Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers [Hardcover]

Kathryn Kleinman (Author), Carolyn Miller (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2004

Exquisitely illustrated with more than 55 color photographs, Birthday Cakes features memorable, celebratory cakes and birthday stories by renowned chefs, cookbook writers, and passionate bakers -- including the likes of Julia Child, Alice Waters, James Beard, Alice Medrich, and Jim Fobel. This elegant yet easy-to-use cake-making book invites us to celebrate everything birthday: the making and presentation of the cake, the warm glow of the candles, the whispering of a wish, and the heartwarming ritual of cutting and sharing the cake. Everyone will enjoy oohs and aahs when a Meyer Lemon Pound Cake is served, a beautiful, sophisticated cake that can be decorated with glazed flowers and long French birthday candles. A fabulous three-day cake-making extravaganza for the truly dedicated is Gayle Ortiz's Princess Cake, a Swedish sweet-sixteen tradition. For happy smiles all around, there's a simple, delicious chocolate cake dressed in luscious frosting, just like grandmother used to make. Sprinkled with fun ideas and tips for decorating, this collection of cake recipes and personal birthday memories will inspire cakes so special friends and family will wish they had more than one birthday.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Pretty to look at and brimming with inspiring ideas on throwing a proper birthday fete, Kleinman's book could be equally at home on a coffee table or in kitchen. The book features 38 recipes for birthday cakes, contributed by such notable cooks as James Beard, Alice Waters, Tasha Tudor, Patricia Wells, Julia Child and others. The cakes vary from traditional to unusual, so parents looking for a kid's birthday cake will delight in Birthday Cupcakes, German Chocolate Cake and Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, while sophisticated chefs will be happy to find recipes for Aunt Frances's Ricotta Cheesecake and Benoît's Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Tart. Mini-essays by the contributors accompany each recipe, and a nostalgic theme runs throughout, as Robbin Gourley recalls her Aunt Florence's "prized and famous" Jelly Roll and Elizabeth Falkner recounts how her mother always made a Lincoln Log Cake because Falkner shares Abraham Lincoln's birthday. The recipes themselves are a mixed bag; generally, they're not very detailed and leave home cooks to figure out for themselves what instructions like "Roll the cake up with the edge of the paper" mean. The photographs and layout, however, are lovely. The Comforts Coconut Cake with Cream Cheese and Coconut Frosting is a pink and white fantasy; Grandmother's Chocolate Cake is divinely simple; and the Green Cake, with its shelled pistachios and light green icing, is exquisite. Kleinman (a food and floral photographer) and Miller (Chocolate; Espresso; Salt & Pepper) offer a picturesque meditation on an annual rite.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Kathyrn Kleinman has been a dynamic part of the world of food and floral photography for over two decades. A James Beard award winner, she is the photographer of eighteen books, including the critically acclaimed Chronicle Books titles Sushi , Backyard Bou

Carolyn Miller is a writer, book editor, and award-winning poet living in San Francisco. She has written several cookbooks, including Chocolate , Espresso , and Salt & Peppter , all from Chronicle Books.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (April 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811840190
• ISBN-13: 978-0811840194
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8.7 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #216,469 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not Sure What it Wants to Be, May 12, 2004

By 

Marsha Wood Wirtel (Philly's Western 'Burbs) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers (Hardcover)

Birthday Cakes is a visually stunning book. Every photograph is gorgeous, showcasing various cakes in lovely detail. Even so, it is something of a disappointment.

The introductory pages include discussions of the various types of equipment called for throughout the book, and the appendix lists sources for all kinds of baking supplies. There is even a list of tips and hints for baking the best possible cake. Ideas for enhancing birthday cakes and celebrations are sprinkled throughout, short discussions of "the birthday song" and birthday candles. None of the instructions are very thorough or detailed, however, leaving one to wonder if the book's intended use is to be merely decorative rather than a practical baking resource.

Fans of culinary literature will be disappointed that so little of "Memories from Celebrated Bakers" is included. Many of the cakes, in fact, have no such memories associated with them in the text. Some of the recipes have no context at all, other than brief explanations of where the recipe was originally published.

Finally, several of the recipes are ridiculously complicated for the home baker. "The Princess Cake," for example, requires following four lengthy pages of instructions! The cover photo suggests a book of classic birthday cakes suitable for home baking - witness the chocolate cake so fondly remembered from childhood - but, sadly, there are only a handful of these simple types of recipes.

In the end, "Birthday Cakes" doesn't seem to know what it wants to be. Is it merely a collection of pretty pictures with explanatory text? An instructional text? Is it for the advanced baker or the home cook? Is is culinary literature? It's a bit of each of these, but not enough of any.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lovely book about birthday traditions (cake)., April 16, 2004

By 

Huntress (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers (Hardcover)

First let me say the photographs are beautiful and the pages are thick! That is definitely a nice start for any book.

The recipes range from a birthday cake for Elvis (chocolate with peanut butter and bananas) to chiffon cake to German chocolate cake to beautifully domed cakes covered in fondant (this recipe is from 'The Baker's Wife' by Ortiz.). There is nothing spectacular about any of the recipes...they are down-home good recipes that are accompanied by warm-hearted birthday tales.

Anyone who has a favorite home-made birthday memory will love this book or someone who is looking for a 'simple' but stunning birthday cake that tastes great. I have really enjoyed reading this book and the Banana spice cake I made came out wonderful. I look forward to making many more cakes from this book.

22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Do NOT try this at home..., January 31, 2005

By 

Cake Lady (NYC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Birthday Cakes: Recipes and Memories from Celebrated Bakers (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful book with filled wonderful ideas. However, the recipes are very bad. I am an experienced baker who attempted a few of cakes with along with a chef, whose history includes an honors degreee from the French Culinary Institute in NYC. We both agree - the recipes are just plain bad. The directions and instructions are not only vague, they assume you can get from point A to point D. If you want to make the cakes in this book, find the recipe elsewhere. I would actually like to know how the author made the cakes in the photographs, because she certainly did not rely on these recipes alone.