The park rangers at Ellis Island wanted a cake to celebrate the 125th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty. The Cake Boss crew visited the famous statue for inspiration. Buddy’s grandparents went through Ellis Island and he was able to see his name on the scrolls. Buddy decided to replicate the statue and he even made it in two pieces so he could make it as big as he could. Buddy’s best sculpture Ralph worked on the face and Buddy carved out the body from a huge stack of cake rounds. Ralph stuck to the original and made Lady Liberty’s face very stern. After some tenuous moments during the delivery by boat, the gigantic cake was assembled and touched up. It looked amazing and everyone was shocked by its size.
Ironically, one of Buddy’s main bakers and brother in law Mauro was working on getting his US citizenship. He had been in the US from his home of Milan, Italy for 35 years, but never became a citizen. He wanted to vote and embrace the American culture fully, so he went through the process. The visit to Ellis Island and the experience working on the cake was a very profound experience for Mauro. In the end he was sworn in as an American citizen and he and his wife were very happy and Buddy was very proud of him.
Legendary high school basketball coach Bob Hurley’s wife came in to get Buddy to make a 4 tier cake to tell the coach’s amazing 4 decade coaching story. Hurley coaches as Saint Anthony’s in New Jersey and many of the guys in the shop remembered going to games when they were kids. Edible pictures, numbers, and memories from the coach’s career went on the cake and the top tier had a sculpture of the coach with a hoop. The tope was a scene from Coach Hurley’s national championship season and he was depicted cutting down the nets. It was a beautiful cake and the coach was surprised during practice.
Outside the bakery Mary was still upset that she was fired. She talked with all the sisters about the situation. None of the sisters expressed a desire for Mary to come back, but they did encourage her to talk with Buddy and make up as brother and sister. Mary was open to a reunion, but wanted to be angry for a bit longer.
