I recently went to his cake shoppe just bc u have to if you are up that way. LOL

The line wasn't long for us but we were there on a Wednesday right when they opened.

I got several and i mean several different things to try.
I was NOT IMPRESSED at all!!!
The cake was dry and the icing just okay.

They had very basic fondant cakes for sale 6 inch maybe 8 for 50 bucks!

Anyway it was a fun experience but wouldn't go back again for any reason.

The lady that waited on me so so ridiculously ride to me and my friend as well.
I still like the show

Hmmm...I noticed that Carlos Bakery does a lot of charity cakes which I think is fantastic! You must always give back to the community for their support. So are you saying that the bakery could have possibly done the statue of liberty cake for free? Then they are really charging a whole lot to be able to do so many charity cakes.

As Buddy says himself, his designs are what make him unique. More specifically, it's the elaborate custom designs that sell for thousands of dollars. From what I've read the taste and texture of the cakes are mediocre to poor, and the people who make the more basic cakes sold to walk-ins are probably less skilled than the decorators who work on the elaborate cakes.

I think it's a brilliant idea. I wouldn't buy one because I prefer to make my cakes myself, but I bet you A LOT of people will buy these. And why not? If you're not into baking, it's a cheap(ish) cake that's kinda cute, and it's "made" by Buddy! I'm not a huge fan of him, but I agree with scp, when it comes to marketing, he is very smart.

I just got a notice that he's going to be here at a theater in Richmond doing some kind of holiday show where he decorates cakes onstage and tells stories about the bakery. What the heck is that? Slightly bizarre...

Of course the quality of the baked goods is going to suffer when you increase the size of an operation, but people will still buy that stuff. I hadn't heard good things about the pastries in his shop, but the worst bakery in the world was down the street from me in Boston, and they were always packed becasue they were right off the train line. They had location in their favor, Buddy has publicity in his.

He's said many times that he's in business to make money, and the way that he uses the show to spread the word about his bakery has served him well. He's also said many times on the show that his goal is to make Carlo's Bakery a household word, that's one of the things they always focus on when they start in with the emotional speeches about his father. He was also on here for a while before TLC shut him up, and he said that he's a businessman first, and that he has a lot of people to support with his business. He made the point that churning out the same cake design over and over makes sense financially, since it gets faster and faster, and he's totally right on that score. The automation of those two designs was only a matter of time.

I'm not a fan of the show since the FawnDaunt and Cuzzin Ant'ny accent being screamed at each other is irritating, and all of the invented drama and set-up situations are dumb, but I don't fault his business sense. But I will NOT be going to see his weird little stage show

Yeah I did hear about his holiday show and wondered "what holiday?" Christmas? I probably would be the one to line up and wait to taste his stuff just to say "I have tasted it". Then again, someone might knock some sense into me. I am a huge fan of his artistic talent when it comes to cakes. I just need to know the taste is behind the quality and I do love cannolis but they are hard to come by. I have learned that all the drama and fluff in the show is for viewership. Non-cakers probably won't like the fluff. It's the tv regulars who will like the reality kinda show. Hey if ppl can watch Jersey Shore..what's Cake Boss!

I wasn't going to bring this up, but I have it on very good authority that these cakes are doctored box mixes. Someone I know that toured the facility as a VIP saw walls and walls of commercial cake mix. Buddy himself hinted at it here:

"when they brought the last final prototypes, you couldn't tell the difference between their cakes and mine".

Not that it matters, but I thought I'd share since people are speculating on the cake itself. I don't believe that this cake is the same cake you'd be getting if you went to the bakery. It might be close, but it ain't scratch.

I also doubt these are hand-piped - I'd be willing to bet machines make these designs on a big conveyor belt.

I'd still buy one. I'm a sucker.

I am sure that when my business grows beyond me and my daughters, or me being hands-on, my product will suffer slightly. I work so hard to make them the best possible knowing that they still must be the best even when I let go a little.

Another thing to consider is that to keep the quality high, we must be willing to pay an equitable wage. But at some point, if we are lucky, we will be so big that compromises must be made.

