Cake Boss's artistry comes iced to perfection

As if it's not enough to craft cakes the size of cars, to stretch out the sfogliatelle, to run a family bakery and to have three television series, Buddy Valastro is doing even more.

The star of TLC's "Cake Boss" and the author of "Cake Boss," Valastro is working on a new book and will come to Hampton Roads in March for a cake-decorating demonstration.

No wonder he occasionally blows his top on the reality show.

"Cake Boss" is set at Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop, which Valastro owns, in Hoboken, N.J. He is shown running the shop with his retired mother, four sisters and three brothers-in-law.

Last week, he slowed down for an interview, in which he talked about his love of the pastry bag, his toilet bowl cake and Duff Goldman of Food Network's "Ace of Cakes."

Q. You say in your "Cake Boss" book that baking "is one of the last great artisanal culinary pursuits," that you're "an endangered species - the pure bred baker, one who can do it all, armed with nothing but his hands, a rolling pin, a mixer and the knowledge passed down to him by patient, nurturing elders." Why do you believe that?

A. Because of technology. For example, the rolling pin. To really master the rolling pin, you have to do it a lot, and I'm one of those people who can use a rolling pin. That's a lost craft.

If you get to a certain size, you have to use machines. We use them at the bakery. But I think (local bakeries) will survive. They will survive because of shows like mine and because people are becoming more educated about food. People don't want to go to the supermarket to buy cakes. Who knows what goes in it?

I get a lot of bakers who thank me for bringing people back to local bakeries.

Q. Of all the cakes you've made, does one stand out? Not because of size, but because of a real emotional connection?

A. The one of my wife, Lisa - my life-sized replica of her for her 30th birthday. She supports me in all that I do.

It was kind of funny trying to size her up for it. I'm touching her, and she's saying, "What are you doing, feeling me up?" Making it in the bakery, there were a lot of funny, funny moments.

Q. Is there anything that couldn't - or shouldn't - be a cake? A request you dread?

A. No, I actually thrive on the challenge. I thrive on cakes like the life-sized NASCAR cake.

Q. What about the flushing toilet bowl cake that will be featured in an upcoming "Cake Boss" episode?

A. The toilet bowl? That was the most unusual. It was for a plumbing-supply company's 100-year anniversary. Back in the '60s, they sold so many toilet bowls, it's what made the company what it is today.

Q. In the book, you talk about having the "hand of the bag" when you use a pastry bag. You write: "The bag becomes an extension of your hand, your arm, your entire being; it gets plugged into your central nervous system. Your brain says, 'Pipe cream puffs,' and it's like the signal goes right to the bag itself." What's that like?

A. That's something my dad used to say - "hand of the bag." When I pick up the bag, I know where there's an air pocket. I know when to pull and when to squeeze. It's just having the rhythm and the motion. I'm definitely one of the people who have that hand.

Q. How much do the cakes on the show cost?

A. A lot of the cakes are donated. The NASCAR cake was a donation. But any one of those big, giant cakes on the show could cost from $5,000 to $25,000.

Q. What prompted you to change from classical decorating with icing to fondant?

A. I'm the type of person who looks at any style of cake decorating and finds beauty in it - buttercream, gum paste, fondant. I want to be versatile; my customers challenge me to do different things.

Q. So what do you prefer, regular icing or fondant?

A. Regular frosting. What I do with fondant is to roll it paper thin. You can't beat the look of fondant, but the taste is, ehhh.

Q. In my mother's bakery, a family operation, things could get pretty testy. Do you find it difficult working with your family?

A. It's got its ups and downs, but at the end of the day, who is going to stand behind you like your family?

Q. In your book, you mention that the cameras and crew are in the bakery a lot. Do you find yourself acting for the camera?

A. I don't feel like an actor. We just go on and do our thing.

Q. In a November interview with The Baltimore Sun, "Ace of Cakes" star Duff Goldman said the genre of cake television had been "cheapened by TLC" and is now "saturated with stupid people yelling at each other." Of his own show, he said, "We're a group of friends who really love each other. The rest of them, they're so fake, they're so set up, it's just bad television." How do you react to that?

A. The thing is, the bottom line, is that it's all the same. If you want the truth of what it is to make cakes, there's times you want to throw the cake on the floor. That's real. I guess I could tell you I live in a la-la land... that's not reality. Stress builds and builds. But at the end, the pride, the passion, it's all there in the cake.

It's the reality of how you got there. You push yourself to the limit and make it happen. We show it all. We show the good, the bad. We show the reality.

Q. At the end of your book, you mention your plans for a "factory" that will "let America taste what my family and I can do." But what about the "hand of the bag," the human touch? Won't a factory alter the soul of the sweets?

A. My factory isn't like a Duncan Hines factory. It's just like the bakery, but bigger. I'm just out of space. We'll be on the ground floor and can back up a tractor-trailer and put in a cake like the NASCAR cake. Just a bigger Carlo's bakery with more room.

Q. Now you've got three shows - "Kitchen Boss," "Cake Boss" and "Next Great Baker." What's your favorite?

A. That's a tricky question. They're all different. I like them all. One of my cooking show producers said when I had just finished making a pie shell, "You are a very, very good cook, but when I watch you bake, it's magical. It's like you don't even think about it."

At the end of the day, I'm a baker. The NASCAR cake, to make that cake was really, really awesome. I live for that.

Q. What can people who will be attending your demonstrations in Virginia Beach in March look forward to?

A. Just ask questions and ask about tricks that I may know about. I'm not a know-it-all. I'm just somebody who has done it many times. I'm just like them. I'm a cake decorator, that's what I am.