Kids' Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: And Other Treats for Colorful Celebrations [Hardcover]

Kaye Hansen (Author), Liv Hansen (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 1, 2010

From the mother-daughter baking and decorating team behind the beloved WHIMSICAL BAKEHOUSE books, this trove of recipes and ideas will help you conjure up a colorful world of pixie dust or pirate’s treasure for your kids.
 
Chocolate fairies dance atop a woodland cake surrounded by magic wands and tea party cupcakes; extraterrestrial cupcakes orbit a 3-D rocket cake; a spooky mummy mask cake watches over pudding-filled chocolate cauldrons. Ranging from simple to advanced, the recipes and designs in Kids’ Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse build your skill set so that even novices can ultimately create every vibrantly decorated, delicious treat in this inspiring book. Kids’ Cakes also offers “Plain and Simple” variations for busy days, and suggestions for involving little helping hands (and boosting their confidence, too) with “Kids Can” tasks.
 
Chapters include:
 
The Best Sleepover Ever
Bed Cake, “Half Moon” Black and White Cookies, Banana Bear Pancakes, and Oven French Toast
 
Step Right Up
Circus Cake with colorful chocolate bareback riders and clowns, lemon butter Balloon Cookies, and Funnel Cakes
 
Start Your Engines
Fire Truck and Rocket Cakes, Out-of-This-World planet and alien cupcakes
 
With detailed baking instructions, a color chart, more than 50 recipes, and a ton of decorating tips and designs for creating colored chocolate embellishments, Kids’ Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse will show you how to turn any birthday, holiday, or even humdrum day into a sweet occasion and will leave you with unforgettable memories of baking together.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Sample Recipe from Kids' Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Magic Wands

The Good Witch of the North and the queen fairy agree that these star wands are magically delicious. The pixies at your party will love them, too. Send the sparkly pink wands home as party favors, or let the children decorate their own with royal icing and sanding sugar. They are sure to cast a spell on all who hold them.

Materials:
Cookie: Sugar Cookies (recipe below)
Icing: 1 recipe Royal Icing (recipe below)
Decoration: pink and/or white sanding sugar, 6- or 8-inch lollipop sticks for magic wands, and ribbon for decoration (1-2 feet per wand, depending on whether a knot or bow is tied)
Colors: pink liquid gel colors
Miscellaneous: half-sheet baking pan, pastry cones, star cookie cutter

Instructions for Assembling the Wands:

1. Bake the cookies and let them cool completely. Prepare the Royal Icing. Keep the icing covered with a damp cloth.
2. Prepare the colored icing: approximately 1 cup light pink, ½ cup medium pink, ½ cup neon pink.
3. To prevent breaking when decorating, hold the cookie, not the lollipop stick. Spread a thin layer of colored icing over the entire cookie. Immediately pour white or pink sanding sugar over the top or dip the cookie into a bowl of sanding sugar, pressing gently to adhere. Shake or dust off any excess sugar.
4. Place 2 tablespoons of each color icing into separate pastry cones. Cut a small hole at the tip of each pastry cone. Pipe dots or lacy borders around the edge of each cookie, write the initials of the birthday fairy, or make a design of your own. Let dry overnight.
5. Tie a bow with long trails around the handle of each wand.

Sugar Cookies
Yield: Approximately 24 to 30 wands

Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Have all ingredients at room temperature.

In the bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed, cream:
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar

Add and thoroughly incorporate:
1 extra-large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

On a piece of wax paper, sift together:
1-½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon kosher salt

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture.

Mix until the dough comes together.

Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.

On a lightly floured board, roll the chilled dough out to ¼-inch thick. Slip parchment paper under the rolled dough and transfer it to a half-sheet pan. Chill for 30 minutes. Cut out shapes.

For magic wands: Cut out stars using a star cookie cutter (2 inches to 3 inches across; larger stars need longer handles). Arrange the stars 1 inch apart along the long sides of the cookie sheets. Carefully insert lollipop sticks into the hollow created between two points of the star about ½ inch deep.

Royal Icing
Yield: Approximately 4 cups

In a large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whip attachment, whip to stiff peaks:
¼ cup meringue powder
½ cup cold water

Add and mix at low speed with a paddle attachment, until combined:
4 cups (1-pound box) confectioners’ sugar

Continue mixing at high speed for 5 to 8 minutes, or until the icing is stiff.

Add and mix on low speed until combined:
½ teaspoon strained fresh lemon juice

Cover the bowl with a damp cloth while you are working with or coloring batches of icing, or immediately place it in an airtight container or a pastry cone; otherwise, a hard crust will quickly form as it dries.

---

About the Author

LIV HANSEN’s eye for edible decorating comes from her training as a painter. KAYE HANSEN, a self-taught baker, owns Riviera Bakehouse in Westchester County, New York. The bakery has been featured in the New York Times, and this baking duo has appeared on Today, The View, The Early Show, and Food Network. Together, they are the authors of The Whimsical Bakehouse, Christmas Cookies from the Whimsical Bakehouse, and Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse. Liv and Kaye live in Rockland County, New York. www.whimsicalbakehouse.com

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (June 1, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0307463842
• ISBN-13: 978-0307463845
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 0.7 x 9.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #828,495 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Review by [...] June 21, 2010

By BeachBrights TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Length: 2:31 Mins

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Not What I Expected from The Whimsical Bakehouse June 15, 2010

By Mom to Twins

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I am the proud owner of The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun to Make Cakes... I think that is the best cake book ever written. However, this review is for the Whimsical Bakehouse's latest cake book, Kids' Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse. I had been watching for the release date of this book with high anticipation. I could not wait to get my hands on it because I was so impressed with the Fun to Make Cakes book from the Whimsical Bakehouse.

My book finally arrived yesterday. I opened it, along with my children, and flipped through the book page by page. I have to say that the first third of the book is just recipes and the written word. I finally made it to the substance of the book, the photographs and cake ideas. I kept flipping through, hoping with the turn of each page, that I would be more impressed and find THE CAKE for my kids' fourth birthday. After all, the jungle/zoo animal cake that I created for their third birthday, straight from the ideas of The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun to Make Cakes..., would be very difficult to top! After I made it the last page, I found myself extremely disappointed. There was no WOW cake in this book for me. I wasn't as impressed with what was even there. The only cake that even slightly appeals to me is the circus cake on the cover. None of the others inside the pages of the book even compare, although my daughter would probably disagree with me there, as she rather excitedly pointed out that she wanted the pink girlie cake inside, complete with a wig, makeup and hair accessories, etc. created from chocolate wafers.

I'm hesitant to give this book 3 stars. However, for someone who has never owned a Whimsical Bakehouse book, you may be completely impressed with the ideas presented here. As a veteran of the Whimsical Bakehouse ideas and creator not-so-extraordinaire (I'm still learning), I found the Kids' Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse book a bit disappointing. I hope to find uses for some of the ideas in the future, but find it highly unlikely.

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun and whimsical kids cookbook November 7, 2011

By R. Lujbli

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have all the books written by Liv and Kaye Hansen and this one is just as great. All the cakes are fun and cheerful. They are very talented and make it look so easy. I would buy this book for anyone you know that likes to bake and be creative.