coconut pumpkin chocolate chip pumpkin and cinnamon red velvet smores strawberry shortcake Thai iced coffee Thai ice tea tiramisu white white chocolate ganache white chocolate raspberry yellow yellow w/ choc. butter cream