Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have to say that I am beyond disappointed by this book. I have never posted a review this scathing before, but I feel compelled to express how angry this "cookbook" makes me. I have formal culinary training, but I've never worked professionally in baking or pastry, so I figured I would buy this book and learn some of Buddy's recipes for home baking. I thought his vanilla cake recipe was a bit odd at first glance, particularly because it doesn't follow any of the traditional mixing methods or ingredients required for most traditional cakes. I gave the recipe a chance, but the result was two 9-inch vanilla hockey pucks. The recipe calls for vegetable oil, no butter, and no creaming of the fat and the sugar. What he does not tell you is the commercial bakeries use emulsified shortening as a fat source in what are called "high-ratio" cakes, since emulsified shortening allows a cake to hold more sugar. He simply substituted vegetable oil for emulsified shortening, even though these two ingredients behave TOTALLY differently. I think Buddy (or some unsupervised delegate) was lazy and changed one ingredient in this recipe, with no regard for modifying the method associated with the change. He even says in the acknowledgements that his brother-in-law, Joey, tested all these recipes...HIGHLY unlikely that two skilled bakers tested these recipes. If the recipes were intentionally altered to protect the intellectual property of Carlo's Bakery, then Buddy should write a guide to decorating, NOT a cookbook that delivers poor products, tarnishes his reputation, and makes him look like a shady character who turned his father's sterling reputation into a lot of gold at the expense of quality. Buddy comes across as an honest guy, a family man, and a true professional on his show. The whole intro to the book focuses on being a "complete" baker, and the importance of learning methods as building blocks to overall competence. Too bad the integrity he talks about is not reflected in the quality of this book. Buddy is either too busy to care what products bear his family name, or he's a crook from Jersey who misled you into thinking he would share his family recipes. Now I can't even bear to watch his show while I wait for the mailman to take this book back.