Product Description

In her first book, Pretty Party Cakes, celebrity cake designer Peggy Porschen, brought us a range of fabulously stylish decorated cakes, cupcakes and cookies. Now, in Romantic Cakes, she has applied her inspirational vision to her own favourite subject area cookies and cakes for romantic occasions. There are delights to celebrate all the steps on the course of true love, from the earliest stirrings of affection on St. Valentine s Day, through the proposal and engagement, the bridal shower and hen or stag nights up to the big day itself. For that, Peggy has designed all manner of irresistible inventions, from decorated cookie favours and place cards to table centrepieces, bridesmaids gifts and decorations for the children s table. Beginning with an easy-to-follow introduction covering all the equipment, basic recipes and techniques needed to make the cakes, the book is designed to suit both beginners and more experienced cooks. Chapters cover Cookies, Cup Cakes and Miniatures Cakes and Large Cakes and include delights such as Venetian Mask Cookies, Je t Aime Fondant Fancies in a Box and the breathtaking Bed of Roses. User-friendly text and clear step-by-step photography make even the most elaborate creations achievable so that every romantic occasion can be made to taste a little bit sweeter.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14990 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-06
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 144 pages

About the Author
Peggy Porschen grew up in Germany, a country renowned for its cakes. She moved to London in 1998 graduating top of her class at the prestigious Cordon Bleu school. From there, she went on to work as patissiere at the Lanesborough Hotel and with master baker Gerhart Jenne at Konditor and Cook on London s South Bank. Quickly developing her own highly individual style, she left there to set up her own business, which was instantly successful. Soon she was making cakes and cookies for major events of all kinds, including chocolate Faberge Eggs for guests at Elton John s 2003 White Tie and Tiara Ball. Most recently she has started supplying Fortnum & Mason with an exquisite range of decorated cookies and speciality confections. Her cakes have been featured in magazines and newspapers as diverse as the Daily Mail, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, Wedding Flowers, Brides, You and Your Wedding, Wedding Day, OK, Delicious and Marie Claire.

Customer Reviews

Lovely but.......
This is a lovely book but I was glad I got it out the library first. The wedding/stacked cakes are lovely, but make up a small part of the book. The main bulk of it is cookies and small individual cakes, very trendy in the USA who this was aimed at. In short, if you can, reserve it on line from your library first, then make your mind up. If, however, you want a book which mixes cookies, mini cakes and stacked cakes, and gives you a taste of all aspects, then great, order it, because the ideas are lovely in each chapter. I also noticed the lack of templates??

Something missing
I just received the paperback version of 'Romantic Cakes'. Gorgeous cakes and layout, lovely mouth-watering designs, some of which seem achievable for the beginner.
However - I'm not sure if I'm missing something vital here or am just blind - in the instructions, Peggy Porschen refers quite a few times to templates for e.g. butterflies or roses at the back inside of the book, but there aren't any! Is this a major oversight of the publisher? I assume they might have printed them on the cover for the hardback edition and then maybe forgot it for the paperback one? In any case, I can't find any templates anywhere in the book, which is a great shame.

Stunning caes that are achievable!
Peggy Porschen is a professional and all of the cakes and cookies in this book require some cake decorating tools to make. If you have, or are willing to invest in various cutters, piping bags and nozzles then this book contains some stunningly beautiful projects that are not overly complicated.
As the title makes clear the theme of the book is romance, hearts and flowers all play a part in the cookies, cupcakes, small cakes and large cakes featured. One of the large cakes pays homage to Kath Kidston who Peggy admits to being a big fan of (a template is included to help achieve the artwork).
The last chapter in the book covers basics, giving recipes for sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, Victoria sponge, rich dark chocolate cake, butter cream frosting and Belgian chocolate ganache. Assembling cakes is also covered along with icing techniques and helpful hints.
Peggy is an incredibly talented cake decorator and the book is beautiful, the pictures and styling make it almost worth buying just to look at even if you have no intention of making anything.