by Amy K. Bredemeyer
Last week we had two full hours of Cake Boss - one hour of a special where fans asked questions, Buddy and the family gave answers, and one lucky winner got to go to the bakery. The second hour had the normal two episodes, one where Regis Philbin visited Carlo's and one where the gang makes a beehive cake. Overall, pretty average.... but some neat facts still came out.
Cake Boss "Dear Buddy" (Special): It's a Q&A about the family, the cakes, the shows, etc.
- Carlo started the bakery in 1910. Buddy's dad worked there under Carlo and eventually bought the place.
- Since the bakery rose to popularity, the major change is that the lines are longer. 1-3 hours is pretty standard, though sometimes it 5-6. They do, however, ask trivia questions to fans can win cupcakes and such.They also now have someone who fills cannolis full-time!
Their most famous pastry is the lobster tail - a hand-made pastry with layers rolled by hand. They make it "Sfogliatelle" style, which is filled with ricotta cheese and means "many leaves," and is a lot of work.
- For a first-timer to Carlo's, the staff would recommend getting cannoli, lobster tail, or mousse cake.
- The arguing on the show is real.
- Buddy's mother is enjoying being retired and visiting Florida and such, but also enjoys spending some time at the bakery, having breakfast there, etc.
- They use 3 tons of sugar per week, 4-5 tons of flour, 180 gallons of heavy cream, a couple thousand pounds of butter. And, 10,000 pounds of fondant per month.
- The most popular wedding cake designs right now include calla lilies and sugar flowers. - Working around cakes all the time makes the employees eat and bring home goodies. [They eat cupcakes like I do! Making a sandwich out of it!]
- Cake scraps sometimes go to the cameramen.
- The weirdest cake request was the guy who wanted a toilet cake that flushed.
- The most difficult cake to make was the NASA one. Runners up include the snow globe cake, the llife-size Lisa cake, and the huge ones like Sesame Street, Transformers, and the life-size race car cake. Ralph said the cow was the most stressful.
- They need like 200 people with Lackawanna opening. Grace does the hiring and likes pleasant people She did 20 interviews and hired 5 people.
- Buddy just wants his kids to be happy, though it would be great if they decide to be bakers, too!
- Buddy's favorite thing about owning a bake shop is making people happy. It's a feeling he can't explain. He still gets it after all these years.
- There are areas of the bakery that the cameras don't see, like Buddy's office, the sisters' office, and the restroom.
- Lackawanna has 10,000 square feet of refrigerators and freezers. 250-300 sheet pans can bake at once when the ovens are full. There's a big, state-of-the-art room for The Next Great Baker, too. They even have a wood shop.
- The number of products available for shipping should increase over the next year.
- Viewers sent in videos of themselves decorating cakes, and the three top entries are an ice cream sundae cake, a wine basket cake, and an elephant cake. There are some nitpicky things about each, but they choose the ice cream sundae girl as the winner. She's turning 20 soon and makes a cake with Buddy.
Cake Boss "A Funny Regis & Fifty Weddings" (S04E28): Buddy is consulting with Maria, the Korean Bride, who is doing an art project that involves getting married once in each state, to a different person (...or thing) each time. She even married the Liberty Bell and a thoroughbred horse. For her, he's going to do three tiers, with stenciling and figurines of some of the grooms. [looking back, would you really want to think about your previous marriages when you have a current wedding cake? Although since it's all in the name of art, I guess it's different.]
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| TLC/Sebastian Mlynarski |
Cake Boss "Bees, Beware and Business" (S04E29): Buddy gets a call from the New York Beekeepers Association, who wants a cake to celebrate the anniversary of beekeeping being legal in NYC for one year. [heh. I had no idea that it was illegal before that!] He wants a cake where the primary ingredient is New York honey. [anybody surprised? I'm not...] This guy has 6 hives of 80,000 bees each! The guy wants Buddy to help retrieve the honey from the hive, wearing just the headpiece. [whoa whoa whoa... why???] The idea for the cake is that the hive will be suspended from a tree-like structure, and a NYC skyline of sorts will be underneath it. Add some honey cream (custard plus whipped cream plus honey), honey, and (decorative) bees, and you're good! [the bees were supercute!]
The other cake for the episode is for a couple who met in acting class - it's their first anniversary. She wants the cake to bounce in the guy's face. [haha!] Buddy writes a poem on the cake and the bottom line is "my gift to you is cake in the face," but it's in a smaller font so you have to get close to read it. [smart!] When you get that far, the cake pushes up and gets the reader in the face. Buddy tried it out on Anthony and then a newer employee first. The prank cake works, though they still have someone underneath the table and manually popping it up. [not completely impressive, but whatever...]
The women don't have enough help at the bakery so they're filling cannolis themselves. Lisa (the wife) tells Lisa (the sister) and Madeleine that the family isn't going to be at the vow renewal, and they're up-in-arms. Madeleine confronts Buddy about the anniversary/vow renewal party, but it isn't clear whether anything has changed. Lisa got her first gown at Kleinfeld's in Manhattan. This time around, she thinks she should go simpler but back to Kleinfeld's they go!
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