Cake Boss adds Italian to the mix

Buddy Valastro will be stretching his legs and cooking talents beyond his famous family-owned Carlo's City Hall Bake Shop in Hoboken, NJ for new Italian cooking show 'Kitchen Boss.'

Buddy Valastro's television empire is growing again, with the addition of a daily cooking show set to launch Jan. 24 on TLC.

The host of "Cake Boss" and "The Next Great Baker" will be behind the stove of "Kitchen Boss," a half-hour show in which he'll cook Italian meals.

"The main focus is accessibility," Valastro says. "I want food that takes people back to remembering what their grandmother made, or their mother made."

"Kitchen Boss" will premiere after the finale of "Next Great Baker" on Jan. 24 at 10:30 p.m. On Jan. 25, it will move to 5:30 p.m., where it will continue Monday through Friday.

"Sometimes I watch cooking shows and they say, 'I got this pepper from a canyon in Mexico,'" Valastro says. "Who the hell is going to get that pepper? I want people to go to the supermarket and get what they need."

As with everything Valastro does, "Kitchen Boss" will be well steeped in his family's history and stories. He'll prepare entrees and simple deserts, he says, and along the way will talk about memories of similar dishes while growing up.

"I went to TLC and said, 'I love to cook. All the cooking shows are great, but I don't want to go in like a chef,'" he says. "People don't have that culinary training. I want them to feel like a cook."

The series was shot in a New York studio, not his famed Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken.

The new show is the latest in Valastro's rapidly growing "Cake Boss" world. Season four of the baking show begin Jan. 31 at 9 p.m.

Valastro is also talking about a restaurant venture built around his family-flavored food stylings.

"I've always got more tricks, more things, more ideas," Valastro says. "I love cooking."

rhuff@nydailynews.com

Buddy Valastro Cake

Buddy Valastro is an accomplished fourth generation baker born into the business owned and operated by his parents. He was born in Hoboken, NJ and raised in an old fashioned Italian family.

At an early age, Buddy showed that he was a natural by displaying his amazing talent for baking and cake decorating. Aside from that passion, he loved spending quality time with his father as his apprentice. Countless hours were spent in the bakery where Buddy’s father, a master baker, taught him all his old world secrets of baking. They were best friends and dreamed that together that they would make Carlo’s Bakery a household name.

Unfortunately, at the age of 17, Buddy experienced the loss of his father, which led to more responsibilities being placed on Buddy’s shoulders. He showed how well he could shine under pressure by continuing to produce quality work. With the help of his family, Buddy has taken Carlo’s Bakery to new heights. His father’s recipes and Buddy’s innovative decorating and sugar art techniques have taken the business above and beyond his father’s wildest dreams.

Today, Buddy is an accomplished master baker and cake decorator and star of the hit TLC reality show Cake Boss. He's often asked to demonstrate, compete, and teach his craft around the country. In his 10,000 sq foot state of the art facility, Buddy and his staff turn out thousands of wedding cakes, specialty cakes, and pastries weekly. His award winning designs have been featured numerous times in different bridal and baking magazines. Carlo’s Bakery has also been featured in books, newspapers, such as, The New York Times, and television; most namely The Food Network. He and his cakes have also been featured on The Today’s Show, Good Morning America, The View, and HBO’s hit series, The Sopranos.

By uniting time-honored quality with modern innovative techniques, Carlo’s Bakery is rated among the best. Their distinct old world taste is hard to come by. This is what sets Buddy apart from other sugar artists. Buddy hopes to one day pass on his passion and knowledge to fifth generation members of the Valastro family and continue the Carlo’s Bakery legacy.