Cake Art: Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Show Stopping Cakes and Cupcakes [Hardcover]

The Culinary Institute of America (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 11, 2008

If you have a creative spirit and want to try your hand at cake and cupcake decorating, Cake Art is for you. Chefs from the CIA's prestigious Baking and Pastry faculty describe the various techniques and provide easy-to-follow instructions so the home baker can create beautiful cakes and cupcakes. Cake decorating is an activity that can be enjoyed by everyone and children can help with 8 of the 27 projects included in Cake Art.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Lebhar-Friedman (January 11, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0867309229
• ISBN-13: 978-0867309225
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,710 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

53 of 53 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great reference for bakers with some experience, May 9, 2008

By 

Erik Sherman - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cake Art: Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Show Stopping Cakes and Cupcakes (Hardcover)

The Culinary Institute of America has come out with yet another beautiful and useful book: Cake Art. If you've ever had an interest in interest in creating dramatic desserts, this is a volume for you, although I wouldn't call this a book for beginners. It starts with an overview of tools and components that I found myself wishing had a bit more to it: more individual photos of each item rather than trying to discern elements in group photos, more explanation of what to do and how to do it, and more tips.

However, it's not a paralyzing shortcoming, as you can get some of that from browsing online retailers, stores, and catalogs. Where the book really shines is in the techniques and instructions. For example, on page 31 there is a photo with three spoons of meringue, one stiff, one medium, and one soft-peaked. There are formulas for both hard and soft ganaches (Books often don't explicitly set the two side-by-side, and there's a big difference in the resulting texture and use.) as well as modeling chocolate. You can learn to make ribbons and coverings of fondant. Pipe a flower from buttercream (with a tip on how to reconstitute the mixture if it separates) or mold it from molding chocolate, marzipan, or fondant. In short, there is a lot to learn.

And that might be the big problem for many would-be cake decorators. Some of these techniques require practice, and a lot of it. If you go directly to the projects and try to work your way backward into the techniques, the results are going to be disappointing. If you want to undertake a given project (each, smartly, tells you how far in advance - weeks in some cases - to start different parts), then read through, write down the techniques that are necessary, and practice well in advance. You don't really think that pastry chefs start on this level of work their first day of class, do you? However, if you are willing to spend some time, this book should be well worth your while.

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Check It Out from the Library!, March 12, 2009

By 

Brikl (Louisville, KY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cake Art: Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Show Stopping Cakes and Cupcakes (Hardcover)

I'll admit that this book has interested me enough to check it out from the library about three times, but after trying two projects, I am now convinced more than ever that I would not buy it.

Pros:
--pretty pictures
--some good projects ideas which inspired me to try new things
--good selection of basic recipes
--some good tips
--the time-line details about the projects

Cons:
--lack of pictures to better show how to do things
--pictures that are there often don't really show what you need to see
--pictures and directions for mums and begonias switched, maybe other mistakes, too
--directions printed above and then in one mass lump next to the pictures below--not the least bit any further enlightening
--the description of how to make a rose seems rather wrong to me--using a #5 tube for the base and making the base 1" tall?? And the pictures wouldn't help a beginner much at all!
--the directions for making rosebuds are supposed to be there, but I couldn't find them anywhere
--there isn't any info about how long a project can be kept at room temp or refrigerated
--the info about coloring the buttercream is rather confusing
--the actual directions for the projects are too short and lacking info, such as which color did they actually use and how much buttercream do I need to make

These are just the things I noticed from making two projects. I wrote to one of the authors about the mixed up mum/begonia pictures and never received an answer. (I wrote to Nick Malgieri recently and received an answer as well as a follow-up!)

I've noticed that there is a DVD that goes with this book and I wonder if the lack of information is intentional to "encourage" you to buy the DVD. I admit that I'd be very curious to see it, esp. since it was described as lasting 1+ hours. They fit the whole book into little over an hour?!

If you like to look at pictures and dream of doing things, this is a good book for you, but if you actually want to make one of the projects, do yourself a favor and just check it out from the library!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars not that great, November 30, 2008

By 

Alek0 "Alex" - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Cake Art: Simplified Step-by-Step Instructions and Illustrated Techniques for the Home Baker to Create Show Stopping Cakes and Cupcakes (Hardcover)

The "simplified step-by-step instructions" part of the title is correct, but the cakes presented are very far from show stopping. I guess some of the designs for kids cakes are OK, but overall it is all nothing special. If you are an experienced decorator who has quite a few books on decorating and is looking for new ideas, this is not the right book for you, there is nothing new and nothing show stopping there. For beginners may be OK.