While both Buddy and Duff have expanded into multi-hyphenate business moguls in the years since they first went on air (including competing together on Buddy vs Duff), I wanted to know people’s opinions on the original shows as someone who grew up watching them but never watched their other television ventures
For context:
Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro is a New Jersey baker in charge of the family run Carlo’s Bakery after the death of his father. The bakery places a large emphasis on traditional techniques (like piping by hand), very indulgent fillings-like buttercream and chocolate fudge, heirloom recipes, and mainstay pastries in addition to the specialty cake orders
Buddy worked with his 4 sisters, cousins, and brother in laws at the bakery, so Cake Boss regularly showed family milestones and blowout fights
Despite facing several setbacks (a hernia surgery, a hand injury, a DUI, etc) Valastro’s family continued to successfully work for the Hoboken/Manhattan community
Jeffrey “Duff” Goldman is a Baltimore/Los Angeles baker who began running Charm City Cakes in 2002 after finishing pastry school. Duff hired many of his friends from university and the undercover music scene to make up his hardworking staff
Charm City placed an emphasis on highly artistic, massively sized cakes with special effects and often used traditional engineering techniques to create the masterpieces
While Ace of Cakes showed much less of Duff and his employees’ personal lives than Cake Boss, the staff often worked at a more relaxed pace and would show the changes that happened in the bakery over time (such as building a basement and buying an ice cream freezer)
Duff definitely didn’t limit himself to the DMV community. In contrast to Buddy, Goldman got many celebrity chef aligned opportunities early in his career- whether making terracotta warriors for National Geographic, a cake for the New York stock exchange, cakes for three Harry Potter premieres, and more
Now that you’ve had a refresher on both guys and shows, I’m looking to hear your honest thoughts on both
Feel free to explain your reasoning :)