'Cake Boss: Next Great Baker' recap 'New Year's Eve, Hoboken Style'

Buddy Valastro, the "Cake Boss" is looking for the next great baker on this competition show titled, "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker." This TLC special episode is titled, "New Year's Eve, Hoboken Style." The bakers are vying for a job at Buddy's bakery, known to most of his fans as Carlo's Bakery across the street from Hoboken City Hall and the $100,000 grand prize.

This special episode highlighted scenes from before the official competition started, to give them a feel for their new surroundings. Buddy's workshop is located in Jersey City at the Lackawanna warehouse, minutes from Hoboken, N.J. The contestants were amazed by the quantity of supplies they had at their disposal. Nothing that they were used to working with, and attitudes were something they had to get used to. This episode gives fans a chance to revisit all the great challenges so far in season 3, and prepare for what lies ahead.

For their first challenge, they each had to make their specialty and deliver it by foot to Buddy in New York City.

"A Christmas Story" challenge was a tough one, especially when Chad had to wear the pink bunny suit and custom design a cake representing the them for the star, who is now a grown man and producing the story for Broadway. When Melissa was sent home, the teams were visibly disappointed because they were expecting or hoping that Paul would leave. The auditions were grueling for the contestants, but all did not make it to the show. Buddy started with 13 contestants, a baker's dozen.

The competition to make a life-size cake of two female comedians for a roast, was a tough job for two teams. The life-like cakes of Judy Gold and Carol Leifer were amazing.

The bond started to grow among all the contestants. When James gave the rest of the gang news that he was leaving because he just found out that he had a brain tumor, the rest of the contestants bonded and rallied for him. When a team was about to eliminate a baker, he offered himself instead. Lou Ferrigno, Buddy and the rest of the teams were in tears. They wished him luck and promised to pray for him.

One of the bakers, Garrett was missing one day, and Buddy found out that he was having a severe anxiety attack. Should he come back, or be eliminated. He was a fan favorite and beloved by the other bakers, but time will tell.

The bakers each had a chance to assess their competitors. Many had good things to say and judged their competition by the person who gave them the most challenge. Some felt that Paul would throw his mother under the bus, they considered Ashley as the teacher's pet, but mostly had good things to say about their competition. Now they are down to the final nine, and the competition will be getting tougher to see who will be the "Cake Boss: Next Great Baker."