When the 14th Atlantic Bakery Expo gets underway, baking might be the focus, but discussions also will include the elephant in the room.

“The dynamite for the show is ‘Cake Boss’ Buddy Valastro, who will be building a cake replica of Lucy the Elephant on the show floor,” says Howard Casper, show manager. Lucy is a National Historic Landmark: a 128-year-old six-story building in the shape of an elephant, located near Atlantic City on the Margate beach.

“When the cake is finished we will be selling slices along with autographed pictures of Buddy, with all the proceeds going to the refurbishing campaign for Lucy,” Casper adds.

ABE 2010 will be held March 21-23, and is sponsored by the New Jersey Bakers Board of Trade and the New York State Association of Manufacturing Retail Bakers. This year's show will be a joint venture with Sigep USA, bringing bakers an in-depth look at the booming frozen desserts market. Master decorator Ron Ben-Israel will offer tips and techniques for wedding cake design, and the Cake Decorating Extravaganza will show off the best of the industry's tiered, novelty and sculpted cakes. Judges will award prizes of $500, $250 and $150 to the top three entries in each category, as well as a $500 prize to the Best in Show cake.

Education schedule

Registration begins at 7 a.m. and the expo floor opens at 11 a.m. each day.

Sunday, March 21

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

• Gluten-Free Baking
• Growing Your Sales
• Nontraditional Wedding Desserts

9:45 - 10:45 a.m.

• Getting Baking Online: Why Your Business Will Turn to Toast Without Selling on the Web
• Mother Doughs
• Wedding Cake Marketing in a Digital Age

Monday, March 22

8 a.m. - 12 p.m.

• Tools for Finding, Retaining a Solid Team

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

• Streamline Your Cake Decorating Production
• Consumer Trends in Baked Foods

9:45 - 10:45 a.m.

• Reformulating for a Trans Fat-Free Bakery

9:45 - 11:15 a.m.

• Tips and Techniques from Ron Ben-Israel

Tuesday, March 23

8:30 - 9:30 a.m.

• Theme-Based Merchandising For Your Retail Space
• Secrets Behind Building a World-Class Bakery Brand
• Wedding Cake Contracts

9:45 - 10:45 a.m.

• Bakery Marketing 101: Keys to Driving Customers to Your Door
• Expanding Tiered Cakes Beyond the Wedding Market
• Marketing with Twitter, Facebook and more