Cake Boss with Buddy Valastro returns for 4th season on TLC

Cake Boss on TLC has been taking viewers behind the scenes of Buddy Valastro's busy, family-run bakery, sharing the sweeter side of life for three season. Season four of Cake Boss with Buddy Valastro and familiy  premieres on January 31, 2011. Two welcome the new season on Cake Boss, TLC is  airing a marathon of the series on Monday afternoon and evening.

Buddy's busier than ever at the bakery and Cake Boss back for its fourth season starting Monday, January 31 at 9:00 pm. This season finds the crew at Carlo's Bakery tackling their biggest cakes yet - including a toilet bowl cake that actually flushes, a giant great white shark cake, and a visit from Rachael Ray, who works with Buddy to make a cake for her wedding anniversary. Buddy and wife Lisa are also expecting their fourth child, leaving Buddy worried about keeping up with ever-increasing demands at home and work.

CAKE BOSS is produced for TLC by High Noon Entertainment. Executive Producers for CAKE BOSS are Jim Berger, Art Edwards, Pamela Healey.

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Sponsored Giveaway: Buddy Valastro, The Learning Channel's Cake Boss, at The Orpheum on November 17, 2010

Buddy Valastro, The Cake Boss (Courtesy of TLC)

New Jersey’s Buddy Valastro, whom you may know as The Cake Boss, just became a New York Times best selling author. He’ll also be appearing live at The Orpheum next Wednesday, November 17th, on the Los Angeles stop of his “Bakin’ With The Boss” tour. It’s going to be a family-friendly evening of stories and cake demonstrations inside one of the most beautiful venues LA has to offer.

So how, exactly, do you get to spend an evening with the Boss of The Learning Channel? You can see about tickets here – and/or enter my giveaway for two tickets (value ~$100). Make sure you do BOTH things below to enter. If I pick your name and you haven’t done both to qualify your entry, I’ll have pick another one:

Leave a comment below (make sure you use an email that you check regularly so I can easily contact you) with your favorite cake flavor in the whole wide world and your Twitter account or Facebook URL (see #2).Either Tweet the below:

I just entered to win 2 tickets to The Cake Boss @LAOrpheum on 11/17 by @estarLA http://estar.la/e/93

or if you prefer Facebook, “like” my blog page on Facebook.

The contest ends Monday (11/15) afternoon at 4PM, when I’ll pick the winner at random. The winner wins two tickets to Bakin’ With The Boss next Wednesday!!

Good luck!!

Speaking With ... Buddy Valastro The 'Cake Boss'

You may not immediately know the name Buddy Valastro, but mention the ?Cake Boss? and recognition is almost instantaneous. The star of the hit TLC series that bears his famous moniker, Valastro has written his first book, Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia, ($25.99, Free Press). The book is his official homage to his family, and especially his late father, who crafted the family bakery business in New Jersey decades ago and who instilled a work ethic in his son that Valastro says is something he will pass on to his own children. The book contains 38 recipes, but it?s the stories of Valastro?s immigrant Italian-American family that make the book much more than just another celebrity chef how-to.

Valastro is in town this weekend for a book signing at Borders in Chicago today and an interactive stage show at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan tonight.

Question: You could have written a full-out cookbook, but your family?s story is the crux of this book.

Buddy Valastro: I wanted people to read my family?s story and be inspired by that. It?s dedicated to my dad because I came to realize what a great man he was. I owe everything to him. The seeds of the work ethic that he planted in me make me what I am today. He lived the American dream; I?m extending it. I?m a pretty lucky guy.

Q: Do you think the book paints a whole different portrait of the Cake Boss?

BV: I wanted to put out the right message of who I am. I?m a good family man. I preach that if you want things in life and you work hard, you will get them.

Q: How did you start your love affair with making cakes?

BV: At a very young age. I knew I was gifted with cake decorating. I just started seeing visions of bigger and grander cakes. I would concentrate on making things that weren?t supposed to be cakes.

Q: Is there a cake you can?t make?

BV: There?s no ?can?t.? Determination is the key. Last week, I had to make a cake in the shape of a toilet bowl ? that flushed. I had no idea how to make it, but I knew I wasn?t gonna stop until I did it. And we did it. And it flushed.

Q: What?s your all-time favorite cake?

BV: My father?s cream puff cake.

Q: What?s the most expensive cake you?ve made to date?

BV: The price was $40,000, but I can?t tell you who it was for. But look, you can come in and buy a $3 cupcake or a half-sheet cake and it?s made with the same love and dedication. It?s all about making the customer happy.

Q: What?s your signature recipe?

