Case Study:

Cake Boss fans lining up for $9 slices from three Toronto vending machines

Who wants to eat some cake?

You apparently. And from a vending machine, no less.

Refrigerated slices from Carlo's Bake Shop, a New Jersey bakery made famous by owner Buddy Valastro Jr. on TV's "Cake Boss," went on sale this week at a trio of automated dispensers in the downtown PATH**.

The so-called cake ATMs can barelykeep up with demand. Each machine holds 160 slices, which sell for $8.99 each. All three machines in the food courts of Waterpark Place, the Royal Bank Plaza and Richmond-Adelaide Centre have been selling out by 2 p.m.

Each weekend, Carlo's ships product from Hoboken to Toronto. There are four choices: chocolate, carrot, red velvet and rainbow.

Customers cite everything from impulse to fandom for why they line up at the Waterpark Place machine. One chose a rainbow slice for her boyfriend's son, who recently came out. Others had made the pilgrimage to Carlo's shop to see the Cake Boss.

"Somebody asked if Buddy was actually in the back of the machine," said Chris Zownir, co-owner of Express Retail Group, the company that approached Valastro with the idea.

The machines are painted the same dark red as Carlo's storefront. Valastro catch phrases such as "Hoboken style, baby" and "Who wants to eat some cake?" decorate the machines, which will soon stock 6-inch cakes to sell for $39.99 to $44.99.

The cakes will now be restocked twice daily.

But are they any good?

Even before you crack open the clear plastic clamshell, you notice the layer cakes look nothing at all like the Cake Boss's fondant extravaganzas.

Valastro is famed for creating three-dimensional city skylines, sea creatures and racing cars. The vending machine slices resemble supermarket cakes with minimal decoration.

Carrot cake is crumbly and nutty, with muted cinnamon and restrained sugar. The cream cheese icing on the sides and top is thick enough to chew.

Compare that to the red velvet cake, whose cream cheese icing is fluffier and tangier, like yogurt. The icing dominates, throwing the bright red cake into shadow.

Chocolate cake is dense and bittersweet but soon turns into paste on the teeth. It's a shame the strong cocoa flavour is let down by the texture and by the generic icing.

Rainbow cake, with its six Instagrammable layers, looks sweet enough to hurt your teeth. And it does. Plus, the sprinkles are soggy. Don't wave the flag over this one.

But not every cake pleasure stems from the eating. Witness the social connections fostered in the Carlo's Bake Shop lineup at Waterpark Place yesterday.

"I want someone to share a slice with me," said Vivek Padigela.

Vik Chala, standing in front of him, volunteered. The two strangers each bought a slice rainbow and red velvet then split them.

Toronto style, baby.

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