Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #150719 in Books
• Published on: 2002-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 160 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic!!!!!!!
I make cakes for a living and so love to try new recipes. I bought this as the cover picture caught my eye, but when I received it and started trying the recipes it really impressed me. It's beautifully photographed, the recipes are easy and absolutely delicious and it just makes you want to keep on baking! The majority of recipes they give you are for cakes of around 10", but there are quantity variations at the back to allow you to change the tin sizes easily. All the measurements are in imperial, and you will need to invest in a set of cup measures too, but it's worth it. You will also need either an electric hand mixer or a stand-alone mixer as hand mixing just won't cut it for these recipes. Although all the cakes have been shown fully decorated (be warned, the decorations are pretty funky, but I loved the madness of them) they would still be stunning if left plain or just covered with a coat of cream or buttercream, as the quality of the cakes you can produce means they really need no embelleshments. I have a vast selection of cake books, but this would have to be in my top 3, not least because of the silky smooth Grand Marnier cheesecake recipe - not one to try on a diet though as I estimated that the 10" one I made had around 6000 calories and 600 grams of fat!!!! If you enjoy baking and/or decorating cakes I don't think this book would fail to impress you.

Wonderful book !
The book is very fun. Lots of colours , good recipes and good ideas to try even for novice. I tremendously enjoyed trying out the recipes and recommend to anyone in search of good cakes & ideas. There're different icings to try and section for making chocolate ornaments. Mother daughter team is very talented as baker & artist. A good book to invest!

Wonderful cakes
I was instantly attracted to this book from the cake on the cover. It is a beautiful book, illustrated throughout with photos of the finished cakes. The cakes themselves are so wonderful & imaginative, they really inspire you!

So far, I have only made the chocolate butter cake with Kaye's chocolate buttercream and the cookies & cream filling, but it was gorgeous. It was the yummiest chocolate cake I have ever made - dense, moist & so chocolatey - and rivals pretty much any bought cake I've ever encountered. I brought it into work & recieved so many compliments! I'm not an expert baker by any means, but this turned out wonderfully for me.

As it's an American book, a lot of the recipes call for cake flour which isn't readily available in the UK. I substituted 3/4 cup plain flour & 1/4 cup corn flour for each cup of cake flour called for in the recipes & this seemed to work our just fine.

I was a little nervous about the buttercream as it made such huge quantities, but I reduced it to a 1/3 and it still worked beautifully and covered the 10 inch cake I made with a little bit left over. I used dried egg whites instead of fresh because I didn't know what to do with all the yolks, but they worked out fine. The buttercream was wonderfully smooth & literally melted in your mouth!

Although the stated recipes use large baking tins that you may not have to hand, the recipes also state how many cups of batter they make & there is an appendix at the back saying how many cups you need per pan size which is really useful. It also detailed how many cups of filling & icing you need, although the quantities of icing are a little more generous than I would usually go for! As a previous reviewer mentioned, it's definitely worth investing in a set of measuring cups!

I can't wait to try my hand at some of the more extravagant creations now!