Cake Boss Recap: On Becoming a Man, and Staying One

As the second new episode of Cake Boss on Monday night opens, Buddy says that because the bakery is more famous now, he and the team are getting a lot of crazy orders from all over the country.

This week he's got an order for an “over-the-top bar mitzvah” in Las Vegas. Because nothing expresses the rite of passage into manhood like card sharps, strippers, mobsters and dopey magic shows.

Buddy says he has to keep the wealthy client's identity a secret. “These people were sparing no expense,” he says. “They want this cake to be really awesome.”

The cake is going to be a replica of the Venetian hotel in Las Vegas, which is itself is modeled after Venice in Italy. Which at this point is kind of like wearing a shirt of a band while you're seeing the band in concert, but whatever.

Buddy then meets with his other big client for the week, Jerry Maher, who owns here in Hoboken. “Mardi Gras is coming up,” Jerry says. “I want to do a king cake.” Buddy says he doesn't really call that a cake, because it's more doughy, but he says no problem because he's done them before.

While Buddy is talking to Jerry, Cousin Anthony and Maurizio start acting a fool through the window. They're dancing like the Ferrell/Kattan doofuses from Saturday Night Live. “It's not funny, get out of here,” Buddy yells. He says their behavior is disrespectful in a place of business. He also vows revenge on their prank.

Buddy returns to the Vegas cake. He's going to build it around an actual working slot machine. “I want to do lights, bells, ding ding ding,” he says. The company that's delivering the slot machine is going to make the jackpot image using a picture of the boy having the bar mitzvah.

Buddy is worried though about taking the cake all the way to Las Vegas. The cake is huge. “It could really fall apart,” he says, much like Elizabeth Berkley's acting career after she went to Vegas for Showgirls.

But first they have to deliver the Mardi Gras cake. Buddy wants Cousin Anthony and Maurizio to help deliver it to Oddfellows, because that's where he's going to get his revenge. Joey distracts the guys by promising them that there will be lots of girls there. “If it looks promising for you I'll let you come in late tomorrow,” Joey tells them. Cousin Anthony puts on a new shirt.

Buddy and the team deliver the cake. “It wasn't the biggest cake we ever made, or the prettiest, but I'll tell you it tasted delicious,” he says.

The bakers decide to stay for a beer. They're also going to watch the prank unfold.

It's a good prank. We see Cousin Anthony talking to a woman named Carmen, who's wearing a short and tight blue dress and large hoop earrings. “He didn't look at any other girls, he went right for her,” Buddy says.

Anthony flirts with Carmen. They pose for photos together. He asks for her phone number. “Anthony right now is on top of the world,” Buddy says. “He don't know what's comin' baby.”

“I call him over," Buddy continues. “And I tell him...that's a man, baby!”

Cousin Anthony freaks out. He literally runs out of the bar. “Carmen loved the fact that they thought she was attractive,” Buddy says. “I could tell by the look in his (Cousin Anthony's) eyes that I changed his life forever.”

Later, the team finishes the Vegas cake. Since the boy's favorite sport is basketball it's got a court built into the Venetian. They drive the huge cake to Vegas, and thankfully it survives the 2,000 mile trip intact.

They deliver it to the boy's bar mitzvah, which looks like a very awkward scene because it's a bar mitzvah in a casino.

But the boy really likes the cake. His eyes light up just like the lights on the slot machine. He's a man now. Just like Carmen. And maybe Cousin Anthony and Maurizio will grow up too one day.