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!