Tucked against a back wall in the decorating room of Carlo’s Bakery stands a Craftsman cabinet full of tools. This is where Buddy Valastro tinkers with his latest inspirations, working with the precision of a carpenter to finish decorated cakes that sell for thousands of dollars apiece. Yet his tools are not saws or drills: they are plunger cutters, fondant rolling pins, leaf veiners, flower forms, and other assorted gadgets that enable him to keep his family bakery’s promise to create "cakes of distinction."

Brides come from hundreds of miles just to share ideas with Valastro and to order their once-in-a-lifetime cakes from a local legend, which will celebrate a century in business in two years. This 7,500-square-foot retail bakery in Hoboken, NJ, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, sells 25 to 30 wedding cakes a weekend and another 250 to 500 birthday cakes every week. In addition, they create scores of pastries and desserts such as cannoli, crumb cake and pecan Danish that are made from scratch every day.

Valastro is a baker first, decorator second. What this means is that while he appreciates the beauty of an elaborate and perfectly executed design, he understands their first priority is to make money on each cake they produce.

"On a good day with six people here, we’ll make 300 to 400 sugar roses a day," he says, preaching the benefits of a near assembly-line mentality. "I tend to think of bakery as production. If you can apply what we know as bakers first, then it’s worth it. You’re not going to make money doing one cake a week."

It is for this reason – the rich tradition of a family bakery coupled with the unique innovation of a trend-setting cake decorating shop – that Carlo’s Bakery is honored by Baking Buyer as the 2007 Retail Bakery of the Year, sponsored by ACH Food Companies, Inc.

Carlo’s Bakery was founded in Hoboken in 1910 and was acquired by Buddy Valastro Sr., Buddy’s father, in 1964. Born in Italy, Buddy Sr. came to New Jersey to pursue the American dream. Today the dream continues through the efforts of his five children (Grace, Madeline, Mary, Lisa and Buddy, all of whom work for the bakery) and his wife, Mary. Two son-in-laws, Mauro and Joey, work here too.

Buddy Sr. died in 1994, five years after the bakery moved from its original location to the current downtown site on Washington Street. He was diagnosed with lung cancer and died two weeks later. Tears still come to Mary’s eyes when she recalls this promise: "’If anything ever happens to me, the bakery stays open,’" she remembers her husband once telling her. "Now we’re still here and have taken it to new heights. All our children work here, and this is all they’ve known. It gives them pleasure. This is their father’s dream."

Holiday Gift Box cakes are the latest innovation at Carlo’s Bakery. These 6-inch squares and rounds are covered in rolled fondant, painted (using air-brush or paint brush) in golds or blues or reds, and decorated with ribbons or polka dots or hand-made snowflakes. Buddy Jr. can make one Holiday Gift Box cake in 5 minutes and sell it for $30.

To create the look of a "perfect present," he takes the unique approach of using a steam machine to make each cake glisten after the decorating is done. As a bonus, the steamer removes any white spots that might be left on the cake during the decorating process.

"It’s the little things that set you part," Buddy Jr. says. "We make our own sugar snowflakes. We use crystal sugar on the cake, so it looks like ice or snow, and then put snowflakes on top. This can work for any holiday."

At Carlo’s Bakery, it’s all about efficiency and artistry in motion. Last year, for instance, the bakery was honored with having a winning cake design on the Today Show, a four-tier wedding cake that sells for $3,000. They worked 8 to 10 hours to make the original cake; now it’s down to 2 ½ hours, Buddy Jr. says.

"You may sell a $5,000 cake, but at the end of the day are you making money on it?" he asks, directing this comment to all bakers. "You have to ask yourself that. In that same time, my team could have done 15 to 20 $3,000 cakes. You can’t do cakes that you don’t make money on."

Valastro Jr. offers the following tips and ideas for cake decorators who want to push the creative envelope while at the same time stay efficient with the number of labor hours needed to complete each cake.

To make a 6-inch square or round specialty cake, he base ices the cake in buttercream before covering it with a sheet of rolled fondant. He uses a Somerset 30-inch sheeter to roll out the white fondant. "This brand is really good. They do a great job," Valastro says of the tabletop sheeter.

With no design, he sets the sheeter on 2 or 3. If there is going to be a design on it, he sets the thickness to 6.

After rolling the fondant (he prefers Satin Ice rollable cake icing and goes through about 300 pounds a week in peak season), he puts a little corn starch down and gets out a patterned rolling pin (this particular one looks like wrapping paper) to roll a pattern on the sheet of fondant. Then he pushes it on to a 6-inch square cake (for this size, he bakes a full sheet cake and cuts into eight squares).

Valastro mixes copper luster dust with Everclear alcohol (because it dries very well) and paints the fondant with a brush. Try to avoid making the mixture too watery or too thick.

To make a sugar bow, cut strips of the sheeted fondant into "streamers" about an inch wide. Paint each streamer with a water pen and align into the shape of a bow with ribbons. Fold over two streamers to make the bow.

For polka dot patterns, cut circles out of sheeted fondant and paint in desired color. Place across the top and sides of the cake, covering any imperfections.

For snow decorations, sprinkle crystal sugar on top with your hands and add a variety of sizes of handmade sugar snowflakes. "We make our own sugar snowflakes," he says. "This can work for any holiday."

To make sugar snowflakes, Valastro rolls white fondant and cuts into the desired shape with a variety of sizes of snowflake cutouts. Then he uses a small cutter with a plunger on the end to cut holes into the snowflakes to make them look more real.

A trip to Carlo’s City Hall Bakery in Hoboken, NJ, allows the fortunate customers that go through its doors to know that quality and artistry in baking is far from extinct. While many retail bakers have developed successful wholesale businesses to stay in business, Buddy Valastro of Carlo’s has found another niche to successfully compete against the trends that have shuttered the doors of other retail bakeries.

A quick look at the Carlo’s brochure lets the customer know that this is not an assembly-line bakery. Carlo’s specializes in wedding cakes and each cake is an individual work of art. Beyond looking for vendors to sharpen their pencils when selling Buddy his supplies, Mr. Valastro looks for premium ingredients to set his creations apart from his competition. This has included his recent efforts to remove trans-fats from his cakes.

It would be remiss not to mention that apart from its unique wedding cakes, Carlo’s bakes some of the most delicious pastries and cookies in the New York metropolitan area. We at ACH are proud to be one of the partners in the success Carlo’s has enjoyed and the delight he brings to his customers.