Cake Boss -- "Colorful Characters & Christmas Costumes"

Cake Boss Buddy and artist Renee work on a holiday party cake in "Colorful Characters & Christmas Costumes."
(*Click* pic for larger image.)

Buddy and the Cake Boss crew were back tonight with holiday larks, laughs, and large, lavish cakes. At the start of "Colorful Characters & Christmas Costumes", Buddy has a consultation with larger than life drag queen Miss Richmond, whose putting on a holiday show and needs a cake she can jump out of. It's a priceless scene as the usual gregarious Buddy gets overwhelmed by Miss Richmond's squeals and squees and non-stop chatter.

Buddy shares the wealth by bringing the even more alarmed Mauro down to help him "take measurements" to make sure they create a cake large enough. It's clear Buddy just brought Mauro down to watch him squirm, and everyone has a laugh as Miss Richmond goes ga-ga for Mauro.

The Cake Boss crew also has a bit of fun when they build the frame for the cake, and nominate Frankie to stand in it to check the size. They put the frame over his head as he stands there, and it's going fine until, as Buddy tells us in voiceover "it gets stuck on his butt!" The whole crew, including Frankie, howls with laughter as he stands there, stuck with a cake box as a tutu.

The frame is remade, and the scrumptious vanilla, fudge, and strawberry cake is piled up to create a tower. Buddy adds rice crispie at the top for sturdiness, in case Miss Richmond leans on the cake when she breaks out the top.

Buddy and a few of his Cake Boss crew bring the cake to Miss Richmond's show, but the cake is too large to fit inside. Miss Richmond has a split second panic attack (and we get to see Buddy's hilarious impression of this later), but then quickly recovers herself and orders her manager to bring the whole audience outside.

As Miss Richmond shimmies into the cake and the boys bring down the lid, Buddy asks "Is it straight?" We hear Miss Richmond's muffled droll reply "I wouldn't say that." There's a small pause, and then all the Cake Boss boys burst out laughing as they get the joke.

The small crowd gathers, Miss Richmond stands up out the top of the cake wearing her Christmas tree costume, and the crowd goes wild. They love it, especially when she leans over and plants a big kiss on Mauro's forehead, leaving a giant lip print there. Everyone's happy, it's a huge success, and Buddy tells us that it probably turned out better than if they'd actually gotten the cake on the stage.

For the second cake of the show, Buddy and the Cake Boss crew put together a gorgeous girly-girl cake for a bunch of young women's holiday party. Delivery boys Anthony and Stretch drool over the two girls who show up for the consultation, and Buddy chastises the boys later as they beg to be allowed to deliver the cake.

Buddy stacks up the beautiful layers of the square cake, then puts the Cake Boss girls to work adding bling--pearls and jewels, a gold shoe, make-up, presents, gift bags, and more. It's a multi-colored, shining, boutique beauty, and the crew is thrilled with the result. They're even more thrilled with the idea of playing a prank on Anthony and Stretch--so Buddy tells the boys they can deliver the cake as long as they dress up as Elves. Before you can say "Fifth Avenue hotties", Anthony and stretch are wearing green tights and pointy hats and dancing a jig.



While Buddy tells us that some girls might like elves (and we do), the boys are running around town in elf costumes, carrying a cake, and trying to find the right address. They finally get to the party, and the gorgeous cake overshadows their male charms at first. The girls gush endlessly over all the cute and meticulous details of the Cake Boss specialty, and so Anthony finally decides to speak up and tell the story of how they wore the elf costumes just to get to see the girls. Then the boys ask for their numbers. Classy guys, classy. Nice and subtle. I'm not so sure the girls were into these elves, but you never know.

As a last crowning glory to the episode, the Cake Boss crew voted which of the "pretty men" would look best as a drag queen for the day. Whoever won got to strut their stuff down in the bakery for the day. As they showed the pics of all the guys, I kept thinking Buddy's brother-in-law Joe was the prettiest--and yep, he won the prize. He made a pretty nice looking woman, with great legs (turns out he's a firefighter as well as a baker, so he's in great shape)!

The Cake Boss crew were snorting and giggling as Joey handed out cookies to the shocked and amused customers, telling people "I lost a bet" and "Hurry up, these shoes are killing me." Once again, Cake Boss entertains us with both the incredible skill of the bakers and the joy of their good-natured goofing off. After a few episodes of too much yelling and engineered drama, it was great to see the Cake Boss I love back to its friendly ways.

Watch Cake Boss on TLC, Monday nights at 9/8c. Check your local listings for encore episodes and repeats of the series.

PHOTOS: Buddy and Renee assess their work on the Holiday party cake; Buddy works on Miss Richmond's cake while Toni, Christine, and Catherine bustle in the background; Cake Boss "Colorful Characters & Christmas Costumes", c2009 TLC.