It looks alot like an Italian Buttercream recipe...Probably is...

Obviously, the show is doing EXACTLY what it was created for: to get people watching and talking. Love it or hate it, people talk about it. Word of mouth creates interest. Interest creates popularity. As a side note, people who are "in the biz" tend to dislike the shows "about" the biz because it's not an accurate portrayal of the biz. Guess what? It's not supposed to be. You'd be hard pressed with "reality" tv to find a show that truly reflects REALITY.

Chelseak, thanks for sharing a slice of the actual reality, instead of part of the show!

I absolutely love his show. There are the theatrics, which I could do without, but, they are trying to bring in a larger audience. We, cake decoraters would just watch to learn about cakes, other people not so much. Buddy looks to have a big ego, but he seems like such a sweet man, and I could really see that when I saw him on Oprah, he loves doing his cakes, and his family, and just wants to make his father proud.

OMG, I sooo disagree with you multilayered. I think his work is unbelievable. He not only is a great cake artist, he runs a huge bakery. I think it's great that his relatives help him design the cakes and his "girls" are very talented as well.

Now I do agree that the show is a bit staged, but New Jersey Italians are very much like Buddy and his family - you gotta love them.

I only have seen the show once, and it was not long before I started getting into cakes.....I was laughing my head off! Since I was watching it from that perspective, I wasn't really interested in learning tips on how to decorate cakes..... I think if I watched it again now, I might have a different opinion.....but maybe not.

I love Cake Boss!!! I love watching the cakes being created, the interaction with the customers and all the family drama! My in-laws are New Jersey AND New York Italians, (my family is Cuban) and therefore I'm certain that all that yelling is not ALL staged...LOL! I love watching a big crazy loud family like that working together. I think it's incredible to have all the sisters and their husbands all together.

I would love to actually try one of his cakes one day

There is appeal to Buddy's story... grew up in his father's bakery and, when his father died, took over the family business at the age of 18. He has worked hard to be where he is right now. Yes, the family drama gets on my nerves too sometimes, but honestly if I worked w/ my family, I can guarantee you that we would not all see eye to eye all the time. I find that Buddy provides much more explanation and detail as he's doing things than I've found on other cake shows and you can actually learn something from him, which I think is part of his intention and not just to promote himself. I have noticed some rough edges on circles, etc. on the bakery's website, which does bug me; but, I believe there are others in his shop who do fondant, so I can't be sure it's his work to criticize, just something that he should notice and correct as the Cake Boss. Yelling/drama or not, I'll keep watching.

I will watch basically anything that involves cake, lol. I think Buddy seems like a super nice guy, and it seems to me he rocks the bakery items/traditional styles/wedding cakes. He's worked in the family bakery for years. For sure the man has talent! However, I don't like the style of the "big deal" cakes they unfortunately center the show around---most of them are just super large sheet cakes with a bunch of stuff plopped on top. I'd actually like to see more of the technique, less of the dramatics and less of the super large pseudo sheets. But, to each their own!

He's italian, folks! They fuss one minute and hug the next. Thats the way they are. They are down to earth people. I enjoy his show.

It's a family bakery... and esp. with Italiano... sure, your going to see the yelling... but they are a family bakery. You can see and hear the love in that bakery.

Perhaps most of it is staged for the camera's to boost the ratings..
But his cakes are gorgeous!

That first episode where he did the black icing work on those wedding cakes, WOW! Just to see his concentration and techniques were amazing.

My DH and I watched season premiere the other day and we were laughing because "we" feel he's more funnier this season. And "we" feel he showed more techniques.
Sure, it would be great if once in a while he can review the cost of some cakes.

DH and I don't watch Ace of Cakes anymore. He let the show go to his head.

I have on my bucket list to go to NJ and see his bakery and taste his pastries.

Oh, and we were really laughing when they had to get a new brand of the Italian Liquor and how they were tasting it in the pastry creme they put into their pastry puffs.

Anyhoo, just expressing here......... we thought his new season was great!

I think his work is great. But I have four boys, so the arguing and yelling gives me a headache. If I want to hear arguing and yelling, I'll just hang out with my boys outside for awhile or something. haha. So I was never really impressed with the show.

Also was not impressed with a few "disasters" they staged, fairly obviously....

But as far as his talent, yes he's very talented.

