Buddy's goal is usually to try to make as much of the cakes as possible be edible (preferably 100% if it's possible). But, some designs require things like PVC piping and other construction type materials, in order to meet the customer's requests or to provide an extremely unique product for the customer.
As for fondant, that is a substance that can be legitimately considered part of a 'cake', as all it is is a form of icing... quite frequently used on wedding cakes and other multi tiered cakes, among others. Buddy uses large amounts of fondant in order to get the textures, colors, or special designs that customers want.
As for rice krispy treats (sorry... "cereal" treats), he tends to use them for cakes or cake sections that are going to be large and carved, heavy, or for weight support (like buildings, etc). Some of his designs just couldn't be done with actual cake.
However, the thing you have to keep in mind is that just about every one of his cakes are discussed with the customer in detail... all we usually get to see on TV is the customer telling Buddy what they want the cake for, and their ideas, along with other entertaining fragments of the consultation. What we almost never see (if ever) is the rest of the consultation... the customers and Buddy (or another worker depending on how he does it) discussing in detail how the cake will be. I'd assume in most cases that the customer gets to choose what type of cake it will be, what flavor icing, what fillings to have (like the fruit he puts in some cakes), etc. While I'd bet that there are actually customers that let him have almost full discretion on things like that (especially since the show's been on), it probably isn't a large number of customers that do that. If Buddy makes a cake (or "cake" if you prefer) that is 75%+ cereal treats... the customer either requested it, or he told them that the design they'd want, or that he could do for them, would require that. And there is the fact that many of the customers shown on the show just want some fantastic design that is largely edible, they don't care if it's cake or some other desert being called a 'cake'. I'd also be willing to wager that for some cake designs he's done, that is for a large number of people but doesn't look like it could feed a dozen people... I'd bet that off camera the customers order another large sheet cake or more, to make sure they have enough to feed the crowd they're asking for the cake for.
Now, all of the stuff I just said applies to the show, where the design and the cool things he can make are the entertaining things that the viewers want to see. As far as the other hundreds of cakes they make in a given week or two... unless the customer has a request for something other than "cake", those are pretty much all cake (with or without fondant).
"Hello everyone. I'm Amy's imaginary friend! But I came anyway."
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