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Noteable Culinary Professionals
who have shared their experience with ACD readers through the years:
Colette Peters
Toba Garrett
Nicholas Lodge
Elisa Strauss
Kerry Vincent
Ewald Notter
Geraldine Randlesome
Ron Ben-Israel
Buddy Valastro
Betty Van Norstrand
Stephane Tréand
Pat Trunkfield
Julie Bashore
Susan O'Boyle-Jacobson
Cheri Elder
Shirley Ryan Rose
Norman Davis
Lin Cook
Margaret Ford
Anil Rohira
Jacquy Pfeiffer
Bronwen Weber
Cecilia Morana
Franz Ziegler
Jin Caldwell
Roland Winbeckler
Ann Amernick
Susan Notter
B. Keith Ryder
Bronwen Mills
Earlene Moore
Steven Stellingwerf
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In 1994 a Washington D.C. area lawyer named Adlynn Harte enrolled in a Wilton cake-decorating class. Excited by the possibilities of her newfound pastime, she went looking for a magazine to help her continue to build her skills. Searching bookstores and craft shops across the region, she was not able to find any publications that addressed her needs.
After nearly a year of networking, skill building, and research, Addie and her husband, Bob, launched American Cake Decorating at the 1995 ICES convention in Kansas City, Mo. The inaugural issue followed soon after, featuring a basket cake overflowing with gumpaste flowers on the cover, under the headline “Yes, It’s a Cake.”
Inside, Addie laid out the plan for the new magazine. “American Cake Decorating Magazine will strive to bring ideas, techniques, and general interest information to cake decorators throughout North America. As a full-featured magazine, each issue of American Cake Decorating will contain several projects (often keyed to seasonal themes), skills, special interest, and children's features, as well as product and book reviews, hints, news, and calendar listing. As we grow, there will be even more projects and features.”
In its first five years, American Cake Decorating featured some of the most influential decorators of the time, while providing enthusiasts and professionals with a valuable resource.
Following a move to Kansas City, Mo., and the birth of the couple’s first child, the Hartes reluctantly put the magazine up for sale in the spring of 2000. During the summer months, a buyer was identified and the publication became part of RCM Enterprises in St. Paul, Minn., under the ownership of Robert Mead.
Under Mead’s direction, decisions were made to strengthen the position of the magazine, expand the advertising base, and broaden its scope. Once the transition was complete, however, Mead’s organization found itself struggling to maintain the quality of the content.
In April of 2001, Mead hired Craig Gustafson to become the magazine’s third editor in 9 months. Under Gustafson, American Cake Decorating progressed steadily. Susan O’Boyle-Jacobson was brought on as the regular Basic Skills Columnist and a Baking Adviser column penned by Patty Mitchell was launched.
Gustafson also assumed the lead in redeveloping the magazine’s website, which was unveiled in the fall of 2001. In April of 2002, Mead passed away, once again leaving the magazine in need of a buyer.
In August of that year, Grace McNamara Inc. acquired American Cake Decorating. The impact of the acquisition was immediate and noticeable to readers, as the paper quality improved, a new business-related section was added, and the standard of design—led by GMI design staff members Randy Palmer and Kurt Beckman—was raised.
Mailbox News for Cake Decorators was acquired by GMI in February of 2003, adding a second cake-decorating title to complement ACD. In the fall of 2003, American Cake Decorating partnered with Softasilk Cake Flour and the Recipe Box feature was launched. At the same time, a subscription offer for American Cake Decorating printed on the Softasilk packaging began to appear in supermarkets across the United States.
In April of 2004 the electronic newsletter Monthly Slice was launched, offering ideas, tips, and often a decorating project, delivered to subscriber’s email accounts. In the summer of 2005 Kimberly Anderson joined the team, taking over the production of MBN and Monthly Slice, as well as assisting with design and photography. In December, Susan Griffith was named Publisher, bringing media sales and research experience to the team as well as providing management expertise for the business unit.
At the same time, plans were laid to remake the American Cake Decorating web site, which was relaunched in January 2008. Significant firsts in this timeframe also include the addition of designer Holly Forsberg as a full-time member of the team, the first bound annual volumes of ACD, which were offered in December of 2007, the organization’s first podcasts in August of 2008, and the first cake-decorating book, Decadent Details: Perspectives of the Grand National Wedding Cake Competition, published by the group was released in July of 2008.
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