I'm watching the episode where he made the Leaning Tower of Pisa wedding cake. OMG WHAT A MASTERPIECE! And they made it look relatively easy .... knowing that it takes a master's skill to do something like that.

I cant' remember a cake on tv that blew me away more than this one.

Oh. My. God. I am in awe.

That cake was awesome! My husband was watching that episode with me and made some comment about that being the prize winner of all the cakes he'd seen on tv, hands down. Very impressive. And I liked the way they did the pillars on the outside of the tower, it was really clever.

That cake was absolutely gorgeous! I couldn't believe the massive amount of detail that went into it and how simple he made it look. Amazing!

My husband and I were blown away by it also. That is one cake I will never forget. I would love to see close-ups of it to truly appreciate all the detail.

I cannot imagine how many hours went into that cake. When I saw them covering the pillars in white fondant my jaw dropped. That alone was an immense amount of work. But it was totally impressive indeed. I would love to know how much it cost......

It was a masterpiece for sure. As I was watching, I was thinking about how they'd serve it. All the top-to-bottom dowels would need to be removed first so the tiers could be unstacked. It'd take a while just to do that. I'd love to have seen the dismantling at the reception.

I too was in awe. It was unbelievable and to think how many hours went into it! I remember him saying it was a challenge to ice them the same thickness. I would think so too, but I would have iced to same size cake boards. I wish these shows would start mentioning prices so people would get a clue that these aren't $200 cakes

That's funny . . . I had the exact same 2 reactions as all of you:

Wow, what a masterpiece!!! THEN

How could they possibly ever serve that? They'd have to have a big trash can right beside the cake table to put all of those little fondant pillars, etc. into. Yuck!

well, as the resident tech nerd...

yadda yadda --

just your basic central pvc support and then lots of 4' tiers of cake -- separated by masonite boards (which will speed disassembly -- they can get that whole thing pulled apart in under 15 min -- and all the cakes will be on a nice masonite board so can be cutting and serving multiple tiers --

preprep would be the important -- stack all the masonite boards and use a hole saw to cut the central hole that PVC goes through -- and make it big enough that there is some play so you can tilt the whole cake --- and predrill all the pillar holes at once.

then unleash an army of decorators --- and there's the key -- many people working at one to make it happen.

---

and there in lies the "fun" of the cake challenges -- they force them to make such cakes with only 1 assistant instead of the army of people they have back at their shops. Do a head count and notice just how many people work in Buddy's and Duff's shops!

He does amazing work. That cake was outstanding. What really made my jaw drop though was when he said it only took three hrs to do the lobster cake. I like this show A LOT better than Duff's show.

Mike

Since we don't have cable, I always miss out on all the good stuff. Does anyone happen to know where a picture of this cake might be?

I love Buddy's work, and I learn a lot by watching. I prefer his work over Duff's because he really seems to try to keep the thing edible. The Leaning Tower was my favorite cake ever. My non-caking but supportive hubby was impressed as well!

LOVE that show!!! I learn SO much watching Cake Boss. How about the lobster cake? Was that on the same episode, I wanted to try the isomalt by pouring it over ice, that was unreal!!!!!!!! I can't get isomalt around here, do you think the sugar/karo mixture would work the same way? I'm doing a champaigne bucket in a few weeks and wanted to do the ice like that.......

How about the sweet 16 cake that fell down the stairs, I actually JUMPED off the couch and was flipping out!!!!! I could feel their pain!!!!!

The Leaning Tower of Pisa was amazing! They put so much work into that cake. I mean all of the little details. I would also love to know how much that cake cost. It had to be $3000 at least.

I LOVE THAT SHOW!! It's a whole lot better than Ace of Cakes...Buddy actually teaches you how to construct and/or create these amazing cakes...I crack up every time he and his family start in on each other!! What about those lobsters, when his sisters came upstairs and started nagging Buddy about helping them out downstairs? HILARIOUS!!!

And the cake that fell down the stairs...my heart dropped!! I thought the same thing with the leaning Tower of Pisa-surely they are NOT going down the stairs with that one!! (That's what they have a cargo elevator for!!)

Anywho - here is the where you can find the pic of the leaning Tower of Pisa is on...(with most of all the other cakes he's done on the series) go to page 21-22

http://tlc.discovery.com/tv/cake-boss/slideshows/buddys-sketchbook.html

Happy Caking!!

It is a great show, and I learn stuff. I do have to say though that a lot of this is staged. The dropping of the sweet 16 cake - Buddy is a seasoned pro and knows to drive a dowel down the middle of the cake. Same with the bride who "destroyed" her cake - totally set up.

MORSELSBYMARK ~ Awww, was it really set up? I didn't see the leaning tower show, but the bride smashing the cake one was a 'yikes' show.

think it really was staged?

I only got 6 minutes of that episode...of all the episodes to miss...

The leaning tower was a beautiful cake. But I had the same thought as alot of you. How the heck were they going to cut it? Doug - once again, you have the answer!

The show did make the tower cake seem simple and effortless to do. That's 1 of the reasons why so many non-cakers don't understand why a custom cake costs so much. They see a cake come together on a 1/2 hour or hour show and think that's how it really happens.

I think many, many things on that show are staged and fake, but I do watch it every week and have picked up a few tips.

I thought the same thing about the sweet 16 cake, it had to be staged b/c there was no dowel rod thru the middle, that's what I told my daughter, no seasoned cake decorator would EVER try and move or deliver a cake that tall without dowel rods........I personally think quite a bit of it is staged, but I still LOVE the show!!!!! I learn a lot more watching his show than the others.

I too would love for him to mention how much the cakes cost. Educate the public how much people are spending for these beautiful cakes.
The cake this week was incredible! Love how Buddy breaks down the steps and shows how he does it..so much more than ace of cakes ever has.

I like CB because he does show more step-by-step info. I don't like it because (a) all the in-fighting/yelling (I know, they're Italian, so is my DH, but his family doesn't shout the odds all the time), and (b) so much of the 'problems' are staged. C'mon ... you could see the guy tip the Sweet 16 cake on purpose! (Dowelling, hello?!) They have an elevator, so why take the stairs with such a big cake?! And I doubt they'd have that many extra baked cakes just lying around on a weekend. Skip the crap, do 'real reality'. You're bakers/decorators, not actors.

Overall, I prefer Duff. I like that everyone's friendly, comes together without shouting, and it's a much more relaxed atmosphere - no fake emergencies to show off how great they are either. And I've learn stuff from him, too. Duff went to "Pastry School" (as he says in the opening) - I think Buddy learned from his dad (no mention of formal schooling, I think) - both have learned their craft well.

People ask me if I watch Cake Boss and if I like it, and I say that I find it really amusing, but it's not a documentary

MORSELSBYMARK- I totally agree too much is staged. Like when they brought pigeons into the bakery when he was looking for doves? I can't imagine anyone who's been working in a bakery for any amount of time would bring wild birds where food is made!! And he has way too much experience for the "mistakes" that occur.

It was amazing......I thought it was maybe $10,000.....I would love to know too....I am just guessing he must be really expensive....the cake was a real work of art....the blonde who does the sculpting is really a talent...the ike with the couple on i was really freaking good

ziggytarheel..... not to worry if you don't have cable, you can catch full episodes of Cake Boss online. Enjoy