Heat touched her skin and dust filled her nose as Melanie Moore stepped out of the car to the familiar sight of the old Cadillacs sticking out of the ground. Her family surrounded her as they walked toward the paint-covered vehicles, and soon they heard a very distinctive, loud and familiar laugh. It boomed from across the field as the Moore family stared in shock at a man they had watched on TV so often.

 While visiting Cadillac Ranch, sophomore Melanie Moore met Food Network celebrities Jeff Manthorn and Duff Goldman from the hit show Ace of Cakes. 

Moore’s extended family from Arkansas was in town visiting and wanted to see the well known landmark. The family was surprised to find the crew of Ace of Cakes filming there that same day. After spotting them, Melanie and her family went over to meet the people she had watched on television ever since the show first aired.

“I was nervous and excited about meeting them,” Moore said. “Even though they aren’t big celebrities it was still cool to meet someone off of TV.”

The show Ace of Cakes is about day to day trials of extreme cake decorating at Duff’s Bakery, Charm City Cakes. It features not only Duff and Jeff as head decorators but also the rest of the bakery’s employees. Melanie’s favorite aspect about the show is how they incorporate art into their cakes and how funny all of the stars are while dealing with those unique experiences.

“My favorite person is the receptionist, Mary Alice Fallon Yeskey,” Moore said. “She’s funny.”

For one day Melanie got to witness Duff and Jeff switch from decorating cake to decorating cars.

 “They were getting filmed while spray painting on the Cadillac’s and just having fun,” Moore said.  “They painted a cake on one.”