Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Cake Boss: Stained Glass, Dragons, Boxing

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

I'm not gonna lie - I'm kinda happy that Mary's gone. Of course, as they have many family moments that are outside of the bakery on this show, she likely won't be gone completely, but she was always so curt that I was never a fan. Plus, maybe we can see more of my favorites this way. :)  I think that the random shots of Marissa are just to remind viewers that she's there, which is kinda strange. Anyway, looking at the cakes, I was hoping for a little more in the stained glass cake but I was really impressed with the beauty of the Chinese New Year Cake!! Both the boxing cake and the "Danny" cake had their merits, but I liked the authenticity of the punching bag much more than the random assortment on Danny's cake. Overall, I'm glad that this show is back on and look forward to more!

Cake Boss "Stained Glass & a Surprised Danny" (S05E03): Buddy reminds Mary that her mouth gets her in trouble. She claims that Buddy isn't fair "at all," and he says that she won't manage Carlo's anymore unless he's dead. [I liked the other three sisters together, talking about it.]

Buddy goes to see Father Bob, who wants a stained glass cake for the music director at the church. Buddy isn't sure how it's going to work, but they get busy trying. They do a hexagon cake to get more sides for designs. [smart!] They use black buttercream and a #1 tip to outline some designs. [you can see Frankie doing this below.] Then, they take turns coloring it in. [I wasn't blown away, but maybe it's because of all the red and blue... those aren't the big colors in the churches I've been to, LoL.]
Credit: TLC
Danny's 50th birthday is coming up (he's been at Carlo's for 36 years), and Buddy gives him a really troublesome order to fill, which is checkerboard in style. [I have not yet gotten up the guts to try those, though they are lovely!] Meanwhile, the bakery thinks of things that remind them of Danny - like a caveman, a mule, hairy, and briefs, and those all go on the cake. [haha on the mustaches at the party! the character on the cake really looks like him, too! ]

Cake Boss "Fast Hands & a Flaming Pearl" (S05E04): Better Chinatown Society wants a cake for the NYC Chinese New Year Parade for a float - it's the Year of the Dragon, so they want two dragons holding a flaming pearl... that lights up. [okay... I wasn't as taken with the "Chinese rooftop" as some of the guys. the mandarin filling sounds good, though!] Ralph sculpts the dragons - he likes to do claws and faces. [random fact!] It's a challenge to make them perfectly symmetrical. They use Isomalt to make the ball look shiny, and want to use lights to make it look lit up. It cracks, but it doesn't look too bad with the lighting and the fractures. [loved the final cake - SO detailed!!] 

A bootcamp boxing gym wants a boxing-style cake (punching bag, not a ring), and Buddy wants Anthony to go in the ring with one of the guys, as they both practice mixed martial arts. If Anthony can lasts 2.5 minutes, he gets two days off, but if he loses, Buddy is going to cut Anthony's hair to look like Mauro. [hahaha! They should have showed more Mauro this episode, though, especially for new viewers.] They want random fillings to match old punching bags -stuffed with random junk. [kinda sounds gross to me, but whatever.] Buddy actually punches it to give it a realistic feel. [neat!] Lisa doesn't like the look, but Buddy claims it's a beat-up bag, so ripples and wear make sense. [looked pretty authentic to me!] Cousin Anthony's match is kinda violent, but he makes it. [could have used a running time rather than just cutting to the clock.]

The level of tension in the bakery is down, but something doesn't feel right with Mary gone. The focus quickly shifts, however, to trying to pull jokes on Buddy. [whipped cream cannon?] Buddy has his oldest son put icing in Cousin Jay's face, and Cousin Jay retaliates by putting frosting on Buddy Jr. [Cousin Jay is from Florida?]
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