I had the p;easure of visiting Carlo's bakery in December while on a trip to NYC. I met Buddy, Mauro, Mary and Madeleine. Buddy was kind enough to come downstairs to have his picture taken with me and sign a mug and apron. I teased Mary about being so mean to her brother. She said," oh I'm not mean, that's just my personality!" They all seemed very genuine and down to earth. My husband and I tried 6 different things and all were delicious! The bakery is just as it looks on TV. We even walked around back through the alley and got to peek in an open door. I had to see the alley where they pull all of their pranks. To me Buddy's yelling is more than offset by the kindness he shows his family and customers, and the pride he puts into his work.

I like his show, he's shown many ways to "decorate" which I have appreciated. His cakes "have" gotten a little strange so was very pleased to see his last cake, a version of his wife. He does "beautiful" work when he puts his mind to it..The show does tend to seem staged at times....so I hope a lot of the extra drama stops...they seem like nice people.. I didn't care for the birds, and/or live lobster around the "decorating" table.. He has shown way more (in my opinion) of showing how to decorate than Duff has.. And as much as I like Duff's show, lately it has become about the workers and their "second" jobs... I wish they would stick to cakes and start showing more "decorating"... they have done "awesome" cakes in the past well .. Both shows have been awesome in the past...but could use some tweaking..

I love Cake Boss!!! Even though, sometime's many of the things looked very staged...And to all of u who have tasted his pastries, u r sooooo lucky!!!The closest thing we have in Cali to Buddy's bakery is an Italian deli and they also have Italian pastries. Anyone in Cali know of Claro's????!!!I wish I had money to go to Buddy's bakery...Cali is along way from there...

I have taken my grand kids there twice. He is such a nice young man. As busy as he is he still took time to pose for pics with the kids and give them his autograph. They were so excited. There canoli is OMG wonderful. Did you see him pipe black on white on the tiers for the bridal magazine.............you have to be very skilled to do that. He is very talented. There is always people who will try and knock you when you make it......most of the time its jealousy. We love Buddy, and he is such a sweetheart. There cakes are really amazing. Can hardly wait to go again.

I really enjoy the show, wish there was a little less yelling also, but I won't stop watching. I was looking for different ideas for wedding cakes the other day and came across this site. This one was Buddy's cake and It was 13.00 a slice.

http://www.brides.com/planning/cakes/feature/slide/167445/#slide_174485

I respectfully disagree with the OP.

I think Buddy's wedding cakes style is flawless and classic, the type of cakes you will look 10-20 years from now and say: that's a gorgeous cake!
The type of cake that will endure the test of time.

His employees might not be the artsy-trendy looking crowd (like CCC) but they do a great job, his wedding cakes always look well constructed, not sloppy.

Hey! these people produce hundreds of items and cakes each week, and they bake all from scratch! they get points from me just for doing that.

I LOVE Cake Boss! I love the yelling, that's their culture, I'm from the south & that's exactly how our family is, yelling one minute, laughing & cutting up the next. And I can't stand Duff or CCC. I quit watching Ace of Cake over a year ago.

check out Kerry Vincent's $22/slice cake on brides.com link.

As for the show, as much as we think of ourselves, the cake decorating community is not large enough to keep a reality show on the air; hence Cake Boss needs a story line to get the non-cakers to watch. As yes it is loosely scripted as all reality shows are. And this is an Italian family - they are going to yell at each other - it is how they communicate

The cakes are beautiful, however I don't like yelling people in real life, and I won't watch them in movies or on TV.

Seeing them disrespect the mother (who apparently is the manager/owner) in the first season by making an explicit cake when she said they should not make it was enough for me.

They knew before taking the order, they weren't supposed to take that sort of order. If it hadn't been family they could have been fired. I don't care if it's a family business, the manager is the manager for a reason - to make decisions.

I agree....Buddy's Leaning Tower of Pisa was AMAZING!!! And, I do agree with the previous poster(s) that he does give some tips on the show as he works...I'm just always hungry for more. I will definitely continue watching his show and I still enjoy Duff's too. Even if it's not as informative, you can still catch some ideas by watching their techniques....well, at least I can since I'm still basically a newby and have tons to learn. ha ha

Here. here - that Pisa Tower cake was great

On Mama, watch how she tries to supress the smiles when she is yelling at everybody - you can tell she is "acting" so to speak!

Melissas_Cakes - when you roll your cursor over CCC it reads "Cupcake Cake" guess Jackie want to tie CCC to Charm City Cakes....

They have to jazz the show up with a bit of drama and other things or it would only appeal to us..........there are people who don't bake any thing and they love the show! The leaning tower was amazing indeed.......they are all really nice people. In person Buddy is way different than that yelling character....he is a sweetheart.

I agree he is a phenomenol decorator, but I can't watch the show at all. I hate all the fake fights and bad acting! Wish it was all about cake.