Cake Boss: Did Buddy Get To Victory Lane?

Last October, the team at Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ packed up their truck and headed to Charlotte, NC to build a life-size cake that replicated a stock car for the Retail Bakers Association convention. Previews show the cake falling apart and Buddy Valastro Jr., head of the bakeshop, frustrated beyond belief. But that's just a preview, so let's see what really happened, shall we?

Buddy was invited to the convention by the president of the RBA because Buddy is the best in the business. If you've never seen his show, I suggest hitting up the TLC channel as soon as possible to see some of his creations. Since the convention is in Charlotte, Paul, the president of the RBA, suggests building the car – a NASCAR car (or as Buddy says, “NACE-car”...he's from New Jersey...we talk funny on the east coast!). They put their plan together, which includes 2,400 sponge cakes, half of which will be made by culinary students in Charlotte who will be part of Buddy's team once he gets down there. The team packs up the truck with their half of the cakes and supplies and head out on their journey. Buddy and Joey head out first and the rest of the team will come in later on because the bakery still has to run. After getting lost in Pennsylvania and a guy on a horse-and-buggy gets them back on track, they finally get to Charlotte – and to Charlotte (at the time Lowe's) Motor Speedway. Buddy likes to get into his projects, so in this case, he goes to the NASCAR Racing Experience and meets with their crew chief Joe. Buddy hops in the driver seat, pretending to drive (mouth sounds included), as well as taking exact measurements of the car and looking under the hood – he plans on making an engine out of cake!

With Danny having arrived, the guys head to the carpenters who will be making the platform for the cake as well as the framing of the car – using DeWalt tools, of course! When Buddy and crew arrive at the convention center to begin building the cake, none of the things they built the day before are there. This puts Buddy a bit behind, but he always has obstacles. However, in this case, he has four days to build this cake. If a race team can build a car in three days, I think Buddy can do this! They set up their “bakery” while waiting for the platform and everything is finally set to be built. 20 people and six hours later, the cakes are stacked. Nothing has been carved or designed yet, just placed. That's a lot of people and time, but again, this is a CAR! It's time to carve out the cake and chunks of deliciousness are going into the garbage (I've eaten from Carlo's and when I say deliciousness, I mean super, uber amazing deliciousness. I highly suggest it if you're ever in Hoboken!) but the cake is beginning to look like a car, so I suppose it's okay. The car is wrapped in cereal treats and then dirty iced (50 buckets worth) while a separate team begins building the engine, also out of cereal treats. 50 yards, yes YARDS, of fondant is used to wrap the cake. For those not mathematically inclined (like myself), that's half a football field. The car is painted with a base of silver and Buddy gets a call that NASCAR is going to let him drive a car (Buddy makes funny car sounds and we see the 18 and 48 cars for about 2 seconds. WOO!). Buddy is decked out in his NASCAR Experience firesuit and hops in the driver seat and we hear his spotter telling him to stay down on the apron. He hits 175 mph and pulls back into pit road. Wow, it was almost like a real race!

The team gets back to the convention center and the entire front half of the cake is on the floor, just in time for the beginning of the convention. Remember, Buddy's cake—and the building of it—is the centerpiece of the convention. OY! Buddy figured out the weight of the cream between the layers of cake on the front caused it to just slip down. They only have to fix the front and they choose to fix it with cereal treats instead of more cake. They fix it and it looks like nothing ever happened. The culinary students make the tires, which are made of cereal treats and modeling chocolate. Instead of the yellow “Goodyear” that normally goes on a tire, Buddy puts on “Ganache,” which is a phrase used often in the bakery. For one, it's a type of cream and two, they use it when something is heavy (or when something goes wrong or something is awesome...pretty much it's used for everything...). That car was super ganache! The hood will have the Carlo's Bakery logo in red and white and the back of the car will have red and yellow flames. As well, edible logos are made of any company that helped make the car (Pillsbury, a bakery, the official NASCAR logo, etc.) just like a normal NASCAR. Since it took 56 people to build the cake, that was the number of the car. In order to get the engine in, they put it on a platform and hoist it in … a perfect fit! However, the hood is not – there is a four inch gap. Ever the perfectionist, Buddy adds a layer of cereal treats, wraps it and puts a yellow stripe on it. All is good in the world again. Well not really, because I didn't get to have any, but I digress...

Four days and 56 people later, the cake is finally finished and ready for its big reveal. And not just to the RBA, but to Joe Gibbs! The car is kept hidden while Buddy chats with Mr. Gibbs and his daughter-in-law and finally shows the car with a big “GANACHE!” Buddy lifts the hood and Mr. Gibbs can't believe it's cake.

Buddy and his crew definitely get to go to Victory Lane for this one!


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Photo courtesy of TLC/Discovery Channel - 2009.