Lackawanna

            Over the years Carlos Bakery has been doing better than ever.  Buddy and his family are always very busy.  They have a lot that they have to manage.  Buddy has to help take care of his family, run the bakery, and take time to make the Cake Boss episodes.  On top of all that he and his family are constantly baking and selling their cakes and pastries to hundreds of customers that are waiting in line every day. 

            On Cake Boss the phone is always ringing. Customers call to set up a time to come in and talk with Buddy.  No matter how busy Buddy may be he always makes time for each and every one of his customers.  Buddy could be in the middle of making one of his signature cakes and he will stop what he is doing to go have his meeting with his customer.

            About a year or two ago Buddy and his family came to realize that Carlos Bakery is not big enough for all the large cakes they make as well as for the many different pastries they bake.  They were running out of room in the refrigerators, the ovens, and the cooling racks.  Buddy and his family took some time to seek out a new place where they could expand.  In time Buddy and his family found a great place to open a bakery in Lackawanna. 

            They decided to keep Carlos Bakery to make the smaller cakes and all of the pastries.  Besides, hundreds of people stop by the bakery every day because Cake Boss has become so popular.  There are so many special memories at Carlos Bakery for Buddy and his family.    They use the new bakery to make the larger cakes.  The new bakery looks very nice on Cake Boss.  The refrigerators are enormous and the ovens are gigantic.   Buddy is thrilled to have so much more space to make and keep the cakes before they get delivered. 

            If I was Buddy I’m not sure if I would be able to handle all of the responsibilities of running a bakery.  I think it would be pretty stressful at times.  I don’t know how Buddy manages it all, but one way or another he does.  He never lets you down.            

Life Size Cakes

When customers go to Carlos Bakery and explain to Buddy the cake they would like, he gets a BIG vision of the cake in his head.  On Cake Boss some people might ask for a racecar cake, a rocket cake, or a hockey cake.  Most of the time the customers envision that the cake will be average size and will either look similar to what they are asking for or will be a small version of it.  Buddy’s goal for the cake is to make it life size and to look as real as possible.  The customers always love his ideas and are always very eager to see their cake.  The T.V. viewers are just as eager.

            Buddy has made a wide variety of life size cakes.  When thinking about which cakes I should write about I had a hard time choosing which cakes I liked best.  I chose three that I thought were pretty cool.

            The largest cake that Buddy and his family have ever made was a NASCAR cake.  When Buddy was asked to make a cake for the Charlotte Motor Speedway he decided that he wanted to make a life size cake replica of a NASCAR.  I didn’t think it was possible to make a cake as big as this one turned out.  On the show Buddy said this cake contained over 2,500 sheet cakes!  This cake looked exactly like a NASCAR the only real way to tell the difference would be by touch.

Layers of sheet cake for the car

 

            For many of the larger cakes Buddy uses plywood for the main base.  He covers all the wood with fondant.  Buddy is so good at what he does no one knows what’s really under parts of the fondant.  Before Buddy and his family start baking a cake they take time to think and come up with a plan for the cake.  First Buddy and his family sketch out the cake so there is a plan to follow.

            Another cake that I thought was interesting was a hockey table cake.  This was not an ordinary cake.  You could eat and play the cake.  Buddy was asked to make a hockey table cake for two boys' b'nai mitzvah.  His idea was to make a bubble hockey table.  Buddy used plywood for the base to make the shape of the table.  This was a pretty big cake as well.  Buddy filled the base with 30 sheets of cake.  He then used fondant to cover the cake and add details.  The head sculptor formed hockey players out of modeling chocolate.  I thought it was neat how Buddy’s cousin Frankie was able to make the players move just like a real bubble hockey table would. 

Buddy's sketch

            This next cake was a birthday for a cow, yes a real cow.  Buddy and the crew went to Klein Farms to see some of the cows to help get some ideas for the cake.  The owner of the farm wanted Buddy to make him a cake for his favorite cow Eden.  Eden was turning 10 years old and her owner threw her a party.  A party for a cow is a little odd, but the cake was most definitely not odd at all.  Buddy had two of his cousins build the structure for the cow cake.  Then he had one of his sculptors carve a cows head and neck out of rice krispies treats.  Those parts would be finished off with modeling chocolate.  Buddy wanted the udders of this cow cake to be able to milk real milk.  No doubt about that Buddy and his family were able to make it work.  This cow looked just like Eden.  It was truly a life size replica of her!   

            Buddy and his family are always able to amaze me with the cakes they make. The life size cakes are truly amazing!

Cakes for Celebs

     Everyone likes having cake at a party or special event. A lot of the cakes Buddy has made have been for famous people.  A few of the ones that I think are interesting are when Buddy and his family made a cake for Snooki, The Regis and Kelly show, and Rachel Ray.

     Snooki from the show Jersey Shore came into Carlos Bakery hoping that Buddy could make her a cake.  She told Buddy that the cake would be for her mom and that she hadn’t seen her in a long time.  Snooki wanted half of the cake to represent her mom and the other half to represent her.  Buddy asked her questions to find out what kinds of things Snooki and her mom like.  This cake turned out really cool.  The half of the cake that represented Snooki’s mom was decorated with a modeling chocolate figure of her mom gardening with bright assorted flowers.  The other half was decorated with modeling chocolate figures of Snooki and her guy friends that she refers to as her “Gorillas.”  The figures looked like they were fist pumping on the Jersey shore.  When Buddy and his family delivered Snooki her cake, she and her family were thrilled with how great and realistic the cake turned out.

     Another famous person that Buddy made a cake for was Regis from the Regis and Kelly show.  Regis was actually invited to come to the bakery for a day and observe Buddy and his family at work.  Buddy had Regis try to decorate a cake of his own.  Let’s just say decorating cakes wasn’t Regis’s specialty.  Buddy made a cake for Regis and Kelly and delivered it on their show.  He made a three-D cake that looked just like Regis and Kelly.  He made each separate and incorporated detail that resembled each of them.  The cakes were a big hit. The cast and guests said it tasted great!

     This next celebrity loves to cook and has her own show, Rachel Ray.  Rachel went to Carlos Bakery and explained to Buddy that her five year wedding anniversary is coming up soon.  She told him that on her next show she wanted to surprise her husband with a cake made by Buddy and his family to celebrate.  Rachel showed Buddy a picture of a castle in Italy where she and her husband got married.  She told him that about 130 people would be at the show.  Buddy immediately came up with a plan for the cake.  He wanted to make a replica of the castle.  Buddy did just that.  It turned out amazing! The cake looked exactly like the picture Rachael showed Buddy.  Her husband was so surprised when he saw the cake. 

     Carlos Bakery is becoming more famous every day.  More and more celebrities are coming to Buddy asking for one of Buddy’s specialty cakes.  Buddy is always up for the challenge!!