Cake Boss Recap: A Giant Flip-Flop and PB&J

Last night's episode of Cake Boss opened with a meeting between Buddy and Amie Lee of the Myrtle Beach Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. Amie explains to Buddy that Myrtle Beach is celebrating 50 years of their boardwalk by building a new and longer, mile-long boardwalk. They want one of Carlos Bakery's famous cakes to commemorate the occasion.

What kind of cake do they want? A giant flip flop, of course.

Buddy seems unimpressed by the idea of a flip-flop cake. He feels like he is capable of something more impressive than a flip-flop. Amie explains there is nothing more indicative of the beach than a flip-flop and that she wants the "wow factor" to be the cake's size.

And then the bartering begins. "How big of a cake do you want?" Buddy asks. "Three, four, five feet?"

Amie replies that she wants a 15-foot cake. Buddy scoffs at this and they go back and forth until they split the difference at 10 feet by 3.5 feet. Buddy says that since they are going to deliver the cake to South Carolina themselves, that is the biggest cake that will fit in the van.

Amie seems pleased with their compromise and tells Buddy that the mayor will be coming up to Hoboken to check out the cake before it is sent down to Myrtle Beach for the event. 

"She's gonna bring the mayor to see off the cake, so it better be a great cake," Buddy says.

Work on the cake commences with the baking of 200 sheets of sponge cake which they will cut out in the shape of a flip-flop.  The thong will be made out of modeling chocolate.

"This is gonna be like King Kong's flip flop!" Buddy exclaims.

The first step they take is to draw out a template made of cardboard. There is some difficulty with this and it takes them a few attempts to get it right because of the sheer size of the template. Once they nail it, Joey gets to making the sponge cake right away.

Next up, they start making colorful squares out of fondant that will line the sole of the flip-flop. Some have a colorful tie-dyed effect, while others have creative die-cut designs. They also make a Myrtle Beach logo to go on the sole.

Cut to Buddy's second meeting of the episode - this one with two second grade teachers from Steven's Cooperative School. The teachers tell Buddy that they want a cake to celebrate the students graduating from second to third grade. The teachers mention that the kids eat a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and so Buddy has the idea to make a giant peanut butter and jelly sandwich cake.

"Frankie and I used to eat triple deckers when we were kids," Buddy tells the teachers. "We'll make a triple decker PB&J cake!" The teachers explain that they should have an option for the kids who have peanut allergies, so Buddy agrees to make a little cake on the side with only jelly, no peanut butter.

Joey calls to Buddy from over by the ovens to tell him that a shelf in the oven has fallen.  Buddy explains that the ovens have been breaking down a lot lately and that he was planning on getting them fixed next month but he's going to have to deal with it now.

Joey then goes to work on the PB&J cake in the other oven.  Buddy also turns his attention to the peanut butter and jelly cake.  He makes jars of peanut butter and jelly made of rice crispy treats to go by the side of the sandwich cake.
Next, they cover the cake with white fondont and cut up strips of brown fondant to put around the perimeter of the cake made to look like crust.

Next, we see Buddy meeting with Angela Logan, who is the creator of  the Mortgage Apple Cakes. She explains to Buddy that she baked 100 cakes in 10 days and sold them to friends in an attempt to save her home from foreclosure. And because so many people helped her in her time of need, she created a charity to give back. She continues to sell her apple cakes and gives a percentage to others trying to save their homes from foreclosure. Angela has come to Buddy hoping he will give her some new apple cake recipes.

Buddy says he can't give out Carlo's Bakery recipes to anyone, but he can give her some pointers. They hit the kitchen and he shows her some things she can use for her apple cakes and then invites her back to Carlo's Bakery anytime.

Back to the peanut butter and jelly cake. Buddy puts  butter cream on top and pats it with a paper towel to make it look spongey like a slice of real bread.

Over at the flip-flop cake, Buddy and company  trim the top to get rid of divets.  "It's ginormous!" Buddy says. "It weights like 2,000 pounds. This may be the heaviest cake ever to come out of this bakery!"

Next, the oven installation guys show up and Buddy explains that the new oven needs to go upstairs and that they are going to have to forklift it. 

The PB&J cake is finished and so they load the cake into the van and take it over to Steven's Cooperative School. The kids go absolutely nuts, screaming and jumping up and down when they see the cake. The children also made an adorable banner thanking the bakery for the cake.

Back at the bakery, the finishing touches are being laid on the flip-flop cake. Buddy and all of his co-workers are yawning because it's getting late, but the mayor of Myrtle Beach is on the way, so they've got to step on it.

Danny says, "These cakes are getting heavier and heavier, and we are getting older and older."

They add the tiles and stitching to the sole and cover the thong in brown modeling chocolate, just as Mayor Rhodes and Amie Lee are walking up to the bakery. The two visitors are visibly impressed and tell Buddy that he exceeded their expectations.

But, Buddy is concerned about the weight of the cake. It takes 10 people to get it loaded into the van and he worries about how it will get unloaded in Myrtle Beach with just Danny driving it down. In the end, he flies down to meet Danny in Myrtle Beach to oversee the process and everything works out great.

"Everyone in Myrtle Beach was warm and welcoming," Buddy said. "We'll  see you on the boardwalk!"