WILKES-BARRE
"Cake Boss" Buddy Valastro whipped the audience into a Christmas confectionery frenzy Friday at the F.M. Kirby Center for the Performing Arts.
The master pastry chef demonstrated his cake artistry techniques and gave his creations away during the "Homemade for the Holidays" tour stop.
Mr. Valastro also shared traditions and stories from his family and their business, Carlo's Bake Shop in Hoboken, N.J.
Mr. Valastro stars in TLC's reality television "Cake Boss," revolving around his work at the bakery. He also hosts a competitive baking show, "Next Great Baker," which premiered last month on TLC. He greeted the audience as he walked through the theater to the stage, where he used a T-shirt gun to give away the first prizes of the night.
"You make me feel like a rock star up here," he said.
He talked the audience through several of his decorations, including icing an easy Santa Claus cake and using fondant for holiday-themed treats.
"These are something you could totally do at home," he said as he iced a cupcake. "⦠put a little green in the middle and you have a poinsettia. Bada bing, bada boom. I'm going to show you how to do it Hoboken style, baby!"
His daughter, Sophia, helped her dad guide audience members through several competitions to win his cakes, from a Hula Hoop contest to a family contest reminiscent of "Double Dare," which required a family member to squeeze icing into a pie crust, only using their posterior.
The most memorable competitor award goes to the father who won a cake, not for his ability to capture a ball in a cup on a contraption around his waist, but for his enthusiastic dance to PSY's "Gangnam Style."
As he decorated, Mr. Valastro also answered questions submitted by audience members - most about baking, but also one about the availability of the cameraman recording his decorating onstage.
"I believe he's single. Wink, wink," he said.
Mr. Valastro also told the audience about what's coming up on the show, as well as his new bakeries opening in Ridgewood, N.J., and Times Square in New York City. He plans to open another somewhere in Pennsylvania within a year, he said.
Contact the writer: kgaydos@citizensvoice.com