Buddy 'Cake Boss' Valastro, Robert Irvine And PieCaken Too

MIAMI BEACH, FL — Buddy "Cake Boss" Valastro was shaking hands and posing for photos with an outstretched arm as if he was delivering the final note of a Broadway show tune to each and every one of his culinary admirers with a cellphone camera.

The pride of Hoboken, New Jersey, Valastro is famous for his over-the-top cake creations seen on the hit show, "Cake Boss," which found a new home on Discovery Family last year.

"We do kind of the impossible every week. So. It just depends on whether you are making a 14-foot tall 'Transformers' cake, 16-and-a-half-foot, 2,000-pound dinosaur, or a carousel that people can actually ride," Valastro said of his famous confections. "It's all in a day's work."

Valastro co-hosted the third annual Goldbelly Sweets & Beats late-night dessert party in South Beach over the weekend at the National Hotel along with Joe Ariel, CEO and founder of Goldbelly, one of America's fastest-growing online companies serving up some of the most iconic comfort foods — Philly cheesesteaks from Pat's King of Steaks, New Orleans king cake from Gambino’s, gooey butter cake from the Blue Owl in Missouri or one of Valastro's red velvet cakes from Carlo's Bakery in Hoboken — to a customer base of one million foodies, including any number of celebrities.

The Miami Beach event, which was part of the South Beach Wine and Food Festival, raised money for Florida International University's Chaplin School of Hospitality and Tourism Management.

Won't Dish On Celebrities

Ariel said people might be surprised by some of his regular customers though he refused to dish on them.

"Some folks that have certain stringent diets — or you think they do — you see things that they order regularly, that maybe they don’t tell people that they order," Ariel shared in an interview with Patch. "Like healthy people in fitness magazines crushing 12-layer PieCakens — like regularly."

He started Goldbelly six years ago with his wife Vanessa, who was his girlfriend at the time.

"I went to college in Nashville, Tennessee, originally from New York," he said. "I was exposed to food that just blew my mind, that I hadn’t grown up on."

Aha Moment

Years later, he found himself craving buttermilk biscuits, dry rub barbecue ribs and pecan pies with lard baked in the crust. That led to an aha moment.

"I just called in some favors, had them ship me the stuff. The food was unbelievable. That didn’t surprise me because I shipped it overnight," he said, wearing a pin with "Dad Bod" printed on it.

"But, what was really magical was the emotional moment of opening that box and smelling those smells, and kind of feeling transported to a different time, a different place," Ariel said. "It just hit me that there’s something very emotional about food, and food that you love, and food that you’ve grown up with."

Goldbelly now represents 500 food makers and ships childhood favorites all over the country. This past holiday seas was one of the company's best yet.

"For a food maker, it’s just like a takeout order except it’s in a box. We handle everything else," Ariel said. "No small food maker wants to have an in-house tech team, in-house design, in-house online marketers, in-house customer support. They really want to focus on their craft, and if we can handle all of those pain points, and connect them with a consumer base nationwide, all the sudden a small family-owned shop can have 300 million potential customers."

"Restaurant Impossible's" Robert Irvine

Robert Irvine of "Restaurant Impossible"fame also turned up at the Miami Beach event to support Valastro, who is a good friend of Irvine and Irvine's wife, retired Canadian-American professional wrestler, Gail Kim.

"I have a new 'Restaurant Impossible,'" he said. "It’s 'Restaurant Impossible Revisited.' 'Dinner Impossible' is coming back. We have a lot going on right now. It’s crazy."

Irvine, who famously turns around failing restaurants, told patch he gets a lot of satisfaction from working on the shows.

"My favorite story is every story I do because I’m helping people get out of debt, and I’ve helped people save their families," he insists.

Irvine also had advice for home cooks.

"We turn the heat up. We leave the pan on and we try to cook things at 500 miles an hour," he explained. "It’s raw in the middle. It’s burnt on the outside. Take it down. Start at a hot temperature, reduce the heat and when it’s ready, turn it off. Move the pan and let it rest. It’s just common sense."

PieCaken Owes Success To Kelly Ripa

PieCaken inventor Zac Young, whose unusual dessert became a holiday staple on Goldbelly, said he owes his success to morning talk show queen Kelly Ripa.

"PieCakin started as a joke. It was the dessert version of the turducken, but it was never supposed to be a thing. It was supposed to be a one-off special for Thanksgiving in one restaurant," he said.

But Ripa changed Young's fortunes and launched PieCaken into culinary orbit back in 2015. "I woke up and Kelly Ripa was talking about it," Young said. "She’s was like, 'oh look, there’s this crazy thing.'"

That was all it took. Young now has a PieCaken for almost every occasion, including St. Patrick's Day . "We make a cake out of stacked layers of pies, cakes, cheesecakes," he explained. "It’s basically four desserts in one."

In the case of St. Patrick's Day, the dessert combines a crispy pecan pie, Baileys cheesecake and a Guinness cream velvet cake with salty caramel frosting.

Young's tip for home bakers is to give themselves enough time for whatever cake they are attempting to tackle.

"Think of it as a project, especially with cakes," he advised. "You want to make sure that everything is cooled and set. You can’t rush it. There’s no prize for finishing fastest."

Valastro Keeps Father's Memory Alive

Valastro was as approachable off the air strolling around the Miami Beach event as he appears on camera in shows like "Buddy Vs. Duff" and the forthcoming "Big Time Bake" set to debut on Food Network this spring.

In his latest project, Valastro hosts a fast-paced competition where bakers must prepare three desserts in six hours without distractions like judge's tables, stoppages and compartmentalized rounds.

With his vast television reach, Valastro has popularized the technique of using Rice Krispie treats in his cakes.

"Some of the cakes made for 'Cake Boss' could feed thousands of people. Certain elements were made out of Rice Krispie treats for stability," he acknowledged. "I probably made it famous with my TV show but I didn’t pioneer it."

A fourth-generation baker, Valastro still wears his father's St Anthony medallion every day to honor the original Cake Boss, Buddy Sr., who passed away when Buddy was only 17.

"He's the angel on my shoulder," Valastro said of his dad. He believes his Sicilian father would be proud of his success. "I think so. I hope so. I know so. Definitely," he said.

Valastro takes a photo with Chef Chloe Coscarelli after sampling her vegan tiramisu at Sweets & Beats, instantly turning her team giddy with delight.

"We knew he was hosting the event so we were excited to have him try our vegan cake because we know he is the Cake Boss of regular cakes," Coscarelli said. "We wanted to see what he thought of the vegan cake. We made vegan tiramisu with a vegan pound cake. We made a vegan pound cake and a vegan dark chocolate mousse."

Valastro ate every bite of the non-dairy version of the Italian favorite.

His also shared some advice for bakers that may have hit a bit close to his own home.

"They ice the cake while the cake is still hot, and the icing melts," he said. "My wife and kids are culprits of that all the time. Let the cake cool fully. Stick it in the refrigerator. Let it cool down. Then ice the cake."

Valastro's wife, Elisabetta or Lisa as she is better known, told Patch her famous husband makes time to bake with his children at home, but not necessarily what people might expect.

"As far as making a cake, the only cake that is made at home is the one I make every year for him for his birthday," she confided. "It’s different every year. It’s a surprise. I can’t tell you this year what it’s going to be."