BV: I took my dad?s recipes and changed a lot of them to make them my own. But if I had to pick one of the many that I created from scratch, I?d have to say I?m proud of my vanilla cake recipe.

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro & Wife Lisa Expecting Fourth Child!

TLC’s Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro and wife Lisa are expecting their fourth child!  Read more on Buddy and Lisa’s baby news below.

The star of “Cake Boss” and his wife Lisa are excited to announce they are expecting a baby!

“Lisa and I are thrilled to be welcoming our fourth child into the world,” says Valastro, 33, who already dad to Sofia, 7, Buddy, 6, and Marco, 3.

“Our three children are looking forward to adding a new brother or sister.”

The pregnancy was part of the storyline for last night’s show on Cake Boss, which airs on Monday nights at 9 p.m.

Morning Rush: Hoboken proposes permanent 9/11 memorial, 'Cake Boss' Buddy Valastro expands to Jersey City

Reena Rose Sibayan/The Jersey Journal"Cake Boss" star Buddy Valastro speaks at the welcome luncheon at Lackawanna Center in Jersey City Oct. 19.

The Lackawanna Center, an eight-story industrial building outside the Holland Tunnel, was transformed yesterday into the set of a future "Cake Boss" episode as politicos, bankers, developers and real estate agents gathered to welcome the famed baker to his new home in Jersey City. Check out the photo gallery here.

Nine years after the Sept. 11th attacks on the World Trade Center, Hoboken is unveiling conceptual drawings for a proposed 9/11 memorial. Mayor Dawn Zimmer expects it to be completed next year in time for the 10th anniversary.

For full stories, read today's Jersey Journal.

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro looking for Next Great Baker

Buddy Valastro, of Cake Boss on TLC, is searching for 'The Next Great Baker,' in a new series on TLC, according to a November 1, 2010 press release from TLC. Cake Boss: Next Great Baker is a new six week series premiering December 6, at 9:00 ET/8:00 C.

Cake Boss Buddy Valastro, along with family members, put 10 talented pastry chefs through the ringer to earn the title of "Next Great Baker." The prize includes $50,000 cash and a chance to work side-by-side with Buddy at Carlo's Bakery.

 Buddy pushes the contestants' baking and decorating skills to the limitevery week throughout the competition. The challenges are increasingly difficult,  testing  their business sense and cake artistry. Someone will be sent packing each week until the NEXT GREAT BAKER is the last one standing.

"This show is as much about learning how to run a successful business as it is about learning the tricks and techniques to be a great cake artist," explains Buddy Valastro. "My family and I put the contestants through the challenges we face every day and think the viewers will learn even more what it takes to be the best in the business."

The contestants vying for the sweet prize include:

•Brian Stevens from Austin, TX
•Corina Elgart from Huntington, NY
•Dana Herbert from Bear, DE
•Gregory Paul Soriano from Jersey City, NJ
•Jay Qualls from Nashville, TN
•Joe Glaser from Brooklyn, NY
•Johanna Lyons from Hanson, MA
•Kendra Jordan from Emporia, VA
•Megan Rountree from Keller, TX
•Pamela Ahn from Washington, DC

NEXT GREAT BAKER is produced for TLC by High Noon Entertainment. Executive producer is Art Edwards.

The Cake Boss the Valastro family in Italy

Cake Boss 3rd season pictures

'Cake Boss' star Buddy Valastro, wife expecting baby

Buddy Valastro, the star of Cake Boss and owner of Carlo’s Bakery in Hoboken, N.J., is expecting a fourth child with his wife, Lisa. People reports the baby will be born in February. “Lisa and I are thrilled to be welcoming our fourth child into the world,” the reality star told People. “Our three children are looking forward to adding a new brother and sister.” And fans of Cake Boss should look forward to seeing the drama of Lisa’s pregnancy: The baby will serve as a storyline during the next season of the TLC show.

Baby No. 4 on the Way for Cake Boss Buddy Valastro

There's another bun in the oven for TLC's Cake Boss star Buddy Valastro. He and wife Lisa are expecting baby no. 4 in February.

"Lisa and I are thrilled to be welcoming our fourth child into the world," Valastro, 33, who is dad to Sofia, 7, Buddy, 6, and Marco, 3, tells PEOPLE. "Our three children are looking forward to adding a new brother or sister."

The pregnancy will be a storyline on the latest season of Cake Boss, airing Mondays at 9 p.m.

And there will be no rest for the weary dad, and owner of Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken, N.J. He'll be promoting his new TLC competition series, The Next Great Baker, in December, and has a new book, Cake Boss: Stories and Recipes from Mia Famiglia hitting shelves in November.