Customer Reviews

Enchanted Cakes for Children (Merehurst Cake Decorating)

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Sugar decorations are made to be removed and before the cake is served the heavy decorations are boxed to keep as souvenirs or cut away -- however, children always love to eat those pieces and wait impatiently for a tidbit. Debbie has a magical talent with a set of enchanted fingers. She creates her own whimsical characters in all sorts of amazing settings. Those that like to do novelty cakes should gather her books one by one, starting at the beginning and moving from one level to the next with each successive purchase. Rolled fondant needs to have added flavouring; just imagine buttercream with no vanilla! Excess rolled fondant trimmings can be rolled in tiny balls, dipped in chocolate then rolled in crushed nuts -- kids love it, adults too!

I always watch for Debbie's new publications as I admire her talent so.

She also comes to the United States from time to time, for those who need help getting started with novelty work taking her class would be a wonderful investment.

This is quite simply an amazing, inspiring and thoroughly fun book. I would have never attempted such a feat...but, what can I say, I got sort of swept up in the idea of it once I saw the fabulous pictures. Now, don't get me wrong. It did take some effort. But not nearly what I would have expected. The directions and instructions are perfectly detailed and clear. The results were completely amazing...my first-try, never-ever-decorated-a-cake-before, came out as close to Debbie Brown's magnificent creations as I could have ever hoped. The girls at my daughter's 7th b'day party ooooh'ed and ahhhhh'ed. The other moms were blown away. The only bad part is that now I'm looking for every opportunity I can to make another cake. It was just too much fun.

In Enchanted Cakes Debbie Brown covers all the fairytales simply and sweetly. I love this book especially because it isn't commercial at all (even though I love her depictions of popular cartoons), but instead is her own interpretation of these favorite stories, which I find inspiring. Also, she keeps it very simple to the point that, though I haven't started on one yet, I can easily see that the shapes and designs are basic enough that one can leave the more complex details out and still have a great looking result. In that sense it's her least intimidating book so far! By basic I don't mean that you won't have a lot of colors to work with -- which is time-consuming of course, coloring and rolling the different pieces of sugarpaste, etc. But if that doesn't scare you off, it's definitely a good addition to any cake book collection, makes me smile just to look at, and one of the best value-for-money I've gotten this year.

What a fabulous book! I enjoyed it even more than 50 Easy Party Cakes, which in itself was a wonderful book. The cake pictures are amazing, showing detailed examples of the steps to follow. Looking through this book is like going on a fairy tale adventure, certainly not limited to children at all! If you enjoy cake decorating or beautiful pictures of whimsical cakes, this book is sure to bring a smile to your face and get your creativity flowing!

This book is great and has lots of colored pictures. I rec'd my book last week and was inspired to do the *moon* cake minus the witch and bats. It was very easy to do. Not including baking time for the cake, it took me less than an hour and a half to finish (again minuse the witch and bats).

This was super fun and my kids loved it!

Forget about just the children. I've made these cakes for adults too!
I have been collecting all of Debbie Brown's cake books and each one brings enjoyment to the whole family as we all look through to choose which one I should make for whose birthday.
The instructions are reasonably clear and the pictures are terrific. Patience and creativity is required to make these cakes, but well worth the effort. Especially seeing the peoples faces. That's what I enjoy the most.
I would rate this book for the more experienced cake makers. For beginners I would recommend her "50 Easy Party Cakes" book first. I've made many cakes for the whole family from her books and would highly recommend them all.

The instructions in this book are easy to read and easy to follow. Beautiful and whimsical cakes can be created with ease.

This is an "easy to follow" instructions book. With many pictures, and some details I could reproduce the little sugar sculptures.

As soon as I got this book, I started getting orders for the cakes in it. I have been using it a lot for little girls' birthday cakes. My only dissatisfaction [and this is minor] is that I would have liked it to contain a greater number of interesting cakes for little boys. Nevertheless it's a very good book - I am happy with it.

I originally tried to order this book through a catalog, but they were sold out. So I found it on Amazon. Debbie Brown has a gift for making beautiful, creative cakes of all kinds, as exhibited in all of her books. The photos are lovely and there are lots of hints and tips and step by step photographs for creating the elements. The creations really do seem easier to make than you'd expect, and many of the characters are merely like little edible "clay" creations. She includes all the basic information needed to create such cakes to make it accessible to beginners, from cake construction to modeling figures, adding details and so on. The cakes have interchangeable elements and you can make as much detail or as little or you want or combine elements from several cakes to make your own creation. Using edible paints and glitter, these cakes really sparkle. Her characters and her architecture (castles, teapot houses, sleeping beauty's bed, sunken treasure ship, etc.) are so very charming. The fruit in the fruit fairy cake looks so real! She also includes templates in the back of the book.

Very helpful is the table of contents which includes the name of the cake creation, along with a picture--so at a 2 page glance, you can see the entire contents of the book without having to flip through the pages, and to compare cakes to each other. I wish I had this book in time for the mermaid and pirate birthday party I had for my daughters. These cakes are too pretty to eat, though!

This book includes many fairy tale favorites (Peter Pan, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, mermaids and sea life, Cinderella, wizards, witches, fairies, dragons, knights, an Arabian palace, enchanted castle, elves and more.) I can't wait to have an excuse to make one.