When Food Network’s “Ace of Cakes,” Chef Duff Goldman, created Charm City Cakes in Baltimore in 2000, he just wanted to make a few cakes for friends and family. As word got out about his uncommon creations, however, he quickly outgrew his home kitchen and two bakeries. Today, Charm City Cakes has grown to a staff of eleven: 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.

The Ace of Cakes is an artful celebration that reflects the spirit of the bakery that started it all: a fun, visual, colorful scrapbook infused with Charm City Cakes’ hip record-store-meets-surf-shop-meets-bakery vibe. Each chapter--a visual feast, filled with graffiti-inspired art--will range in topics from a biography of Duff to a breakdown of the business: a typical work week, how the shop runs, tools of the trade, and much more.

The book features an all-star lineup of Charm City’s cakes, from the simple to the complex--those with armatures, supports, structural elements--and describes some of the bakery’s traditional and more unusual techniques, from carving and fondanting, welding, cutting, sawing, and gluing to airbrushing, piping, and sculpting! The Ace of Cakes also offers a behind-the-scenes look at Food Network, with sidebars about pitching, scripting, and editing the show; the motley bakery staff decorators; the most incredible customer stories and requests; and some of Duff’s favorite cake facts, tips, and techniques. And if that’s not enough to get you inspired, take it from Duff: “There are no limits to what we can do here at Charm City Cakes. You dream it, we’ll bake it, you eat it.”