Bosses sometimes have to make tough calls, and that appears to hold true for even the Cake Boss himself.

It's an inarguable truth that Toronto certainly has no shortage of great bakeries and cake shops, and there's no disputing that that's a good thing (unless you're trying to cut back on your sugar intake) — but it also means that those who take a stab at joining the city's culinary landscape have to be the creme-de-la-creme if they want to survive.

It's for that exact reason that Carlo's Bakery, the New Jersey-based family bakery headed up by celebrity baker Buddy Valastro and made famous on TLC's long-running show, Cake Boss, seemed as though it would be a sure shot at achieving success north of the border.

Valastro's famed cakes first appeared on the scene in Ontario not on a bakery counter, as one may expect, but in the form of Carlo's' proprietary cake ATMs, which first appeared in Toronto in 2019, with more and more being added across the city, and later, country, in the coming years.

In 2022, the first-ever brick-and-mortar Carlo's location in Canada arrived in Port Credit, drawing swarms of hungry fans — and even appearances from the Cake Boss himself — to Mississauga.

Later that year, Carlo's took on Toronto, opening the doors of the city's own outpost at 24 Bellair in Yorkville, ripping the colourful cakes and crispy cannoli right off the small screen and bringing them to the heart of the city.

Less than two years later, though, and the bakery has quietly closed the doors of its Toronto location for good after claiming to be closed 'temporarily' in February 2023, and removed all mention of it from the business' website.

The Port Credit Carlo's location, too, has disappeared, though whispers of its past life can still be found there.

After closing down in April of 2024 it quickly resurfaced as Lago Pizza & Pasta, an Italian restaurant which still serves Carlo's baked goods today, but is a far cry from the brick-and-mortar outpost for the bakery it once was.

While Carlo's Bakery's official Canadian Instagram account still claims, in its bio, to have locations in Yorkville and Port Credit, it, too, appears abandoned, the most recent post from Feb. 14 of 2023.

For fans of Carlo's confections, not to fear; you're still able to get your hands on the sweet stuff at any of the many remaining Cake ATMS, which are located all across the country. You can find your nearest Cake ATM here.

At the time of publication, Carlo's Bakery has not responded to blogTO's request for comment on the closures or the future of Carlo's in Ontario.

Post-publication, Carlo's responded to blogTO with the following statement.

"We are expanding our Carlo's Bakery Cake machines across Canada to more airports, malls and family entertainment locations and adding additional items to the machines including Butter tarts and cookies! We continue to offer our delicious cakes and cake slices through Uber Eats [and] Doordash and also local delivery, pick up in Port Credit or Canada wide shipping through Carlosbakery.ca.

The Yorkville location was a temporary lease/ pop up and in Port Credit, the neighbourhood really wanted more of a full menu food offering so the location was transformed into a restaurant offering full service, amazing Italian cuisine."