In 2006, a new TV star named "Duff" emerged from the Food Network. But a decade after
his hit show's cancelation, fans are still wondering what happened to everyone's favorite
cake-baking series. Now, we're dishing on why "Ace of Cakes" went off the air.
"Who wants cake!" According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was
officially game over for "Ace of Cakes" in 2010. Duff Goldman, series star and owner of Charm City
Cakes in Baltimore, Maryland, left a statement on his company's website confirming the news.
"You gotta just deal with it."
Goldman revealed that the series had finished production on what would ultimately be the
final season of "Ace of Cakes." With Season 10 of the series in the can,
the finale brought the total episode count to 116.
Now, that's a lot of hours of behind-the-scenes activities at a small cake bakery. So,
many concluded that "Ace of Cakes" may have simply run its course. The cast and crew also produced
a huge amount of content in a relatively short time, given that "Ace of Cakes" baked up more than
100 episodes over the span of just five years. In the early 2000s, Food Network found a level of
popularity it had never seen before. It began downplaying its traditional lineup of cooking
shows in favor of brand new reality programming. Reality shows told sitcom or soap-style stories,
but crafted them around characters who also happened to be real people.
Food Network stars quickly became bonafide TV celebrities. And one of the network's biggest
breakout personalities was Duff Goldman. He was an easy-going, self-deprecating,
remarkably talented pastry chef. And once his show became a hit,
the network was eager to let the newly minted star stretch his creative muscles for their brand.
Upon confirming the cancelation of "Ace of Cakes" to The Hollywood Reporter,
Food Network general manager Bob Tuschman claimed that it wasn't all over for Goldman.
Indeed, over the next few years, the cake master would be all over the network,
both as a producer and as an on-air personality. In addition to appearances
on "The Best Thing I Ever Made" and "L.A. Sugar," Goldman hosted "Cake Masters," "Duff
Till Dawn," and "Sugar High" — and served as a judge on "Donut Showdown" and "Kids Cook-Off."
In 2010, right around the time that Food Network formally canceled "Ace of Cakes," the NBC sitcom
"30 Rock" featured an exchange in which Liz Lemon debated the smartest thing she's ever said.
"What about three years ago, when I said there should be more TV shows about cake."
The joke poked fun at cake-loving Liz Lemon, but also at the TV cake show fad. Around that time,
viewers had their pick of a bevy of frosted options.
There was "Ace of Cakes," "Cake Boss," "Fabulous Cakes,"
"Sweet Genius," "Cupcake Wars," and "Ultimate Cake Off." And that's just to name a few.
That's major content saturation around one subject. And, as is typical with a trending topic,
it eventually began to wear out its welcome. And when audiences tune out,
it's the end of the line for a former craze. This is how it happened with cake TV,
as the cake-baking fad faded away. Late 2010 was thus a natural time for "Ace of Cakes" to end.
After showing off his amazing baking chops over dozens of episodes of his series, Duff Goldman
became very famous. As an expert on all things cake, he became an in-demand figure in the worlds
of food and food business by 2010. And all of his side ventures took up the time and energy
that otherwise would have been devoted to "Ace of Cakes." That is, at least while it was on the air.
Few things are more time-consuming than expanding a business, and
Charm City Cakes was booming. According to the Baltimore Sun, Goldman put in the effort
to meet the demand by opening new branches of his flagship bakery. In 2011, Charm City Cakes
West launched in Los Angeles, and six years later, he added a second Baltimore outlet.
"Let's get a glitter cannon, right, and put it in its butt."
"That's gonna be a real special effect."
He also partnered with Gartner Studios to launch his own line of baking gear called
The Duff Goldman Collection. The chef also expanded his empire into ice cream,
according to Eater. He appeared on the packaging for Blue Bunny cake-inspired flavors, including
Chocolate Lovers Triple Chocolate Cake, I Do I Do Wedding Cake, and Red Carpet Red Velvet.
One of the same reasons why "Ace of Cakes" ended also speaks to why a reboot
is probably not in the cards. By the time the series debuted in 2006, Charm City Cakes had
only been around for four years. And by all accounts, Goldman was a newbie to the biz,
as were most of his employees and colleagues. And their fly-by-night attitude and charming
lack of experience are what made the show so special. Goldman told Mashed in 2021,
"The thing about 'Ace of Cakes' was, I didn't know what I was doing, right? I'd never worked
in a cake shop before. So everything we were doing on that show, we were just making it up."
"Y'know, it's a cake shop. Should be fun, y'know."
All told, "Ace of Cakes" was a show about people figuring out how to operate a business at
every level. And after ten seasons, Goldman and company had made Charm City Cakes one
of the top bakeries in the country. But this era of success wouldn't make for a show nearly
as interesting as those early seasons of "Ace of Cakes." Goldman explained,
"It was a very special time and place that I'm just not sure we can ever really recreate."
"We still rock."
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