Cake Boss: Crane Cake, Dog Wedding, Tim McGraw, Quinceanera

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

What happened to the alliterative titles that this show used to ALWAYS use?? I don't know why that stopped, but I miss it. Anyway, let's take a look at the past two episodes of Cake Boss... and, don't forget - next week is the season finale! First, the answer I know some of you are looking for: Tim McGraw and Rob are Pikes. [Pi Kappa Alpha, if you didn't go Greek.] Now, I didn't think that any of the cakes shown in this batch were end-all-be-all masterpieces, but I did think that a lot of work went into the crane and the scrapyard debris. I found the dog wedding to drag on, the Tim McGraw story to be more "milk the celeb" than anything else, and the quinceanera cake to be mostly filler, as there didn't really seem to be anything tricky about it. But, we did get to see Ashley's first day at Carlo's!

Cake Boss "Crane Cake and Puppy Love" (S05E27): Cinelli Iron and Metal, a scrapyard, is having a "bring your kid to work day" and want a cake that will feature a crane that moves in five different directions. [TIME OUT. if you can think of a dangerous place to take your child to work, this is near the top of the list, LoL.] The guys fill the cake with random ingredients because scrapyards have various piles of items. Maurizio is in charge of the engineering but he runs out of time to do everything he needs to, so everyone works like crazy in the final hour to finish. [I liked how they created dirt by running chocolate cake through a colander of sorts.] 

http://tlc.howstuffworks.com

Buddy and Maurizio decide to bet on who is a better crane operator, and the scrapyard lets them try transferring some scrap metal to a dumpster. Buddy is superior to Maurizio, so rather than Buddy getting the wood shop cleaned, Maurizio has to bleach his hair for a week. Ralph does it right there in the bakery, and the dye looks blue as the apply it!

A couple of women want a wedding cake (for human consumption) for the biggest dog wedding in history. [I think they meant biggest as in most dog guests?] It will be in the Guinness Book of World Records and is working as a fundraiser. The guys make the cake in a traditional style but with whimsy, including some bling and some fuchsia philoscia (?) orchids. [the puppet officiant, Triumph, was where I drew the line on crazy.] 

Cake Boss "A Cowboy in Hoboken" (S05E28): Tim McGraw's mother comes in to order a cake for her son's current cause, Operation Homefront, which gives homes to military families. The cake replicates a house being given to a specific couple. Rob, Joey's son, has been interning all summer and gets to come on the delivery, as he's a Tim McGraw fan. [that's nice.] Rob says that he's in the same fraternity as Tim, so they'll be buddies right away, so Buddy tells Rob to get a crazy picture wearing Tim's hat. If he succeeds, Buddy will shave Rev's head. If he fails, they'll shave Rob's head. [I thought the scale of the cake was off... the truck was bigger than the house.] Rob asks Tim for the favor but he won't remove his hat. [I have a striking suspicion that the "have we met before?" "perhaps we have" exchange was a secret "brothers" thing.]  

Milagros, the youngest of four daughters, is having her quinceanera. Her parents only speak Spanish, so Buddy tries his limited Spanish and another daughter otherwise translates. [I didn't even know about the shoe tradition and we spent a week on quinceaneras when I was in Spanish II! I liked how they solved the size of the wooden board at the bottom. the shoe was gorgeous, too.] 

It's Ashley's first day and she starts in the baking room. Buddy warns her that the coworkers will give her a hard time, but it's Marissa who feels uncomfortable. [it did seem like there was some extra editing in there, though. and the whole "original next great baker" thing?? wouldn't that be Dana?] Ashley gets pelted with pie after pie, which Buddy "didn't condone." [odd but expected.]