Favourite Character Cakes [Hardcover]

Debbie Brown (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Konemann (April 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 3829014805
• ISBN-13: 978-3829014809
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #890,011 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Buy It For What It Is, December 2, 2007

By 

Shredbetty (Berkeley, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Favourite Character Cakes (Hardcover)

If you're looking for the most exquisitely decorated character cakes you've ever seen, this is the book. Debbie Brown's attention to detail is beyond measure and every cake in the book, quite frankly, is perfect. Here's what you should know:

1. The book is mostly characters first made popular in the UK. If you're looking for U.S. characters, this is probably not the book for you (Thomas, of course, is in the book). There's "Budgy" and "Pat the Milkman," and a host of other characters I'd never heard of. I did recognize "Paddington," and "Smurfs" and "Popeye," however.

2. 100% of the book's recipes call for fondant and gum paste. If these are media in which you do not like to work, then don't buy the book.

3. Don't buy the book for the recipes. The only recipes she gives are for the vanilla cake that is the base for all the cakes she makes, and for a sugar/butter buttercream that you can get off of any box. These cakes are not designed to taste like heaven; they are designed to look like heaven.

My son (who is 4) gets more use out of the book than I do. He loves looking at the pictures and making up stories about the characters. If you want to see absolutely perfect work in gum paste and fondant, buy the book. If you are particularly adept at working with these media, you'll love her instructions and her images.

14 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing characters!!, August 12, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Favourite Character Cakes (Hardcover)

Debbie Brown is an incredible artist and her work in this book is incredible. She has good recipes and explanations in her book. I highly recommend this to the adventurous decorator. I also recommend her other book "Loveable Character Cakes".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Annoyed., June 24, 2010

By 

Gruntette - See all my reviews

This review is from: Favourite Character Cakes (Hardcover)

So, I saw rave reviews for this book, and got it, but when I actually came to use the Thomas recipe, it is no use whatsoever. She really needs to draw up a cutting plan because her descriptions do not add up.

For example:

It requires a 20x6cm cake. She says cut in half and slice in layers (presumably for filling?). Stack them - so with me, you have a cake that is 12 cm high. Now later on she says how the cake should be 14 cm high. Go figure. The more complex cutting instructions make even less sense, and the picture of the raw cake appears to have 5 layers in it.

Now I'm not saying she's lied, but neither her written description nor the photos makes it almost possible to cut the cake correctly. A 3D diagram would have made it much easier. Its clearly a really hard project even without misleading instructions.

W