Cape Town will be put on the national map from today, when the first episode of the ‘Charly’s Cake Angels’ TV series, focused on Charly’s Bakery, is flighted on SABC 3 at 16h00 this afternoon. Each of the thirteen episodes focuses on a unique aspect of Cape Town, and will make Cape Town synonymous with Cake Town!
Mother-and-daughters-team of Jacqui, Alex, Roche and Dani Biess are excited about the ‘mucking afazing’ (their cheeky slogan) opportunity they were given to not just make their well-loved distinctively pink bakery famous, but also Cape Town, the city they love, with its creative qualities. Charly’s Bakery has operated for 21 years, and has become known for its designer cakes, and no design request for wedding and birthday cakes has been insurmountable, be it representing Cape Town, cars, fashion accessories, and many more designs. Cake is symbolic of the most important events and milestones in one’s life. To celebrate the success of the TV series, Charly’s Bakery will donate R5000 to one of a number of charity alternatives, the most deserving being voted for by their fans.
The ‘Charly’s Cake Angels’ programme series came about when Producer Justin Bonello, of Cooked in Africa Films, approached Charly’s Bakery. Not only will the creative cake shop receive valuable coverage through the TV series, but there will also be a book published and merchandise will be for sale. A new website has been launched for Charly’s Bakery, to co-incide with the TV series. The DVD cover for some of the episodes summarises the background as follows: “Charly’s Cake Angels is a reality series which will take viewers down the rabbit hole deep into the world jammed with screaming ‘Eat me’ cakes. Every week viewers will be treated to the Charly’s team tackling yet another impossible cake for a fabulous function”.
Executive Producer Peter Gird said as follows about the TV series: “…’Charly’s Cake Angels’ is far more than a documentary set in a bakery, but offers a truly unique and entertaining view into the lives of the ‘Angels’ and the community they serve, and provides an entertaining and heart-warming showcase to truly ‘mucking afazing’ cakes that do more than make people’s mouths water. Don’t be fooled into thinking ‘Charly’s Bakery is a factory. It’s a philosophy and a way of life, with strong local and social media following. Our partnership allows us to portray the joie de vivre, laughter, creative innovation and candy-striped chaos that patrons don’t usually see, to a local TV audience and beyond. using social media and in-store promotional mechanisms”.
In a most unusual manner, the tourism assets of Cape Town and beyond are built into the TV series. So, for example, the cake that Charly’s Bakery baked to represent Cape Town, and showcased at the Design Indaba earlier this year, is covered in the ‘Cape Town Cake’ episode. So too, in conjunction with Cosmopolitan, a range of handbag and shoe cakes was produced and became the programme theme for the ‘Fashion’ episode. The ‘Revenge of the Rhino’ episode is dedicated to the birth of a rhino, particularly poignant, given the death of rhinos due to poaching at Aquila Game Reserve, where footage was shot for this episode. Table Mountain features in many of the episodes.
Bonello has published three books: ‘Cooked in Africa’, Weekends Away’, and ‘Out of the Frying Pan’. He and Gird have also produced ‘Cooked’ (broadcast on BBC), ‘Getaway to Africa’ (broadcast on M-Net and Discovery), ‘Exploring the Vine’ (broadcast on M-Net and National Geographic), and ‘Fresh Living TV‘ (broadcast on etv).
Charly’s Bakery, 38 Canterbury Street, Cape Town. Tel (021) 461-5181. www.charlysbakery.com
Chris von Ulmenstein, Whale Cottage Portfolio: www.whalecottage.com Twitter: @WhaleCottage
