Customer Reviews

The International School of Sugarcraft Book One (Bk.1)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a pretty big book,it is all in color.If you really like cake decorating you will find use for it.It really is what i would consider to be a cake decorating dictionary.I wish it had more finished cake picture's,i love seeing other's work & getting ideas from it.It starts off going over equipment{such as cake boards,colors,icing bags,mixer,bowls,etc]then moves on to some cake recipes.The recipes are for 7-kinds of sponge cake,how to make sugared flowers,4 kinds of fruit cake.It starts off the recipes with the way the do them in England{measures in oz.grams & cm}then in the American way{cups & oz}.Goes over how to make marzipan,then how to put it on a cake,apricot glaze,some sugarpaste & fondant.Royal icing,buttercream,chocolate fudge icing,all of these have recipes & pictures of how to make them.How to make a parchment bag,simple piping {star's,basketweave,lines,rope,leaves,swirls,shells}.Then it moves on to making flowers,here they cut the parchment bag to make the shapes instead of using a tip.I prefer to use a tip so unless you cut the bag you'll have to guess on what tip to use.The flowers they make are very small & dainty,very pretty.However you can make them bigger,it goes step by step with pictures.They show a buttercup,violet,rose,daisey,primerose and a swirl flower.How to make an icing run-out,using ribbons,has wonderful templates for plaques/collars/scrolls.Then we move onto sugar molds,such as eggs & vases.Templates for several differnt writing styles & number templates.Some very pretty Tulle work,then we on to modelling.Using marzipan or sugarpaste it shows how to make a sheep,mouse,cat,chicken,pig,horse,cow,clown, rose and a farmer. This is a very nice book,keep in mind it is from England.Over there they like to use fondant/sugarpaste for their cake decorating,where we Americans prefer buttercream.It is a good teaching guide.

This is an exceptionally good book if you're trying your hand at making fancy cake decorations for the first time. It is in full colour and gives extremely good illustrations of how to go about all the basic techniques. It covers everything; working marzipan, sugarpaste, butter icing, and royal icing - all kinds of uses. It is really the best book I've encountered so far. It also has some cake recipes as well as recipes for how to make the different cake coverings. Definitely a worthy buy.

This book is jammed packed with various Sugarcraft tips and information, as well as recipes for cakes,icings,and complete supply lists.It uses simple step by step formats with easy to follow instructions, the pictures are of good quality,and easy to follow with each step presented, you are not left hanging with missing steps to a design. The cake designs are elegant yet easy enough for a beginner to accomplish. Its full of wonderful templates to use as guides in the back of the book.It has wonderful step by step instructions to make sugar molds and how to shape and mold fondant characters, ribbons,frills,piping,lettering,surgarpaste flowers and covering cake boards. I would suggest this book to anyone wanting to get started in Sugarcrafting or wanting to advance their skills in it. Its a must have for your reference guide and book shelf....So glad I have a copy of this book in my own personal library. I know you will enjoy it as much as I have indeed.

I offer an advance warning in that this will be a rather long review, but because of the deep well of cake decorating instruction that this book offers, I felt it was worth the time. I've become a devotee of his, as countless others have over the years. I am basically a self-proclaimed, unofficial advertisement for his work because this gent is the real deal.

To make a long story short................fabulous book by fabulous artists! Spend the money. Learn. Enjoy.

Nicholas Lodge was a gifted artist from the get-go. Getting into the sugar decorating field was a natural choice for him but what made makes him stand out is his passion for this art form and therein lies the reason and drive for his success. This particular book was written in 1998 and he was in the midst of building his artistic empire. He had already written other subject-specific books regarding this sugar art but this is one of his definitive bibles that solidified his place as a master. Two more books in this series eventually followed that built upon mastering sugar work, and his schools of sugar art have since gotten a firm hold here in the US, as well as Japan and the Phillipines.

Jane Murfitt is an equally distinguished author of cooking and baking books and is part of the teaching team that brings us this great teaching tool.

Depending on your skill level, this book will either add to your knowledge or give you a knowledge base on which to build and enhance. If you should have the opportunity and the resources, getting Chef Lodge's DVD's and other tutorials that he has offered over the years, would be money well-spent. He also has accessibility through his website "www.nicholaslodge.com".

This is a large, heavy, paperback book with full color, close-up, and clear photography to teach you each basic skill. You get step-by-step lessons next to photos so there isn't any guessing as to what he meant or what you need to do. And even if you're new to the sugar art world, he anticpates that with the most basic, but essential chapter, in the foundations of this sugar art tools and materials. Measurements come in both American and metric calculations. Also, templates are provided for everything offered in the line of scrollwork, shapes, forms, letters, etc.

