It’s sunrise. Daniel-san appears at the gate ready for his first day of training with Mr. Miyagi. Except in this re-imagining of The Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi is played by a rotund, foul-mouthed New Jersey cake baker. And, instead of a paintbrush and a car waxing buff, Mr. Miyagi has a frosting knife and a piping bag.
That’s the picture “Cake Boss” star Buddy Valastro paints when he talk about his live show, coming to the Louisville Palace on November 5th. I talked with Buddy by phone while he prepped for the day at Carlos’ City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey. He says the live show will not contain baking, but he’ll bring folks on stage to try their hand at decorating. But, what he really wants is to teach his celebrated baking and decorating techniques through doing common things around your house.
If you’ve been living under a reality TV rock, Buddy Valastro has a very popular TLC cable show called “Cake Boss”. The premise is simple, follow around an overworked, high strung baker surrounded by 4 older sisters, 3 brothers in law and a mom that constantly question and nag and yell about everything. Buddy elevates the use of “frickin’” and “friggin’” to an art form. Oh, and they have to get a cake baked for some big occasion on an impossibly short deadline.
Valastro says there is more to the show than yelling, “As crazy as my family is, and they are CRAZY…at the end of the day we get along and we LOVE each other. We are a tight knit family and I think that’s what shines through. At first, I think people just wanted to see the cakes we make, but now I think my show brings families together. ”
While, the formula may seem cookie cutter, the star of the show, Buddy, is anything but predictable. Valastro’s first book, [Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia] tells the story of the family. Buddy’s dad died when he was 17. So he dropped out of school and took up his dad’s dream to make Carlos’s a household name. Consider one goal accomplished. Carlo’s Bakery is now known worldwide and visited by the famous and regulars every day. And starting in November they will be able to ship the cannolis, cakes and other things right to your house from their website, www.carlosbakery.com .
His new book, which inspired this tour, [Baking with the Cake Boss: 100 of Buddy's Best Recipes and Decorating Secrets] hits stores on November 1st. This one is more of a how-to-book, that’s where the Mr. Miyagi reference comes in. Along with some recipes, Buddy says “it’s really is the whole Mr. Miyagi way of learning cake making, it’s through the everyday things I learned to do what I do. If you perfect squeezing out cookie dough on a sheet pan, you’re learning piping on a wedding cake. If you’re rolling out pie crusts, it’s like rolling out fondant; it’s all related – so pay attention to the everyday things.”
The Cake Boss show is November 5th, at the Louisville Palace. Tickets ($28.25 to $77.50) are on-sale now at the Palace box office or you can click here to order. You can get a $5 discount, when you go to the promotions and special offers section to order your tickets, use the password “cake” to get the $5 discount.
Photos by Live Nation, Dylan Merlo Photography
