Cake monarchies

MANILA, Philippines - Special occasion cakes were truly quite special when we were growing up in Baguio City. The two main bakeries that churned out cakes — Tesoro’s in Assumption Road, and Hang-Out in General Luna street (before it moved to Skyworld in Session Road and was renamed Granny Goose), were swamped with orders at certain parts of the year. And as we waited impatiently for our turn to claim cakes, we imagined that someday we could whip up fabulous confections in the blink of an eye. This was what lured us into the kitchen and to eventually learn that it really isn’t a piece of cake, this business of baking and decorating. Plagued with flops that our entire pack of 23 dogs and five cats refused to as much as taste, we ended up burying the evidence of the countless baking disasters in the begonia patch.

 It is amusing to learn that even award-winning pastry chefs and cake decorators have their fair share of kitchen catastrophes. This is part of the attraction of Cake Boss, the new television series shown on Discovery Travel & Living. The show chronicles the challenges encountered by Buddy Valastro, one of the most successful and renowned cake artists in the United States, and we realize that aside from skill, what sets the true cake artist apart is his ability to overcome any difficulty and make the best of the most awful situations. While Valastro supervises a team made up of family members that include his mother, four older sisters and three brothers-in-law, we appreciate that being boss takes a lot of organizational skills, artistic vision, creativity, planning and hard work.

However, while a leadership position requires some assertiveness when dealing with co-workers, extreme patience and tact are called for when dealing with difficult customers.

Buddy Valastro succinctly demonstrates this in one episode as he deals with a bridezilla who, in a fit of extremely bratty behavior, defaces a perfectly good wedding cake that is ready for delivery. Although understandably aggravated, Valastro and his team demonstrate excellent professionalism as they come up with an outstanding replacement that even their harridan of a client cannot fault. Adventures such as this keep viewers riveted to their television screens throughout the Cake Boss series.   

To be able to appreciate even more the art of decorating a cake, members of the media attended a cake dressing session at the CCA Kitchen in Eastwood City. Conducted by Center for Culinary Arts instructor chef Frederick “Richie” Custodio, we were somewhat surprised that making rolled fondant, the preferred choice for decorating elegant cakes, was a somewhat easy operation. Manipulating fondant is akin to working with the soft, malleable clay or Play-Doh that kindergarteners use. We thoroughly enjoyed the session as we rediscovered our inner child. Some of us may have been newbies in cake art, but this did not deter us from coming up with reasonably pleasing creations. Still, throughout the entire exercise, we never forgot that the cake inside is the heart of the matter. What counts the most is what is beneath the fondant. Ultimately, just as clothes do not necessarily make the man (or woman), or class doesn’t necessarily come with money, a beautifully decorated cake is worthless if it tastes like dirt.

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Discovery Travel & Living’s new series Cake Boss airs every Wednesday at 7 p.m. with replays Wednesdays at 5 a.m. and 1 p.m., Thursdays at 1 a.m. and Sundays at 4 a.m., 12 p.m. and 6 p.m.