I'm the boss!

This cake is for the birds

We are one of the few bakeries that still do things the old fashioned Italian way. That's what made Carlos Bakery what it is today. Buddy says we've been using these original recipes for years. And it's been around for almost 100 years. So you know we're doing something right. So this week he was happy to be getting something really old school. This couple came in and told us (outfit 13)  they were getting married and they would be getting married on what would be the husband's parents 50th anniversary. He told us that his grandfather was a chef and that he made this cake for his parents that had these doves on the side of the cake and that the dove was significante back then and Buddy knew what he was talking about that he said he'd seen cakes like these before. That our dad used to make cakes like those and he'd have to show me some pictures since I had no idea what he was talking about. But again I was much younger than him and the rest of our siblings.

They felt it would be symbolic since it would've also had been his parents 50th and wanted to have a dove somewhere on the cake. Buddy wanted to put a real dove in the cake. This was quite the surprise to all of us. In the cake? We all seemed to question. Like doves like the old fashioned way. He explained. He said he'd only done two of those kinds of cakes before in his whole life but our father used to make those cakes all the time. I didn't know that. I chimed in. That's because you never got to know the man. And I wish you would've. He would've loved you as much as I do. Anyways these birds kind of just sit in their little cage. He said it would be sealed off except the holes in the top for air. After all it's not gonna be like they're walking in the cake or on the cake. He said when they cut it they will open the doors and the doves would fly out.

He said we didn't see cakes like this anymore and it would be a remembrance of his father. But also ours as well he finished. And they asked if he knew where to get the birds he didn't say yes or no just that he wouldn't let them down and I knew he wouldn't. We exchanged plaisanteries and goodbyes and how nice it would be to work with each other and all the contrats on their celebration. And then we went upstairs as he talked me through and gave me visual aids of what he wanted this cake to look like just like he would show you guys before the rest of the team. It was gonna be 4 tiers and old school Italian styled. And a statuette between a couple of layers. He said it was gonna have a lot of ivy and leaves and grapes. He also said we were gonna have ivory flowers all around it. He said we'd do a plexiglass cage for the birds. So we got started on making the roses but he told everyone who was making them that he was very particular about his roses and wanted to make sure we made him look good.

He felt that it was very important that all of the employees know how to do the flowers his way. That all the flowers had to be unique. And felt that they would tie in nicely to a an old fashioned cake with modern technique. Everything he knows that he was teaching the rest of us had been passed down to him. And then we asked where they got the birds from. Sal and Buddy told us that they either used to go to a chicken store or a pet store. And what was that exactly? Don't worry I wasn't the only one asking that. Sal has been working at the bakery ever since our father bought it in 1964. And according to Buddy he is his most trusted baker. Apparently a chicken store was just as it sounded like you would go pick your bird that you were gonna eat. The place where the birds went to die so that they could be your dinner. Buddy was telling us that Sal had made a lot of bird cakes him and dad together. He told Buddy they used to do about 10 a year.

I know we've already intro you to Danny but according to Buddy he's a jack of all trades and has been working at the bakery since he was 14 which at that point was 40 years by then. So he was about my age slightly younger than me when he first started at the bakery. And they call him the "mule" because of this. But for now as far the cake went he and Frankie and I.... I stopped working on the flowers I felt it was for the best since Buddy likes them a certain way. And the cake looked like some kind of pound cake or some kind of sponge cake and we were filling it with slices of strawberries. And then he said he wanted the two of us to go and get him some birds he wanted love doves. But I wanna help here. I said. IDK this kind of cake it's old fashioned and I want things a certain way. I love your help but right now I don't have time to teach you and guide you to make it be how I want. But I'll tell ya what any of the fun specialty cakes you can help on those in the meantime while you're gone and I'm working on this I'll think of something you can help me do on the cake but these birds are one of the most important parts of the cake if not the most important. Think you can do that for me?