There are 20 lessons in all covered in 256 pages. There are many areas in which you might be able to improvise with certain tools or materials, but for others you will need to purchase the items, as it will make your attempts successful. Some of what he shows is a reminder of the artistry of Joseph Lambeth, who was the "father of cake decorating"; he wrote the tome "The Lambeth Method of Cake Decorating" back in the early 30's and his methods are still used today; Nicholas seems to be the modern day version of that master.

Keep in mind that this is not a cake baking book per se; while it has basic cake batter recipes, this is a cake decorating book. You won't be given instruction of making topsy-tursy cakes or purse cakes, etc but you will see how to makes frills and sugar shapes as well as learn piping and other amazing abilites to make your cakes stand out. And since you are looking at this book, I am assuming you already have some interest and knowledge in this area.

LESSON ONE: EQUIPMENT
Tools
Dummy Cakes (good for window displays, competitions, practice, etc)
Food Coloring (cocktail sticks are the British version of our toothpicks)
Piping Tube Effects (piping tips and what they produce)
Care of Equipment

LESSON TWO: SPONGE CAKES
Basic Sponge Cake
Whisked Sponge Cake
Making a Swiss Roll
One Bowl Sponge Cake
Genoese Sponge Cake
Quick Madeira Cake
American Sponge Cake

LESSON THREE: FRUIT CAKES (I've found these to be more popular "across the pond")
Rich Fruit Cake
Light Fruit Cake
Glace Fruit Cake
Wheaten Fruit Cake
Preparing a Deep Tin
Decorating Ideas
Storing Fruit Cakes

LESSON FOUR: MARZIPAN (I love this stuff for making "fruit")
Boiled Marzipan
Kneaded Marzipan
Raw Sugar Marzipan
Apricot Glaze
How to Marzipan a Cake (this is a great way of prepping your cake)
Decorating Ideas
Christmas Cracker (an "edible" traditional party popper)

LESSON FIVE: SUGARPASTE (This particular section shows you how to go about making your own sugar material from scratch but there are companies from which you can purchase these materials already made; your time and labor should be considered when deciding whether its worth making them or purchasing them)
Commercial Sugarpaste
Fondant Icing
Gelatine Icing
Quick Sugarpaste
Covering a Cake with Sugarpaste
Painted Sugarpaste Plaques
Decorating Ideas

LESSON SIX: ROYAL ICING (My favorite chapter because this material is the basis for so many of exquisite pieces of delicate forms and shapes)
Royal Icing with Fresh Egg Whites (you can buy pasteurized eggwhites now)
Coloring Royal Icing
Royal Icing with Egg Albumen (these are dried eggwhites; very safe)
How to Flat Ice (takes longer to use because it takes longer to dry)
Decorating Ideas

LESSON SEVEN: QUICK ICINGS AND FROSTINGS
Butterceam
American Icing (uses veggie shortening for the fat content)
Creme au Beurre (uses butter for the fat content; tastes much better)
Glace Icing (simple powdered sugar and hot water)
Quick Frosting
Chocolate Fudge Icing
Simple Decorations

LESSON EIGHT: INTRODUCTION TO PIPING
Basic piping
Making Piping Bags (disposable bags; I prefer buying reusable but you have to make sure that you thoroughly wash them between uses. For bags used for deep colored materials, use them only for that same color each time)
Trimming Bags
Fitting Tubes and Filling Bags
Simple Piping

LESSON NINE: PIPING TECHNIQUES (now you're getting into some real skills!)
Scrolls and Trellis Work
Cornelli Work
Colors and Tints
Simple Flowers
Simple Lettering on a Plaque (lovely for initials or cameo forms)
Simple Decorations

LESSON TEN: ICING RUNOUTS (you'll love this!)
Making an Icing Runout (by tracing on parchment paper, you use royal icing to make all sorts of shapes and forms; easy but so elegant!)
Christening Cake
Bootie Runout
Rattle Runout

LESSON ELEVEN: RIBBONS (this is actual ribbon artistry, not sugar work)
Choosing Ribbons
Ribbon Collages
Ribbon Insertion (the fondant looks like it has ribbon running through)
Banding Cake Boards (adds a very finished and coordinating touch)
Floristry Ribbon
Miniature Bows
Wired Ribbons
Maypole Cake

LESSON TWELVE: DESIGNING A CAKE
Shape and Design (getting a basic idea of how the cake will look)
Equipment
Base Color and Covering
Mediums
Drawing Templates
International Cake Design
Portions from a Cake (how to figure size and servings)

