'Cake Boss' recap: Buddy, Cousin Anthony fist pump for Snooki

TLCBuddy poses with Nicole Polizzi, or "Snooki," and her mother's cake.

Episode 20: "Snooki, Super Anthony and a Ship"

You know Carlo's Bakery is going somewhere when it is graced by the presence of Snooki of "The Jersey Shore."

She wanted a cake for her mom's birthday, but it needed pizzazz because as she said, her mom is very conservative. So Snooki requested to have a bit of herself in it somehow — selfless daughter indeed.

Cousin Anthony and younger cousin, Buddy, were starstruck by the new client, and tried impressing her. It was obvious that no one at the bakery watches "The Jersey Shore" as Snooki made references about her poof, GTL-ing, and fist pumping gorillas that no one could decipher upon first mention.

She seemed almost taken aback when she requested that her signature poof be somehow incorporated into her mom's cake, and Buddy just stared clueless.

A rectangular base followed by two little round tiers next to each other were used to resemble two different cakes in one. One side was Snooki's and the opposing was her mom's. Snooki's part of the cake was a cool blue, with a mini-she, done by Ralphie, who had no idea of the hair poof either, and was surrounded by shirtless, buffed up "guidos" on the brown-sugared beach.

Snooki's mom's side was neon green, with piping flowers and miniature flower pots, along with a sculpture of her as a gardener.

I believe this was the first time cherry filling with real cherries was used.

Do I recall Buddy at some point express discontent with everything "The Jersey Shore" represents for Italian-Americans? Yet here he was taking orders from the "guidette" and teaching Ralphie how to fist pump. He only mentioned how he didn't like the term "guido" but shrugged it off as part of the normal talk at the shore.

On to our second cake, which was really the first one introduced in the show. Clients at South Street Seaport in New York City asked for a different kind of ship cake in celebration of the 75th anniversary of the S.S. Normandie luxury liner. They didn't just want a replica of the ship. Instead, they wanted the cake to exhibit what was found inside the ship.

TLCJuan paints art deco tiles for the Seaport Museum Cake.

Buddy highlighted what he found to be memorable, and made a four-tiered white cake with twisted fondant to resemble roping to go around each tier.

One of the few items saved after the ship was destroyed in 1942 was the grand wheel. So Buddy decided to make a giant, brown wheel on top of the cake that actually spun. It was molded out of PVC pipes with the help of strongman Mauro. I do have to point out that Buddy failed to give credit to him, saying that he himself got it to work after failing at making a large wheel the first time.

The front part of the ship was also made, out of Rice Krispies treats and placed next to the cake. Badges, anchors, art decor from the dining tapestry, captain caps, and tiny French butlers decorated the vanilla and chocolate ganache cake.

The museum folks were pleasantly stunned by Buddy's keen sense of detail.

Back to Snooki's visit. By now, Anthony isn't shy to make a fool out of himelf, asking to hang out sometime. Snooki commented on how he was pale, a huge turnoff for the queen of baking under the sun. He decided to "upgrade" his look, getting a makeover by the girls at the bakery to suit Snooki's taste in juiced up men, or as she calls them "gorillas."

TLCDanny and Buddy work on the Seaport cake.

What did the makeover include? A black muscle tee, a terrible spray-on tan, and an Italian flag belt buckle that was reversed, resembling the Mexican flag. All that heavy cake lifting does provide results, though, as Anthony showed off his guns, and midriff to Snooki. And she approved by offering to stand near him and pose for pictures.

One of the first things Snooki noticed when presented with the cake was the molding of herself.

At the end, we hear her pale mom speak, saying how grateful she is of the cake especially after her daughter failed to see her at Mother's Day. Sounds like there's some personal drama there.