Product Description

Cake decorating is a fabulous mixture of cookery and art, a blend of relaxation and excitement, with a sprinkling of inspiration, precise care and reckless use of the imagination all thrown in for good measure. "The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating" will lead a newcomer through the simplest basics of this wonderful, colourful pastime, but also contains great ideas and fantastic creations to inspire experienced sugarcrafters. If you have never baked before, but want to make a teddy bear's picnic for your toddler's birthday, or if you are planning a three-tiered traditional cake with cream frangipani for a family wedding, or if you would just like to bake a luscious chocolate gateau for tea with friends, this is the book to show you how to do it.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7605 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-01
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 304 pages

Customer Reviews

Great book for beginners with good tips
This is a very good book for beginners and also has some very useful tips for more advanced cake decorators. The best part of this book is the very detailed and step-by-step way in which flower-making in sugarcraft is explained with photos for every stage for flowers - for example, a rose is explained in 6 stages. However there are only very few flowers - the best ones are the rose, sweet pea and poppy.

Also there is an overview of all the techniques you will ever need in decorating a cake - piping, lace making, smocking, figure-modelling, runouts,etc. The only section I found a bit disappointing was the children's cakes section, which I felt did not have any new or interesting ideas. But, overall - an excellent buy.

'Essential Guide' - a very apt title
As a total novice I was advised to buy this book. It is well set out in a very logical sequence that has proved to be wonderful for me (a total beginner). All the pictures are in colour & all the decorated cakes are beautifully illustrated. It is easy to read & understand and begins at the beginning - how to bake a cake - even that I needed! It inspires one to have a go at modeling, sugar flowers and painting to name but a few techniques, as well as inspiring one to design one's own cakes with the newly acquired skills. There are useful sections such as a 'Glossary of Terms' & another on 'Equipment' - all unknown to me prior to having the book and essential for the beginner. Hope this helps you.

The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating
I bought this book when I had no experience in decorating and it has guided me through the simplest and very complicated cakes and skills. It has inspired me to be brave and I am filled with wonder at what I have achieved.
It was the first of many many purchases but I have to say it is the one I go back to and whatever it says it always works whether it is a skill or a recipe. It contains absolutely everything from baking the cake to the flowers,models icing, chocolate etc. It leads you through each stage with step bystep understandable instructions and illustrations.
My family and friends now think I am almost profesional but I have to say its not the same story with other books. If you only buy one book it has to be this one.