LESSON THIRTEEN: CAKE BOARDS
Designing Cake Boards
Shape and Size
Jigsaw Boards (cutting your own wood boards)
Covering Cake Boards
Covering Boards with Royal Icing
Covering Boards with Sugarpaste

LESSON FOURTEEN: SUGAR MOLDING (This chapter is sooo much fun! It took me back to my childhood when we had those sugar eggs with chocolate bunnies inside or the weddings we went to that had such beautiful sugar bells on the cake; this is also a great project just for family fun)
Recipe for Sugar Molding
Easter Egg
Panorama Egg
Mini Eggs
Sugar Bells
Holly Plaque
Sugar Cubes
Shells
Pink Heart Boxes (actual sugar boxes; gorgeous!)
Snowman
Sugar Mice
Spring Chocolate Box
After Dinner Mints

LESSON FIFTEEN: FRILLS and FLOUNCES (oh so delicate!)
Small Flower Plaques
Garrett Frills
Plain Frills
Attaching the Frill
Cutout Frills
Layered Frills
Straight Frills
Pastry Cuttter Carnations
Sweet 16 Cake

LESSON SIXTEEN: RUNOUT BORDERS and COLLARS (Book Number 2 goes into more detail with this skill but this is just a phenomenal way of bordering your cakes)
Icing
Attaching Collars
Making a Collar
Illustrations of Collar Types

LESSON SEVENTEEN: PIPED TOP and SIDE DESIGNS
Halloween Plaques
Bird Table Plaque
Butterfly Plaque
Oval Plaque
Plaque with Silk Flowers
Swan Plaque
Wedgewood Plaque
Oak Leaf Plaque
Honeysuckle Plaque
Figure Plaque
Small Wedding Cake

LESSON EIGHTEEN: LETTERING (letters/sayings stencils at end of chapter)
Lettering Basics
Freestyle Lettering (very difficult to master which is why I use Runouts)
Runout Lettering I (form letters on paper; let them dry; gently peel off)
Runout Lettering II
Monograms (great for wedding cake plaques)
Christmas Plaques
Lily of the Valley script (exquisite, delicate lily floral lettering)
Best Wishes Mother
Floral Lettering (so dainty and delicate; flowers on the letters)
Pressure-piped Gothic (raised lettering good with any letter script)
Lettering Styles
Gilded Lettering (gold leaf)
Lettering Examples
Easter Cake
Pressure-Piped Rabbits (adorable rabbits to go with infant themes)
Alphabets and Samples

LESSON NINETEEN: TULLE (Using actual tulle incorporated into the piping and design to make some of the most incredible embellishments; the christening gown and bootie are worth the price of this book alone!)
Techniques
Frills
Tulle Extension Work
Bells and Oval Shapes
Narrow and Wide Lilac Frills
Butterfly
Tiger Lily
Tulle Booties and Christening Robe (to absolutely flip over!)
Tulle Sprays
Hankerchiefs
Heart
Posy Frill
Briar Rose Bow Plaque
Holly and Ivy Leaves
Christmas Rose
Tulle Christmas Cake

LESSON TWENTY: MODELING (these are so darn cute!)
Sheep
Cat
Mouse
Goose
Chicken
Pig
Goat and Cow
Farmer
Farmyard Birthday Cake
Sugarpaste and Marzipan Roses
Marzipan Blossom
Sugarpaste Clown (just perfect for a baby or toddlers cake)

What can I say........I am a cake decorating fool who really appreciates those within the cake industry who are incredible artists and who have the capacity to share all they know with us. You will be very happy with this book and I just about guarantee that you will quickly get Book Two and Three as well. Peace be with you!

It's great for anyone who wants to decorate your own cake but don't know where to start. It gives you the most details you should know and love to know, and easy to follow. I have a couple of cake decorating books, of course, this one is my favorite.

Great book for pastry fanatics and chefs alike!!! Very specific with images, graphic explanations, photographs, and everything is explained step by step. 100% recommended!!!!

I purchased this book online because of the front cover. I was hoping there would be instructions to the picture on the front. Unfortunatley there were none. Other than that the book has lots of ideas and helpful tips.

I bought both vol 1 and vol 2 of this book. Vol 2 is more in tune with what I wanted as I am trying to learn cold porcelain. BUT it does have some useful information. Also has a few patterns I believe I can use.

This book contains exactly what I was looking for. I am a self learner and love to cook and bake. I am sure this will help me learn to make great birthday and wedding cakes for my family.

buy all three in the series, you won't be sorry. Well illustrated, clear step by step instructions and a large variety on techniques.