BRUNCH WITH BINGO: CAKE BOSS REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

WELCOME TO

BOOKIN' WITH BINGO'S
"BRUNCH WITH BINGO DAY"
I AM EXCITED TO ANNOUNCE THIS SUNDAY'S
"BRUNCH WITH BINGO DAY"
FOOD BOOK CHOICE IS.....

GIVEAWAY ENDED
CAKE BOSS
Stories and Recipes from Mis Famiglia
BY BUDDY VALASTRO

ABOUT THE BOOK:

Television viewers have fallen in love with Buddy Valastro, master cake maker, and his funny and fiery family, proprietors of Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, New Jersey, on the smash hit TLC series Cake Boss. Now, to coincide with Carlo's 100th anniversary, cake designer extraordinaire Buddy Valastro brings together his passion for baking and his high-energy family stories in the pages of this charming, heartwarming book—complete with 25 recipes and tips that will make every reader the "cake boss" of their own kitchen.

Buddy's beautifully designed cakes are the stuff of legend—and so is the remarkable story of his father, a beloved pillar of the community and himself a talented baker who set the stage for his family's rise to the pinnacle of their industry. Cake Boss recounts the story of Buddy's life and of his family's bakeshop, originally established in 1910 and now a Hoboken, New Jersey, landmark and culinary tourist destination. Here also are twenty-five recipes for Carlo's Bakery's most sought-after pastries, pies, cupcakes, and cakes, an irresistible combination of time-tested old-world recipes and modern creations, all founded on a rock-solid "old-school" baking foundation and classic techniques.

This is the incredible true story of how Carlo's Bakery came to be, how one hard-working family realized their patriarch's dream of making their beloved bake shop a household name. The special bond and loving dynamic of the Valastro clan make this an uncommonly touching and truly inspiring memoir.

 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Buddy Valastro is the star of the hit TLC show Cake Boss and Next Great Baker, as well as owner/master baker of Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, New Jersey, and author of the bestseller, CAKE BOSS: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia. His award-winning designs have been featured numerous times in various bridal and baking magazines. His cakes have also been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Today, Good Morning America, and The View.

RECIPES:

 

VANILLA CAKE

 This is a home-cook-friendly version of the recipe I adapted from my father’s old formula for an American-style vanilla cake. At home, as at Carlo’s Bake Shop, it will produce the same moist cake and perfect grain every time.

The custard cream is optional. If you want the cake to be supermoist and dense, you need it, but it will be delicious without it. (It doesn’t affect the yield very much because the custard itself doesn’t rise.) You might be surprised to learn that I use vegetable oil to take the place of the liquid shortening we use at the bakery, but it replicates the effects better than I ever could have imagined before testing recipes for this book.

Use this cake as the basis for everything from birthday cakes to strawberry shortcake.

Be sure the batter is at the indicated temperature before baking or the cake will crown and crack.

INGREDIENTS

2 1/2	cups cake flour, plus more for flouring the cake pans
2	cups sugar, plus more for unmolding cake
2	cups Italian Custard Cream, optional
3/4	cup vegetable oil
2 1/4	teaspoons baking powder
1	teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2	teaspoon fine sea salt
4	extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1	cup whole milk
Unsalted butter, for greasing two cake pans (about 2 tablespoons); nonstick cooking spray or vegetable oil may be substituted

PREPARATION:

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Put the flour, sugar, custard cream, if using, vegetable oil, baking powder,vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. (If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can put the ingredients in a bowl, and use a hand mixer with the blending attachments, but take extra care to not over mix.) Mix on slow just until the ingredients are blended together, a few seconds, then raise the speed to low-medium and continue to mix until smooth, approximately 1 additional minute.
3. With the motor running, add 1 egg at a time, adding the next one after the previous one has been absorbed into the mixture. Stop the motor periodically and scrape the bowl from the bottom with a rubber spatula to integrate the ingredients, and return the mixer to low-medium speed. After all the eggs are added, continue to mix for an additional minute to ensure the eggs have been thoroughly mixed in. This will help guarantee that the sugar is dissolved and that the flour has been thoroughly mixed in, which will help produce a luxurious mouthfeel in the final cake.
4. With the motor running, add the milk, 1/2 cup at a time, stopping the motor to scrape the sides and bottom between the two additions. Continue to mix for another minute or until the mixture appears smooth. Before baking, be sure the batter is at 70°F to 73°F, or the cake will crown. (Test by plunging a kitchen thermometer into the center of the batter; if it is too warm, put the bowl in the refrigerator for a few minutes; if too cool, let it rest at room temperature.)
5. Grease two 9-inch cake pans (2 inches high) with the butter, and flour them.
6. Divide the batter evenly between the two cake pans, using a rubber spatula to scrape down the bowl and get as much batter as possible out. Bake until the cake begins to pull from the sides of the pan and is springy to the touch, 25 to 30 minutes.
7. Remove the cakes from the oven and let cool for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. The cakes should be at room temperature before you remove them from the pan. Put a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet, top with sugar, and one at a time, turn the pans over and turn the cakes out onto parchment; the sugar will keep it from sticking. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to decorate.

