"charm city" news and stories

There was a time when we were in awe of the careful art of cake decoration: The sculpting of delicate fondant flowers, the geometric applications of buttercream, the stacking of fluffy sheets of vanilla cake into gravity-defying architectural wonders.

But now we're starting to worry. There's a fine line between art and madness, and in 2010, we've crossed over into full-blown obsessive-compulsive pastry disorder.

Between the Food Network and TLC, cake mania has reached insane heights -- literally. Like figure skating or Donald Trump's buildings, the bigger and kitschier, the better. A cake isn't a cake unless it spins like a ferris wheel, contains more sugar than a refinery and looks like a teetering game of Jenga on steroids.

Don't get us wrong, we love the pyrotechnic hipster creativity of the Charm City staff on Ace of Cakes. And the acquired-taste Cake Boss has its moments of sweet-tooth ingenuity. But the success of these big-city eccentrics is bringing all of the cake crazies out of the woodwork.