Monday's 'Cake Boss' to feature Rolling River Day Camp

It’s been nearly a year since Buddy Valastro delivered a one-of-a-kind cake to Rolling River Day Camp in East Rockaway while filming his TLC show, “Cake Boss.” Since then campers and staff have had to keep photos and details about the custom cake under wraps until the episode aired, but the wait is over.

Monday night’s episode of the show, which airs at 9 p.m. in New York, will feature Valastro and his team creating and delivering a special treat to the summer camp to celebrate its 20th anniversary.

“We had a great time working on this cake and the delivery itself was a blast,” said Valastro, 36, who, along with his crew, competed in relay races and a tug of war with the campers during the Aug. 15, 2012 taping.

While brainstorming ways to mark Rolling River’s 20-year milestone, Marissa Allaben, the camp’s associate director and daughter of owners Mark and Rhonda Goodman, said her sister, Alison Goodman, 27, suggested they get a cake from Valastro’s famous Hoboken bakery.

After explaining their concept to Mauro Castano, Valastro’s brother-in-law and right-hand man, during a visit to Carlo’s Bakery in October 2011, the sisters and their younger brother, Jonathan Goodman, 23, were invited back in June 2012 to begin filming.

“The story behind the cake made me really excited to get working on it,” Valastro said. “Not only was it for the 20th anniversary of the camp, but Mark and Rhonda's kids told us about how their parents first met at a summer camp and fell in love.”

The pair, who have been married for more than 30 years and live in Woodmere, met in 1975 while working as counselors at Camp Kent, a sleepaway camp in Kent, Conn., Allaben explained. They opened Rolling River in 1992.

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“The summer has always been special to them,” Allaben, 29, of Oceanside, added.

While discussing the plans for the cake, which would be a detailed replica of the campgrounds, the Goodman’s children asked if Valastro could incorporate a copy of their parent’s wedding cake into the design. Valastro decided to engineer the “camp cake” to split in half, so that a wedding cake would rise out from underneath.

“Jon was the one to challenge me to have the wedding cake hidden and then, revealed, and I never back down from a challenge!” Valastro said.

Allaben said both her parents were crying and the crowd of about 1,000 people cheered when the buttercream wedding cake appeared.

Valastro added, “Having the cake represent the camp itself and honor the parent's love story, I think, is something special.”