I have tried some of Buddy's recipes. They are intermediate in execution. But if done correctly, he really has some recipes that are different from every other cookbook. Same with Georgetown Cupcakes. I have not baked any of their recipes, but I can see that they are good, solid recipes that can be easily adapted if not right the first time.

Just as we students of marketing studied Coca Cola, GE, Ford, etc., we students of baking should study the big guys and apply what we can for our own businesses. There is the old marketing story about why there was a Burger King beside every McDonalds. Very simple explanation. MCDonalds spent millions researching just the right locations for their stores. Burger King spent none. they just built beside a McDonalds. When we were taught the value of branding and logos, professors told us to look to the big guys. If they did it, we needed to do it. We don't have millions to spend, but we ca emulate the big guys who do spend the big bucks.

So I study all of these successful bakeries. While I was a SAHM and didn't want to work but so much, my daughter has plans to take the bakery to a much larger level. I'll guide her, educate her, and partner with her. I don't have to re-invent the wheel, but I can take the best marketing and branding strategies from many companies and create my own with that knowledge.

I will give you an example of something that is so simple but so profound in our industry that I learned from Buddy's book. He was a teenager and working hard in the bakery. His dad came up and asked him, "What are you doing with your other hand?". I have made myself aware of this since I read that. Now I don't hold the cookie pan with one hand. I make a spot and load with both hands. This practice, if you make a decision to stay aware, is a huge time-saver. Think about loading 300 cupcake wells with liners. Making cookies, bringing two cake pans to the oven, big one... picking up two or four eggs at a time vs holding a bowl and getting one. There are applications every day. Over the last two years, I know that because of this awareness, my time in that kitchen has been less by a significant amount.

Another huge skill taught by Buddy in the book... the proper use of a 24 inch piping bag. He explained it in his book and I would watch the guys do it in the first season. Now the task of frosting 300 cupcakes is as simple as frosting 50 or 60.

So look for the little things and make yourself money or save time. Listen carefully and between all of the stupid TV antics, you will get some good advice.

Well! If that is true then his profit margins are and profits are way bigger than I expected. In the same breath, I always wondered how his recipes could be made in such large quantities without quality being affected. I know my scratch recipes never come out moist once I begin to double triple it farless what he does - mixing in those large mixers on the ground.[/b]

I don't think that they show us everything that he has set up in the show, though. I have no doubt that there's plenty of his setup that isn't televised.

Of course he uses mixes...There was a show a couple of seasons ago where there was a big sack of some mix in the background. Just becasue he says "I'm a scratch baker" doesn't mean that everything that comes out of the bakery is totally scratch. You can't produce that much volume otherwise (unless he has an entire staff who knows how to do a consistent product every time and are all experienced bakers. And I doubt that he does.)

I also remember the one where he used what looked suspiciously like a cake mix & always wondered about it!

Does anyone know what grocery store chains the cakes will be sold? I think I would try one, just curious.

I had a "cake boss" cake at a wedding I attended in New York, I thought it was pretty good much better than Duff Goldman's cake...I had an Ace of Cakes cake at an event at Newport Aquarium, I wasn't impressed.

The lobster tail pastries at Carlo's Bakery are AMAZING.

When I've watched either show, I've been appalled at the the obviously overbaked cakes that get used at times--and I've choked when I've seen cake and icing being applied directly to untreated plywood without a barrier.

As for mixes, I heard this a long time ago about Buddy, but I don't know for certain.
I read his description of having turned over his recipes to Dawn Foods for the commercial cakes and that he was happy with the final results--not being able to tell the difference. That leads me to believe that Dawn was charged with making bulk mixes to be used for commercial purposes--that's their area of expertise.


Rae[/quote]

I too was appalled when I saw over-burnt cake edges that looked dark brown compared to a yellow cake. A lot of times I see that the burnt edges aren't trimmed off. I did see them apply buttercream to uncovered wood. I just opened my mouth and said...well maybe they know what they are doing lol. All in the name of haste I guess.

Did anyone see the one where the oven was broken and the guy who came to fix it actually slid into the oven with his shoes on?
I'm always amazed at what appears to be a complete lack of hygiene & am sure that were they not as famous as they are the health dept would be down on them like beans on toast!