Cake Boss Buddy • A workshop with the master

Blogging is brilliant.

It's brilliant because it brings communities together, raises thousands for charity, develops life long friendships and brings you opportunities you'd only dream of!

And.... it brought me to Buddy.

Oh what a night! Kirsten and I have been giddy for a couple of weeks, my sister was livid as was my brother and sister in law in New Jersey who adore his show Cake Boss! If you haven't seen it you are one of the few, his shows are televised in 190 countries! 

I had no idea what to expect from an international celebrity. But he surpassed all expectations.

Charming, witty, informal, welcoming (He kissed us all on two cheeks asking "This is what you do in England right?!") and led the most informal workshop, bouncing questions back and forwards between bloggers, journalists and television network staff, who were all as giddy as we were.

Buddy is passionate about creating a legacy and it was his strong sense of family that was so overwhelming. He wants a successful empire but he wants a clean, family, wholesome empire. One which will inspire generations to bake.

He calls it "Empowering the home baker." 

Buddy had both the men and women captivated in the basement kitchen of L'Atelier des Chefs in London's Mayfair. I was impressed with his sincerity and the way in which he openly discussed his own ups and downs and family heartbreak. This isn't a skill he has mastered, it's his natural charm.

We were all invited as part of a promotional event for his new line of bakeware. A HUGE new line of everything you could possibly ever want or need. But there were moments when you forgot he had a new line to sell. There were no figures or statistics, no hard sell, just banter. 

There were bloggers, bakers and writers and it was wonderful to meet Caroline too! 

But what I noticed was how classic the styling of the new collection was. With a reputation for creating enormous, extravagant cakes and even covering a whole car in fondant icing once, I had imagined the packaging, colours and patterns to have a show business quality to them. But no. Beautifully packaged, timeless products and pretty decorations. Feminine colour palette but the metal bakeware and gadgets have a strong unisex feel which I can see men and women alike snapping up as soon as they hit UK stores. If you can't wait until then you can purchase the range on Amazon.

Thanks to the official TLC photographer for providing the image of me icing my "marble" creation. Eek!

We were all sent home with a marvellous goodie bag full of treats to try and watch, apron and books including The Cake Decorating Bible by Juliet Sear, Cake Boss' ambassador in the UK. And Kirsten won the prize for the best decorated cake! Go Kirsten! 

Thank you to Porter Marketing for such a brilliant invitation.

And don't forget to watch the new series of Cake Boss on TLC on Fridays at 9pm.

And if you haven't yet nominated your favourite blogs for the BritMums Brilliance in Blogging Awards (yes I know - it's blog awards season!) today is your last chance!

You don't have to submit links to everything just the blog website links you love. 

Of course I'd be thrilled to be nominated this year so if you think I deserve a place in the shortlist you can nominate HERE.