Cake Boss: Carlo’s Bakery – Hoboken
Carlo’s Bake Shop
95 Washington Street
Hoboken, NJ 07030
(201) 659-3480
Hours of Operation:
Monday – Saturday: 7:00am – 7:30pm
Sunday: 7:00am – 5:30pm
This past thursday, I was fortunate enough to visit the Cake Boss bakery in Hoboken! For those of you who don’t know, TLC, has this reality tv show called Cake Boss, which is about the ups and downs of the everyday life of this famous bakery in Hoboken. Buddy Valastro is the guy who runs the bakery, and he is the chief cake designer and he’s well respected in the country! I have seen Buddy on the Food Network, my favorite network of all networks by the way, and he was a participant of the Food Network Cake Challenge. I was interested in his work and of course now that he has his own show on TLC, it makes me that much more interested about him and his bakery in Hoboken!
I work in Jersey City, which isn’t too far away from Hoboken. My co-workers planned a going away party for one of my co-worker in Hoboken and the first thing I thought was the Cake Boss’ bakery!! I knew I had to go there before they close at 7:30pm. I quickly left in the middle of a pre-game celebration in Jersey City, which all my co-workers couldn’t understand, except for the ones who lives in Hoboken, and hopped on the next path train to Hoboken! I felt so excited and exhilerated to be there. I really didn’t cake that I was missing out on the pre-gaming party because I know that the actual party is in Hoboken! But it would have been nice if I could have shared that excitement with another person.
Now let me share pictures of my visit there!
Carlo's Bake Shop
Whipped Cream Pound Cake
When I came back home last Monday night, I had this urge to make a pound cake! Call me crazy, but I did not know what came over me. All I know was that I wanted to bake a pound cake, so I heeded that call and went for it. I was not scheduled to go to the gym that day and all that thinking about cake perpetuated my lust to have it. The problem is, pound cake is very fattening because of all the sugar and butter that goes into it. Yes, truly fattening with a capital F. What I did was that I logged onto one of my favorite food blogs, Cookie Madness, and I found a butter-free pound cake recipe that I definitely needed.
The concept of replacing butter with whipped cream was interesting to me. I have always used butter in everything, and so I grew skeptical of the taste of this. I figured, anything “healthy” should be lacking in taste? Well, to my surprise it was not lacking in taste, but it has this lightness to it almost like a sponge cake. But unfortunately, somehow I over baked the cake, which really surprised me. The recipe called for 45-50 minutes. At 45 minutes the center of my cake was still wet, but the sides was not. The sides were brown and crisping because of the PAM cooking oil spray that I used. To continue, I left it for another 2 minutes in hopes that it would fully bake and unfortunately it over-baked!
Over-baked Whipped Cream Pound Cake
Homemade Chicken Biryani – Pakistani Style
BIRYANI!! Yeah!
What is biryani? Well, it is basically [basmati] rice that is slow-cooked with many spices, such as cumin, coriander, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, cloves, mint, garlic, saffron, with meat. Biryani is prominent in Pakistan, India, and other Muslim countries like Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Bangaladesh and so on and so forth. According to Wikipedia, each country makes biryani different by adding their unique flavors to make it their own.
Now my dear Pakistani friend brought me chicken biryani that his mother made which got me all excited because it’s homemade! It’s one thing to go out to the restaurant to get it, but I personally think it’s always better when it is made at home! He told me that his mother and sister spends at least four hours prepping and cooking it. I guess anything that is cooked for that long has to be good because all the ingredients are fully immersed into the main component of the dish, which is the rice!
Homemade Chicken Biryani - Pakastani Style
Tuong Ot Sriracha (Sriracha Chili Sauce) (Rooster logo)
If you love hot and spicy like I do, the Sriracha (properly pronounced SIR-rotch-ah) Chili Sauce is a staple. Its every where in Asian restaurants. I’m sure many of you will remember seeing this specific sauce or maybe not even notice until you read this. Has anyone really thought of this chili sauce and where it comes from? I know I never have. To me, it was something that’s always there, has always been there and will always be there. Never thought twice about it except that I love it and miss it when its not there, especially with soupy dishes like Pho.
Tuong Ot Sriracha or Sriracha Chili Sauce, the brand with the rooster on it, comes from California. Some thinks its a Thai or Viet sauce, the truth is that Sriracha, as manufactured by Huy Fong Foods. The company is located in San Gabriel and their warehouse in Rosemead. I was just in both neighborhoods while on vacation. They’re right next to each other right outside Los Angeles and contain big asian populations. David Tran, a vietnamese who moved to the United States and developed this sauce is the man responsible.
I can’t imagine a Vietnamese restaurant in NY without it, can you? They will carry this hot sauce and a fresh paste usually. Don’t be shy if you’ve never tried it before, go for it.
To read more about this, here’s a great article from the NY Times.
