Times Square Is About To See Another Carlo's Bakery
TLC's "Cake Boss" aired its final episode in 2017, but the popularity of the reality series helped usher its star, Buddy Valastro, further into what was already an illustrious career in the world of sweets. The show, which premiered in 2009, followed Valastro as he carried out the day-to-day operations of his family's long-running Hoboken bakery, Carlo's — a task he shared in part with his mom, his four sisters, and his three brothers-in-law.
Since the end of "Cake Boss," Carlo's Bakery has only grown bigger. It's still churning out wedding cakes, specialty cakes, and pastries at its original New Jersey flagship, but has since added an outpost across the bridge in the heart of New York City's Times Square, as well as stores in Pennsylvania, California, Connecticut, and elsewhere in the U.S. and Brazil. The bustling denizens and tourists of Times Square are clearly some of Valastro's biggest fans, because the neighborhood is getting a second Carlo's Bakery nearly within view of its 8th Avenue joint.
Two Carlo's Bake Shops, five minutes apart
Times Square must have a whole lot of longtime Food Network viewers, because the area's 8th Avenue Carlo's Bakery location is getting a duplicate just a five-minute walk away, according to What Now New York. The new outpost has staked claim on a 2,200 square foot space on 7th Avenue and West 43rd Street, sharing turf with the Hard Rock Cafe and Jollibee, which similarly opened its second Times Square location in August 2022 (via Secret NYC). "When people come from all over the city or from all over the world, I think they're going to appreciate the love and quality that we put into our delicious pastries, desserts, cookies and cakes because we're still doing it the old-fashioned way," Valastro said in a press release.
In addition to the elaborate cakes featured on "Cake Boss," the bakery also boasts a wide array of classic Italian American treats like cannoli, almond-flavored rainbow layer cookies, and — true to its East Coast origins — black and white cookies. However, don't sleep on the eclair or cream puff, both of which Spoon University spoke quite highly of in 2017.