Franklin Grove takes the cake: Food Network stars help village celebrate 175 years

FRANKLIN GROVE – The first batch of frosting melted off the cake, and the celebrity chef suffered second-degree burns – outside the kitchen – but all in all it was a delicious day as this village of 1,100 celebrated its 175th anniversary with the stars of Food Network's hit TV show, "Ace of Cakes."

Chef Duff Goldman and his assistants, Elena Fox and Geof Manthorne, were given a hero's welcome everywhere they went.

It wasn't the smallest town they have ever filmed in or made a cake for, but it's in the top three, the team said. Most of the cast and staff grew up in small towns, and being here made them feel right at home.

"This is a place we can all relate to," Goldman said. "It's so different than any of the big events you go to. It's like being home for us. I love Baltimore [home of his bakery, Charm City Cakes, where the show is filmed], but it's nice being away from the city, noise and all the brick buildings."

The show's supervising editor, in fact, is Franklin Grove native Grayce Lackland Niggley, who happily brought her work home this week.

It was a day of hilarity, that began with pie, not cake, thanks to a round of Bessie Bingo.

In this bingo game, folks take a number and wait for the cow to splat on a marked field.

As the heifer was released from her trailer Thursday, she let loose a loud moo, sending the crowd and the team of bakers into fits of laughter. Then came the wait.

"I think someone needs to get her a cup of coffee," Goldman said, as the audience cheered her on. He led her around the pen, encouraging her to "drop it."

After circling the ring a couple of times, Goldman said, "I should just cheat." Pointing to the sky, he yelled, "Look, a UFO!" and reached for his pants. He kept the crowd laughing until Bessie finally hit her mark, on number 19.

The trio signed autographs and let fans take photos for an hour after the bingo game, then headed back to Ashton-Franklin Center Elementary School to work on the cake and film more footage for the show, which is expected to air in October.

"It was nice having a kitchen," Fox said. "We've had to make due with less plenty of times. We've used hotels or trailers, whatever we could. So this was really nice."

Then it was time for the slow-tractor race. Goldman arrived on his Bugatti motorcycle, wearing his game face so the roaring crowd wouldn't know he had burned his calf on the exhaust pipe.

None of the three had driven a tractor before, so each was assigned a helper. Manthorne was moving along at a steady clip when Goldman yelled, "What's your big hurry, Geof? You're supposed to see who can go the slowest."

A couple of feet from the finish line, Goldman began going backward. Seven-year-old Jonah Hilliker cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting, "Duff, you're going the wrong way!" He smiled and yelled back, "I know!"

Goldman was taken to the firehouse, where EMTs Michele Haas and Jaime Schafer tended to his leg.

"He suffered a pretty bad second-degree burn," Schafer said. "Of course, you don't wish hurt on anyone, but he was the most exciting person we've ever treated."

During the race, crew members took the cake to the library to get footage. As sometimes happens on "Ace," there was a cake disaster: The 85-degree heat was more than the butter cream could bear, and an avalanche of frosting and fondant struck the rear of the cake.

"It really wasn't that bad," Goldman said. "We were joking about it and laughing. We've had it much worse. Once we made a 4-foot cake for a casino and it fell. We had to completely redo that one."

Making repairs pushed back the start of the day's last big event, the parade. The stars rode in a horse-drawn carriage, smiling and waving to their screaming fans.

Then came the unveiling of the anniversary cake – a blue-eyed sheep wearing striped red, white and blue top hat, its sweet woolly rear miraculously restored. The cake, actually Fox's creation, commemorated a sheep-shearing moment shared by the cast and town earlier that morning.

Kaitlyn Smith of Franklin Grove, winner of Bessie Bingo, was given the honor of making the first cut. The second piece went to the village's Thelma Metz, who was celebrating her 101st birthday. "This is such a joy," she said.

With thanks, village President Bob Logan then presented Goldman with a key to Franklin Grove, which Chef Duff held aloft. "Aw, man, this is great," he said.

"Thank you, everyone, the people at the school, fire department, everyone. We've had such a great time."