Customer Reviews

50 Easy Party Cakes

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Debbie Brown gives you all the instructions that you need to decorate lovely and humorous party cakes that are not Wilton type cakes. This book is perfect for people that like to create cakes that look more like a sculpture than a regular cake. Real master pieces! I also recommend her other books: "Favorite Character Cakes", "Lovable Character Cakes" and "Cakes for men". For less humorous cakes but also exceptional cakes I recommend Colette Peters books.

This is another great cake book by Debbie Brown. I've been reading reviews by other people. One thing you need to know is that all of Debbie Brown's cakes are 3D. Made with a cake base and fondant over the top to give a full 180 to 360 degree view. If you want conventional looking 2D cakes, then her books are not for you. You do need a bit of patience and creativity to make the cakes, but well worth the effort when you see the kids faces light up. That's what I enjoy the most.
Out of all her books, this would be the best starting point for beginners.
I've made many of her cakes for the whole family and would highly recommend them all.

As a professional cake decorator and designer, I found this book unbelievable helpful with fresh ideas for both the novice and the experienced cake decorator. The price, the best anywhere around!

After ordering this book for myself i came back and ordered one for my Aunt.There are some very good ideas in this book,all with fondant.Some of them you can do in buttercream icing.I'm a beginner in fondant and there are several cakes that i can do.A great price for the book,add it to your collection!

I just received the book this week and made the Noah Ark with the help of my three years old daughter. She did roll balls of marzipan to make the animals' head. I had never worked with rolled fondant before, but found it quite easy... though I must admit I did work a lot with polymer clay in the past.

The pictures and instructions are really clear and helpful. I especially like the chart at the beginning with the exact measurements of ingredients needed for each cake, so you don't end up baking too much or too little dough. The designs are adorable and suitable from baby shower to young teenagers' birthday. Very little sculpting skills are needed to model these cute caracthers. I really think a child 8 y.o. and older could create them successfully. If you can play with playdough you can make those cake. Of course, it does take longer than making a cake out of a mix box, but it really worth the effort. If you don't care much for rolled fondant, you can always cover you cake with marzipan... my kids like marzipan a lot more than buttercream icing!

This book is a good introduction on sculpted cakes that makes me want to explore this art further. Now I need more books from Debbie Brown!

Within seconds after opening this book I realized it was written and published in England. All the cakes in this book are fondant/sugarpaste, which is widely used in England. Knowing this helps understand the book and the way it addresses the ingredients, measurements, and techniques. I am a professional cake decorator with years of experience and can safely say you don't even need months of experience to dive right into one of these projects and produce amazing results!

I love the way Debbie Brown gives specific, clear instructions. It makes starting out in the cake - decorating world much easier. She guides you step by step to create elaborate looking cakes in an easy and efficient way.
Mind you, the cake recipes are good if you like this type of cakes. Madeira cakes are pretty "heavy" and dense, which is great for sculpting etc' but not everybody likes their texture. You could use other sponge cake recipes, as long as the cake is stable enough to carry the weight of the rolled fondant.

This was my first ever decorating book, and I love to browse through it to get ideas and refresh my skills from time to time.

This is one of my favorite cake decorating books!!
The book is very well structured and the cakes are beautifully presented. The book contains 50 amazing ideas, each provided with clear instructions and illustration. It starts with an introduction followed by information about the equipments, basic recipes and techniques used in the book. There is also a chart of cake quantities (the quantities of ingredients for each cake).

I appreciate the idea of printing a small picture of the finished cake besides each name in the table of contents. That helped me choose or find a cake without having to go through the whole book searching for it. The cakes might look too hard to achieve, but you will find it quite easy following the clear instructions, the templates and the step-by-step photographs. I made the Mini Monsters' cake when my 7 years old niece had a party for her schoolmates, and they all loved it.

I have many of Debbie's books and they are all favorites. The cakes seem intimidating but really aren't as hard as they look. Even if you have never worked with sugarpaste or fondant before if you have experience with polymer clay or even playdough you can do it!

These cakes do take time though so make sure and start early. Fondant isn't that popular in the United States but is slowly becoming more so. The brand that you buy does make a world of difference so if all you have ever tried is Wilton's, try another or make your own.

I ordered this book and decided to return it after looking through it. When ordering it I didn't realize that just about every cake is fondant. I've worked with fondant before and although it is beautiful, isn't a cake meant to eat?? Fondant is absolutely horrible tasting. I prefer something that actually tastes good. Don't get me wrong though, the cakes are cute, just not for me. :-)