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3.0 out of 5 stars
50 Cakes and Many Beautiful Photos: Good for Beginners, January 9, 2010
This review is from: Country Living Great Cakes: Home-Baked Creations from the Country Living Kitchen (Paperback)
The main selling point of Great Cakes is the many beautiful color photos. Of the 50 cake recipes provided, there are 42 well-staged, color full-page photos. I am puzzled why the chocolate roulade was one of the unpictured cakes as it is one of the more complicated recipes and a photo of the finished product would have been helpful.
As you can see in the list of recipes below, this cookbook includes a variety of cakes but they are not particularly unique. It would have been helpful to have divided the cake recipes into chapters (chocolate cakes, pound cakes, etc.).
Recipes include:
-German Chocolate Cake
-Carrot Pistachio Cake and Cupcakes
-Grandma's Applesauce Cake
-Berry-Dotted Angel Food Cake
-Pear Upside-Down Cake
-Blueberry Hill Cheesecake
-Easy Chocolate Party Cake
-"Hot" Chocolate Cake
-Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake
-Big-Top Carnival Cake
-Fresh Fig Cake
-Gingerbread Stack Cake
-Peppermint Cake
-Spice Pound Cake
-The Kitchen's Hummingbird Cake
-Banana-Caramel Cake
-Skillet Cake with Carmelized Pears
-Fresh Strawberry Cake
-Burnt-Sugar Pound Cake
-Toasted Coconut Coffee Cake
-Red Velvet Cake
-The Kitchen's Chambord Layer Cake
-Rich Chocolate Layer Cake
-Coconut Cloud Cake
-Cranberry-Apple Upside-Down Cake
-Pistachio Semolina Honey Cake
-Cafe au Lait Chocolate Cake
-Golden Ricotta Cheesecake
-Nutmeg Sweet-Potato Cake
-Pumpkin Spice Cake
-Maple Walnut Cake
-Brown-Sugar Pound Cake
-Lemon Cakes with Berry Salsa
-Four-Layer Gingerbread Cake
-Pound Cake
-Chocolate Roulade
-Chocolate Cream Cakes
-Flourless Chocolate Cake
-Fresh Berry Shortcake
-Summer Upside-Down Cake
-Lemon-Blackberry Cake
-Apple Bundt Cake
-Pumpkin-Date Spice Cupcakes
-Coconut Hummingbird Cake
-Strawberry Savarin Cake
-Frozen Raspberry Layer Cake
-Cinnamon Pear Torte
-Chocolate Espresso Torte
-Stacked Applesauce Cake
-Grandma Stonesifer's Spice Cake
Nutrition information (including protein, fats, carbs, fiber, sodium, cholestrol and calories) is provided for each cake which is helpful for those counting calories. With less one gram of fat per serving, the Berry-Dotted Angel Food Cake is beautiful and relatively guilt-free. In contrast, the Chocolate Peanut Cheesecake has 58.2 grams of fat per serving. Nutrition info is at the bottom and can be overlooked for those of us who would prefer not to know!
The recipes include clear directions except for some of the recommended garnishes. For instance, Chocolate Espresso Torte is pictured with chocolate leaves and sugared cranberries but no instructions are provided for them.
All of the cakes except for two are from scratch. The Rich Chocolate Layer Cake calls for a cake mix and the Frozen Raspberry Layer Cake calls for two frozen pound cakes. If you are looking for a cookbook of not-from-scratch cakes, I recommend the Cake Doctor series (
The Cake Mix Doctor,
Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor,
Cupcakes: From the Cake Mix Doctor, and
The Cake Mix Doctor Returns!: With 160 All-New Recipes).
If you are interested in more unique recipes and are less concerned with photos, you may want to check out
Cake Keeper Cakes: 100 Simple Recipes for Extraordinary Bundt Cakes, Pound Cakes, Snacking Cakes and Other Good-To-The-Last-Crumb Treats.
In conclusion, with color photos and a good variety of cakes, this is well-suited for beginners. Beginners could also benefit from the intro on "Baking Basics" which covers ingredients and equipment and provides baking tips to achieve the best results.
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