Sunday, June 10, 2012

Let Them Eat Cake


'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro to sell some of his creations in US bakeries, grocery stores.

'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro's decision to sell some of his creations in US bakeries and grocery stores.
Buddy Valastro says he has wanted to give an opportunity to taste the cakes most of us only watch him bake and decorate.

So Valastro has given his cake recipes to the family-run company that supplies his Hoboken, N.J., bakery with goods like sugar and flour to help create a cake line that could be mass produced.


Based on recipes of cakes he's made before, this summer we will see "Badda Bloom" — a two-layer cake, one chocolate and one vanilla, with a layer of fudge and covered in bright green, butter cream frosting with pink and purple flowers. The same two-layer cake will also be available in a more gender-neutral "My Party Cake" design of blue, purple and green balloons and confetti over a layer of bright yellow frosting.


"What makes me unique is my designs," Valastro says, "We came up with the designs, using my exact ingredients and baking instructions, down to how many revolutions for mixing the batter. ... I'm proud of this."

The cakes will be in bakeries and grocery stores across the country this summer.

"I just love what I do," said Valastro, a fourth-generation baker. "I love making cakes, and I'm good at it."

"Cakes are special," he said. "Every birthday, every celebration ends with something sweet, a cake, and people remember. It's all about the memories."

Valastro said he was a apprehensive about mass producing his cakes, which he describes as "delicious, old-fashioned, old-world cakes" using high-quality ingredients.

"I was a little like, `This is my baby. This is my name,'" he said.

But after months of planning, going over designs and taste-testing, "when they brought the last final prototypes, you couldn't tell the difference between their cakes and mine. For me, that's the biggest thing."

"We're about quality," he said. "I don't want people to get a bad cake. It will reflect badly on me."

The cakes will retail for $27.99. Designs and pricing for the fondant cakes are still being discussed. A list of bakeries and grocery stores where the cakes will be available will be released later this month.

We'll stay tuned.