30 Minute Kids' Cakes [Paperback]

Sara Lewis (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 15, 2002

Including cakes of all sizes, suitable for girls and boys of all ages, this text includes 55 kids' cakes that can be decorated in 30 minutes or less, using bought or home made cakes. It includes cakes for Easter, Christmas and Halloween as well as birthdays and each cake comes with photographs and explanations of the techniques involved. This should be a useful introduction covering great ways to cheat, what bought cakes to use and how to make your own cake if time permits.

Editorial Reviews

Review

How many times have you looked at or bought a ready-made, supermarket birthday cake for your child? How many times has the same cake appeared at different parties? Escape the commercialism and create your own with this easy-to-follow book. Cakes for all ages and tastes are included in this wonderfully illustrated guide. Using both ready-made and home-baked sponges and biscuits, the author leads you through all possible permutations to create a fantasy cake for your child. Ballet shoes for little girls, eyeball cakes for little boys, Humpty Dumptys, numbers, clowns and space bugs are but a few contained within these pages. All cakes, once the basic components are gathered, should take no longer than 30 minutes to put together and the results are almost guaranteed, so easy and innovative are the instructions. And many of the ingredients used are ready-made meaning no more trying to make smooth icing or using a piping bag to write messages. So spoil your child with an individually created cake. After all, it is their special day and a special cake to be shared with special friends will ensure a birthday to be remembered for years to come. - Lucy Watson

About the Author

Sara Lewis has been the Cookery Editor of Practical Parenting Magazine for the last 11 years. She has a daughter aged 11 and a son aged 6. She is the author of Veggie Food for Kids and The Lunchbox Book, also published by Hamlyn.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Octopus Publishing Group (July 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0600604500
• ISBN-13: 978-0600604501
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,774,623 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The 30 Minute Myth, January 17, 2006

By 

Fiona (London, UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: 30 Minute Kids' Cakes (Paperback)

It took just a few seconds to realise that there was no way I would ever be able to decorate any of these cakes in 30 minutes. Not only that, I was hoping that there may have actually been a couple of interesting cake recipes in the book too - but no, just one or two very standard sponges.
This book basically tells you how to decorate shop-bought cakes. If that's what you want to do, it's perfect. But don't think you'll be done in half an hour - if you're like me it'll take you that long to realise you only have green food colouring lurking at the back of the cupboard. And you need a bigger range of colours than that if you're going to achieve any of these creations.
This book leaves you with the grim realisation that, in the cold light of day, the dream birthday cake that your child is excitedly looking forward to (because you made the mistake of showing them the picture) will take you rather longer than 30 minutes. Unless, of course, that's how long you need to wait in the queue at the bakery!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent book for even a novice!, July 28, 2006

By 

J. Sharples (VA, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: 30 Minute Kids' Cakes (Paperback)

I have the British version of this book, I haven't seen the US version but I shouldn't think it is much different. Certainly in the UK version there are recipies for making the cakes yourself, and the different recipes advise which size homemade or shop bought size cake to use. Admittedly the title is a bit ambitious, but they are certainly achievable even for a novice like myself. I made the Humpty Dumpty cake for my son's 1st birthday and was very pleased with the result, although it took me about 1 hour. I would thoroughly recommend this book as it has a wide range of cake ideas, each one pretty simple, for birthdays, Christmas, Halloween and Easter.