Buddy Valastro

I received this book through the GoodReads First Reads program.

I enjoy watching cooking shows on television. In fact, I have watched several episodes of the Cake Boss, because I love to watch how cakes are put together. It is amazing what people can do with a bit of flour and some eggs. When I read this book, the word that kept popping into my mind was "comforting." Buddy Valastro takes a quiet approach with his readers and eases them into the idea of being a baker. He explains that baking is a skill that can be learned with lots of practice. He encourages his reads to start with cookies and then eventually graduating to cakes. As I read the book, I noticed that I started saying to myself that I can do this!

Although this book is a condensed version of Valastro's large book, The Essential Cake Boss feels complete and is surprisingly detailed. Valastro goes into great detail explaining what equipment a baker needs and why. In addition, he gives some great advice on baking in general. Something that made me quite happy is that there are a lot of pictures showing you what things are supposed to look like. The large numbers of pictures keep the number of written instructions limited, so none of the recipes look too intimidating.

This book contains five cookie recipes, eight cake recipes (and additional recipes that build on these eight foundational cakes), and 10 frosting and fillings recipes. Additionally, Valastro shows the reader how to several different types of cake toppers (predominately flowers).

My skill set does not include cooking; however, this book gives me the courage to make some cookies and maybe attempt a cake for the upcoming holiday season.… (més)

The cover of the book shows a beaming Buddy Valastro holding a beautiful three tied filigree style cake in front of his store. My husband and I never miss an episode of the Cake Boss. Not only do we enjoy the inventiveness of his cakes, we like the family interaction and the way the family pull together when needs. The employees who are not blood relatives are treated the same as family. Good hard honest work is expected of all of them. Community service and family are revered and promoted in the past and present Valastro family.

Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss, also tells of the work ethic that he was taught, the pride of having "bag hands". The enduring traditions in his family have kept the Valastro family together. Buddy's father, Buddy, Senior, had originally bought Carlo's bakery so that his family would always have work and they could work together. His plan held strong and prevented family members from spreading all across the country unlike so many families today. Buddy also tells of his relationship with his father, the original Buddy. He tries to emulate his father by doing the same things with his family as his father did. Just as his father did, Buddy took his son to the barbershop and introduced him proudly. He made sure to do all the things with his son that he loved doing with his father.

Buddy has a lot of pride in creating a wonderful cake, the difficult lobster tails and also recognition of the value of innovation. Buddy tells the story of working so hard, over and over again to get something just right. He was not afraid to change a recipe or attempt something that has never been done before cake wise.
There are gorgeous pictures of his family and the Carlo’s Bakery creations. I cannot keep myself from looking at the beautiful red velvet cake every time that I pick up the book.

Also in the back of the book are recipes in back for cakes, cookies and pies that are family sized.

There is a lot of love in this book.

I recommend to anyone interested in immigrant stories, baking and success stories.… (més)

The tagline is "Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia". I was drawn to this book because I had seen Buddy on one of Rachel Ray's (millions of) TV programs and something he said really resonated with me, so I decided to see what he wrote. I had never watched his TV program on TLC by the same name, but after I read his book, I did check it out. I've only watched one of the episodes; it wasn't bad. The book though, the book was really good. The first part of the book is a memoir (complete with family pictures sprinkled throughout), the second part is a cookbook (with a middle of the book insert of color photographs of some of the recipes). He tells the story of his parents and how they met, how the family wound up in New Jersey, and how he arrived (the first son after four daughters, he was a well-loved child) and came to be part of the family business. Mostly, though, the memoir is about how much his father taught him, and how much he loves him. His book reminds me of Adriana Trigiani's latest book, Don't Sing at the Table, but with the bonus of the recipes. He has adapted his recipes from his famous bakery, Carlo's Bake Shop, so that we can make them at home. For one of the recipes (lobster tails) however, he cautions us not to even attempt it because it's too difficult, but then says that if you do and can pull it off, to get in touch with him because he'll want to give you a job at the bakery! A great quote from the book: "...I believe that baking should be easy and convenient, something you can do spontaneously, and as a family, creating your own memories to go with these treats." Bottom line: here's a man who loves his family of origin, loves the family he created with his wife Lisa (whom he calls his "soulmate") and their three kids, and loves his work so much that he was driven to write a book about it. What's not to love about that? :)… (més)