This is like a shag-a-delic style cake.
Buddy, I got your special delivery.
Even here, in the middle of the mountains,
you managed to celebrate me and our show
with my favorite treat in the whole world,
your sesame cookies from Carlo's, of course.
Thank you my dear friend, thank you, thank you, thank you.
(blows kiss)
(speaks foreign language)
Thank you, thank you.
Well, Rachel, first, I just wanna congratulate you
on 16 seasons, which is like an amazing feat, all right,
but what people don't know about you
is how wonderful you are, how hard working you are,
and amazingly talented, like I love you,
and I'm so proud of you,
and honestly, to another 100 years of doing this.
Buddy, I have to tell you, you are a buddy,
and you're part of the reason we are still here.
You've been a huge factor in our show for many years.
You're a dear and loved and valued friend.
Thank you so much.
Well that's it, it's your Sweet 16,
I want you to enjoy, have some cookies,
and I'll take care of the decorating.
All right.
So you want me to show you
what we're gonna do today, Rachael?
Yes, I'm really excited.
All right.
'Cause it looks like a rainbow.
Yeah, so I got a couple colors here.
We're children of the same era, right?
Who doesn't remember those crazy shag carpets, right?
Yes.
And those crazy colors, right,
so this is like a shag-a-delic style cake,
and what I did was just to give you a little insight,
I took a toothpick and I just kind of like traced
out a 16 and I traced out Rachael,
and then I'm gonna use this to just kind of trace out
a couple patterns, right.
There's really no right or wrong,
it's just kind of like you know, freestyle.
You're having fun.
You just have fun.
And then I'm using this great grass tip,
and I'm just going to make like little shag balls,
so I'm just gonna kind of trace it out
and just kind of keep piping away here.
And this is really, I don't wanna say easy,
but it's not a crazy advanced technique,
and like shag carpet,
it was like always different lengths
or a little cock-eyed or a little whatever,
so there's really no right or wrong,
you can't mess this up.
Do you remember how old you were,
I'm sure it was well shy of 16,
the very first time you decorated a cake all by yourself?
Yes, I do, actually, Rachael.
I was probably about 12 years old,
and it was for my mom's birthday.
My dad wouldn't let me make a cake
for a customer, so he said to me,
look, you can make your mom's birthday cake,
and I remember, I mean, it took me hours to make it.
Oh, you got the picture of me and my dad there,
when I was 16.
Buddy, that was Buddy, guys,
when he was actually 16 years old,
when he was, his sweet 16.
You guys both look so great.
(Buddy laughs)
I appreciate it.
I was so excited to make that cake for my mom,
and so proud, and it took hours,
and I just made her, and it was like an old-fashioned
Italian rum cake with like nuts on the side
and the cannoli and chocolate pudding on the inside,
so it was a lot of fun stuff,
but yeah, no, you know, listen, Rachael, honestly,
I can't say it enough, and I know I said it before,
but you are amazing, and I'm so, so proud.
I mean, 16 seasons, people don't realize
how hard that is and rare, because, and the truth of it,
the secret to your success is you,
because you know, your story is inspirational, right?
I mean, you know, if I would've told you when you were 20
and you know you were in the grind
and trying to make it happen.
No, no, no.
That this is who you're gonna be, right.
You'd pinch yourself.
Yeah, if someone would've told me as a dishwasher
or a waitress that I would have this life one day,
you're right, I'm very cognizant of that.
Oh, whoa, look at that.
Honey, come look.
It's looking good.
Oh my gosh, it's gorgeous.
Whoa.
Look at that.
Hey, Buddy, that's amazing.
How are you doing, John?
I hope you enjoy the cake, Rachael,
again, I couldn't be prouder of you,
I couldn't be happier for you.
Nobody deserves it more,
and you are so truly amazingly talented,
and the cherry on top is that you're such a great person.
For the people who don't know you the way I do.
And John, we couldn't do it without John.
John the camera man.
No, no, yeah, listen.
John our crew, our crew upstate, woo hoo.
You know, you guys can get some of Buddy's sweets
no matter where you are
because, as you can see, Carlo's Bakery ships nationwide.
(light chiming)