Reality / Family
Follows the operations of Carlo's Bakery, a family-owned business in Hoboken, New Jersey owned and operated by siblings Buddy Valastro, Lisa Valastro, Maddalena Castano, Grace Faugno and Mary Sciarrone. The show focuses on how they make their cakes, and the interpersonal…
Meet award-winning pastry chef and cake decorator Buddy Valastro and his over-the-top family at Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey. After beginning a week completely jam-packed with cake orders, Buddy gets a call from a customer he cannot possibly turn down. Brides Magazine is offering Buddy an inside cover photo spread but he's going to have to create a cake unlike any he's ever done before. Between arguing with his family, producing the standard 300-plus cakes the bakery makes in any given week and running out of sugar, is there any way Buddy and Company are going to get this opportunity of a lifetime cake done in time? All the while Buddy's sisters are planning to throw their brother a surprise birthday party.
Buddy and his team learn that where there's smoke, there's fire when they have to build a fire engine cake complete with working lights, siren and smoke. They also have to create a 30th birthday cake for two trendy fashionistas. This week also marks the 15th anniversary of Buddy's father's death so emotions are high as he recreates his father's trademark cake for the family memorial dinner.
It's one of the busiest weeks of the year at Carlo's Bakery with orders pouring in for Easter, and a last-minute Easter Bunny cake turns into more than the team bargained for. There are also three members of the family celebrating birthdays this week and Buddy's sister Grace, who's never cooked for the family before, decides she's going to make Easter dinner.
The team at Carlo's is hoping not to get whacked when they're asked to make a huge roulette table cake for a local businessman. It's also the start of wedding season and the time-consuming wedding cake orders are piling up. A mix-up by the sisters not keeping cake orders organized throws Buddy off the handle when a customer comes in to pick up a cake that's not ready.
It's another busy week at Carlo's Bakery but Buddy can't say no to making a charity bi-plane cake for a local hospital. An unreasonable Bridezilla makes everyone's life difficult after the bakery crew makes a cake that she's not pleased with and Stretch, the bakery's delivery driver, plots a revenge prank against Buddy with unexpected results.
Buddy is thrown out of his comfort zone when he's asked to make a zombie cake for a couple of undead clients. This week the team also has to make an erotic bachelorette cake for some wild women. This cake seems likes it's going to be all fun and games until Mama finds out and bans the bakery staff from making sexy cakes.
Buddy is excited to create an old-school wedding cake like the kind his father used to make; tall, ornate and filled with... live birds?! A dad-to-be comes to the bakery to order a giant lobster tail pastry for his pregnant wife. Little Frankie goes on a mission to catch live birds for the wedding cake.
The Carlo's team gets to take a field trip to a local museum for a prehistoric mammal cake. A Sweet 16 cake proves to be more work than anyone planned on and Frankie makes and decorates a cake all by himself for a very hard to please client...Mary!
Buddy and Company are like kids loose in a toy store, literally, when they are asked to make an FAO Schwarz-themed cake for a twins birthday party at the store. They also have a beach-themed cake to create for a local beach club and Buddy and his main men challenge the sisters to a weight-loss challenge.
The Carlo's team has a unique and challenging cake to make this week, a traditional Chinese dragon cake for a dragon boat racing team. It's also a big week at the bakery preparing hundreds of cannoli shells for the annual $.25 Throw Back Cannoli Day and on top of all that, Buddy and Lisa are celebrating their eighth wedding anniversary.
Buddy is used to putting out fires, not starting them, but all that changes when he's asked to make a tiki cake that spits fire. Buddy also has to make a bridal shower cake for his sister-in-law and Mauro challenges him to ice a cake while blindfolded...or he'll have to walk around the bakery in a grass skirt and coconut bra!
Buddy has to channel his inner-Italian to create a Leaning Tower of Pisa wedding cake. Then, he gets into hot water when he must pull together a show stopping lobster bake-themed cake at the last second after a client mixes up the date!
A fellow family owned business asks Buddy and the Carlo's team to honor their patriarch by creating a special cake featuring their company's product...fireworks! It's also "Bring Your Dad to School Day" at Buddy's son's school and he's got a surprise for all the kids.
Self
The American Baking Competition is a reality competition television series that premiered on CBS on May 29, 2013. It is based on the BBC baking competition The Great British Bake Off. The series aims to find the best amateur baker in the United States. The series is hosted by Jeff Foxworthy and judged by Marcela Valladolid and Paul Hollywood.
In this festive two-night special, Gordon Ramsay hosts nine talented young chefs competing in a holiday-themed culinary showdown. The contestants will whip up dishes inspired by Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Lunar New Year, and other seasonal celebrations. Judges Gordon Ramsay, Tilly Ramsay, Aarón Sánchez, and Daphne Oz will determine the champion, who will receive a $25,000 grand prize, a premium Viking Kitchen package, and a unique MasterChef snow globe trophy. This season, every junior chef will depart with a special kitchen-related gift, and the second-place finisher will be awarded their own Viking Kitchen package.
American favorite "Chopped" heads north of the border to Canada with a familiar format and new host, Toronto native Dean McDermott. Each episode of "Chopped Canada" challenges four professional chefs to turn boxes of mystery ingredients into a three-course meal in a race against the clock. Each course serves as its own round in the competition, and the chef with the least-successful dish — as determined by a panel of judges — is eliminated after each round. The chef who comes out on top following the dessert round wins $10,000 and the title of "Chopped Canada" champion.
