Customer Reviews

The Essential Guide to Cake Decorating (Essential Cookbook Series)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is a must for anyone that is starting out in cake decorating and needs any inspiration or ideas. Once someone has the basic knowledge of decorating, anything in the book can be accomplished or adapted to something applicable. The full color photos and explanations are great, although it takes a bit of getting use to in the English/British "vernaculur" that it is written. It once again proves that the English have taken cake decorating to an art form and us Yanks really need to step up to the plate.

I got this book today on a whim, and flipping through it made me want to run out and whip up a cake just to see if I could create a fraction of the magic these cakes possess. I loved going through the vibrant color photographs and admiring the interesting designs (although I have to admit some of these seem much too complicated to be attempted by someone who isn't a professional pastry chef). However, that doesn't detract from the fact that the book is beautiful and informative, and even if I never get one cake to look the same as it does in the book, I won't regret a thing. This guide is a feast for the eyes as well as the imagination! (The sugar flowers alone took my breath away!)

I am not sure if the other reviewers actually tried to use the book before their reviews but I definitely am writing this review after actually trying to use the book. Yes, the book is beautiful with lots of inspirational photos, so if that's what you want, go ahead and buy the book. What you should not do is buy the book and expect to use any of the actual recipes provided in the book. I have just finished making the carrot cake, the marzipan and the sugarpaste(fondant). The carrot cake came out fine, just fine though. Kind of blah and pretty boring. I've made lots of carrot cakes and tasted even more and I am not really impressed. It's not bad, it's just not great. The marzipan and fondant are a totally different story. Both recipes seem to be lacking more liquid. I had huge amounts of sugar that I was trying to work into a tiny amount of liquids in both. I kept reading and re-reading thinking that I must have missed something somewhere. I went to the publisher's website to see if there were any corrected errors listed, but there weren't any. So then I went online to find some other recipes for marzipan and fondant and sure enough, every recipe I found had an additional, um, how do I say, source of moisture? Like a crisco or vegetable oil or more water. And then when you do run into trouble, you're stuck. There are no helpful little pointers or tips to help you out and the directions in the recipes are really bare bones. I am not an expert cake maker, but I wouldn't call myself a novice either and I had (and still am having) a very difficult time with this book.

I first bought this book for my niece because she loves making cakes. When I decided I wanted to try my hand at it, I looked at cake books and none of them compared to this one. I wanted this particular book so bad that I had her get me the SKU number off of hers and I ordered it over the internet. This book shows in detail and step by step how to make decorations, what the cakes look like, what tips do for you. It is one of the best books on cake decorating I've seen yet. I'm just a beginner, but this book is beautifully illustrated and the items look like something I could do - not simple looking, but broken down in steps to make it easier. I hope you like this book as much as I do.

It is full of all the information needed to be a top-notch bakery chef. The techniques given in this book have proven to be very key. In addition, there are excellent recipes provided. I highly recommend this book!