CHOCOLATE GANACHE

This ganache can be used in two ways, as a filling and/or poured over a cake.

To use it as a filling, refrigerate it, transfer it to a pastry bag, and pipe it out.

To pour ganache over a cake, melt it in a double boiler and simply pour it over a cake or layer. To top layers of pastry cream or chocolate mousse with ganache, pour it on and smooth it with a cake icing spatula.

INGREDIENTS

1	cup heavy cream
9	ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1	tablespoon light corn syrup

PREPARATION:

1. Put the heavy cream in a saucepan and set over medium-high heat. As soon as it begins to simmer, remove the pot from the heat. Add the chocolate and stir with a wooden spoon to melt the chocolate. Stir in the corn syrup.
2. Transfer to a bowl and refrigerate for about 1 hour. If using for filling, soften until pourable in a double boiler over medium heat
   

MY REVIEW:

Buddy Valastro's CAKE BOSS  is a delight to read and look at. I have to say I am very prejudiced because I have watched and loved the show on TLC since it first came on. I found Buddy and his family and friends to be real people and just a lot of fun. When the book CAKE BOSS  came out, I was so excited but also so surprised. This isn't just a cookbook but the story of how Buddy and his life today as "the Cake Boss" came to be.  I could relate to the immigrant story of his big Italian family coming to America, just as mine did from Greece...to make a better life for themselves. The first main part of the book is a wonderful, easy to read story of how Buddy is a 4th generation baker and definitely "his father's son". Buddy tells how bakers inherit their "father's hands" and that means they know how to bake...by the feel, the touch, and how to work with those talented hands. 

Buddy's family immigrated eventually from Sicily after a little spicy story about Great Grandfather and the well known strength of the Italian Great Grandmother. Buddy tells a wonderful family story about how his father was an infant, he almost died but with prayer to St. Anthony, a miracle happened and he survived according to family lore. This is why on June 13, St. Anthony's day, family members have baked bread and taken it to their local church in honor of St. Anthony. Buddy still does that today as did his ancestors even though they are not bread bakers, but cake bakers. The fact they make cakes and pastries as opposed to bread came from the fact that bread bakers have to get up too early. Also, Buddy's family handed down to him that a family should always eat dinner together and he can even remember his father coming home exhausted at the end of the day, but they still all ate together. Buddy, Sr., got his name from the fact that his real name, Bartolo, was too hard for kids in school to pronounce so they called him "Buddy" and it stuck.

Buddy introduces readers in the book to all of his family including his 4 sisters who work in the bakery as well as some of their husbands who do as well. If you watch the TV show, you will recognize Little Frankie, Mauro, Sal, Joey and many more including the first woman to work with the "gang" and that is designer, Stephanie "Sunshine" Fernandez. Of course, Buddy talks about his lovely wife, Lisa, and their children, Buddy, Jr., Marco, and Sophia. 

So as you read about how Buddy came to be the Cake Boss, I think many of you will find a wonderful, warm, and touching, as well as funny, family saga that just happens to also include some wonderful recipes and pictures to satisfy the baker in all of us. I highly recommend CAKE BOSS even if you just want a good story and some yummy food to look at. I just wish Buddy would tour around so I could taste one of his cakes some day!

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO CAITLIN AND THE GOOD
FOLKS AT SIMON & SCHUSTER, I HAVE
2 COPIES OF THIS WONDERFUL "COOK" BOOK
TO GIVE AWAY TO 2 LUCKY WINNERS!

--U.S. AND CANADIAN RESIDENTS ONLY

--NO P. O. BOXES

---INCLUDE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS

IN CASE YOU WIN!

--ALL COMMENTS MUST BE SEPARATE TO

COUNT AS MORE THAN ONE!

HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHAT YOU LIKE ABOUT BUDDY VALASTRO'S CAKE BOSS AND WHY YOU WOULD WANT TO WIN THIS "COOK" BOOK

+1 MORE ENTRY: BLOG OR TWEET ABOUT THIS GIVEAWAY AND COME BACK AND LEAVE A LINK THAT I CAN FOLLOW

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON ONE ONE WAY THAT YOU FOLLOW BOOKIN' WITH BINGO. IF YOU FOLLOW MORE THAN ONE WAY, YOU MAY COMMENT ON EACH SEPARATELY FOR MORE ENTRIES

+1 MORE ENTRY: COMMENT ON WHETHER OR NOT YOU WATCH CAKE BOSS ON TELEVISION AND ALSO IF BUDDY COULD MAKE ANY CAKE FOR YOU, WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE IT TO BE. VISIT TLC WEBSITE HERE TO SEE 35 OF BUDDY'S CAKES YOU MIGHT LIKE TO HAVE.

GIVEAWAY ENDS AT
6 PM, EST, FEBRUARY 2!
 

GOOD LUCK!