How to Make An American Layer Cake [Library Binding]

Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Author), John Burgoyne (Illustrator), Christopher P. Kimball (Introduction), Editors of Cook's Illustrated Magazine (Author), Jack Bishop (Author)

Book Description

Series: Cook's Illustrated How to Cook | Publication Date: 1997

An illustrated step-by-step guide to perfect cakes, frostings and fillings

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

There's nothing like a traditional American layer cake--high, light, tender, and topped with a yummy frosting. How to Make an American Layer Cake provides succinct blueprints for these native delicacies. In fewer than 100 pages it offers illustrated, step-by-step directions for preparing a wide range of favorite cakes, frostings, and fillings--recipes, tips, and information that all cooks can use.

Beginning with a chapter on cake basics, an invaluable compendium of tips for success with baking and frosting, the book then explores yellow, white, and chocolate layer cakes with recipes and techniques for frostings and fillings. Master recipes, such as that for basic yellow cake, are followed by formulas for variations, such as Old-Fashioned Strawberry Layer Cake with Whipped Cream Frosting and Marble Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting. The chapter on frostings offers recipes for all of the toppings and fillings called for in the book, and a final section on cake decoration explores simple techniques to make the cakes look their best. Throughout, underlying techniques are explored and illustrated (instructions for halving layers is a useful one), and sensible tips abound (for example, to avoid making a mess while coating the sides of a frosted cake with chopped nuts, use a spatula to lift the nuts to the cake rather than "throwing" them on).

A true primer, the book is part of the Cook's Illustrated Library series. Like the magazine, the books are dedicated to presenting tried-and-perfected recipes and cooking techniques in a concise, approachable way. --Arthur Boehm

Product Details

• Library Binding: 94 pages
• Publisher: Boston Common Press (1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0936184175
• ISBN-13: 978-0936184173
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,786,278 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed, February 17, 2007

By 

Big Daddy (Spring, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: How to Make An American Layer Cake (Library Binding)

As a child, bakery layer cakes were popular and delicious. I am tired of boxed cake mixes and decided to try to replicate the dream cakes of my childhood. I searched for books that would concentrate on layer cakes. When I found this book, I was delighted. I made the yellow cake and followed all the directions. I was very disappointed with the result. The layer cake was good ... but not great. I make other cakes from scratch and find them more flavorful and moist. I have not given up on this book yet. I will try other recipes/combinations but I must say I am very disappointed so far.