Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes [Hardcover]

Alisa Huntsman (Author), Peter Wynne (Author), Tina Rupp (Photographer)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 4, 2007

A classic layer cake has always been the best party pleaser, but this cookbook takes dessert to a whole new level. Sky High celebrates the triple-layer cake in all its glorious incarnations with more than 40 decadent and delicious recipes. The wide range of flavors will appeal to anyone with a sweet tooth. The book features such delights as Boston Cream Pie, Mile-High Devil's Food Cake, and Key West Cake. There are even three astonishingly beautiful (and totally do-able) wedding cakes! From luscious chocolate creations to drizzled caramel confections, take simple layer cakes to new heights with Sky High.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Alisa Huntsman graduated from the Culinary Institute of America and is the pastry chef at the Loveless Café in Nashville, Tennessee.

Peter Wynne is an author and newspaper journalist. He lives in Pennsylvania.

Tina Rupp is a New York-based photographer.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811854485
• ISBN-13: 978-0811854481
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 0.9 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #144,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 27 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to a baking library September 16, 2008

By Sandy Kay VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

The tall layer cakes you see at the bakery always look so impressive sitting on a cake stand or plate and sliced with two layers of filling. Somehow the two-layer cakes I make don't quite stack up (pun intended). But most recipes for the home baker are written for two layer cakes.

This book has recipes to make those fabulously tall, triple-layer cakes. I wouldn't buy it as a first cake cookbook (Rose Levy Beranbaum's "The Cake Bible" or Nick Malgieri's "Perfect Cakes" coes to mind as better beginning cake baking cookbooks), but this book does deserve a place on the shelf if you really enjoy baking cakes and want to make the kind of cakes that will inspire "oohs" and "ahs" when you bring them to the table. There is a great variety of recipes. The recipe categories are: chocolate cakes, vanilla cakes, fruit-flavored cakes; nut and spice cakes; cakes with a world of flavor (e.g. chai, dulce de leche, black forest, blue cornmeal), and finally holiday and special occasion cakes. The last chapter has recipes for three different kinds of wedding cakes that will serve 80-100 people if you feel adventurous and want to bake a wedding cake!

Each cake recipe is followed by the recipe for a frosting and often a different filling that go with it so you don't have to flip to a separate section of the book to find the frosting or filling that will suit the cake you have chosen. The frosting choices and the cake flavors sound amazing. She covers the expected combinations: chocolate cakes with toasted coconut-pecan frosting or different types of chocolate frosting; vanilla cakes with white chocolate, white chocolate buttercream or chocolate frosting; strawberry shortcake; boston cream pie.... She pumps up standard cake flavors with more adventurous frosting or filling choices (chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and chocolate peanut butter glaze, cakes with mango mousse or peach mousse filling, apricot carrot cake; banana cake with praline filling and white chocolate ganache(!); marbled lemon blueberry butter cake. And then she pulls out the stops with cakes I can't wait to try: pina colada cake, maple walnut cake, dulce de leche cake, chocolate hazelnut cake.

The photography is fantastic, bordering on "food porn." There isn't a photo for every cake but more than half of the recipes do have photos and they will make you want to bake those cakes.

If you already do a lot of cake baking, you may be surprised (as I was) by the mixing technique. I was taught the creaming method where you first beat the butter then add the sugar and beat some more until it is fluffy, and finally add the flour and other dry ingredients alternately with the liquid ingredients. Most of the butter cake recipes in this book use the two-stage method where the butter, all the dry ingredients and some of the liquid go into the mixing bowl at the beginning and after this is beaten smooth, the eggs and remaining liquid goes in. I found this so unexpected that, after reading this technique in several of the recipes, I had to go back to the baking techniques section at the beginning of the book to find out why. The author believes "the two-stage method produces a more finely textured cake and is more dependable" than the creaming method. Now that fall is here and my kitchen isn't so hot, I'll be trying these recipes I've been drooling over and will see if I agree.

The trouble is, I've been poring over the pictures and recipes so long, I can't decide which cake to make first! My friends and family may be eating a lot of cake. Read more ›

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is One Great Cake Book October 10, 2007

By Darlene A. Hardy

Format:Hardcover

I have quite a library of cook books and this one has quickly become my favorite baking book. This book is not only visually beautiful, but the recipes are well written and easy to follow.

I certainly hope to see more books by Alisa Huntsman!

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Irrestible Indeed! July 12, 2008

By S. D. Fischer VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

What a delightful reading experience! Sky High is well-written and a pleasure to read. Beautiful, full-page color photos accompany nearly every recipe, and the paper is sturdy and high-quality. The Baker's Notes throughout the book offer additional tips to ensure baking and frosting success.

The cakes are inventive and there were many new, delicious-sounding combinations that I am eager to try (such as chai cake with honey-ginger cream, Halloween sweet potato cake and chocolate-hazelnut gianduja cake).

Chapters include Baking Basics (a primer on ingredients and equipment), Chocolate Cakes, Vanilla Cakes, Fruit-Flavored Cakes, Nut and Spice Cakes, Cakes with a World Flavor, and Holiday and Special-Occasion Cakes.

The recipes are straightforward and easy to follow. An amateur baker armed with the chapter on baking basics and an attention to detail should be able to create any of these masterpieces (perhaps with the exception of the three wedding cakes which seem slightly challenging).

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The ONLY cookbook for showstopping layer cakes! July 14, 2009

By B. A. Chaney VINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Sky High is the only cookbook you need to bake show stopping layer cakes. Before I got this book, I thought of myself as a fairly accomplished baker, but one that was slightly intimidated by the idea of a layer cake. All that sizing up recipes and icing seemed a little too hard for me--plus I was scared that after all that work the cake would ultimately just collapse on me. But after I baked a trial recipe out of Sky High that I found on a blog, I knew I had to have this book and that it would lead me into a land of layer cake wonder!

The recipes in Sky High are laid out simply--so that every baker from the beginner to the semi-pro can understand them. Most of the recipes minimize fuss and use as few bowls and tools as possible. When the book introduces a new concept or ingredient, little sidebars are used to explain what the item is. In addition to the recipes, which are broken down into convenient categories like vanilla cakes, chocolate cakes, fruit cakes, etc, and the beautiful pictures, there are helpful introductory sections at the front of the book that introduce the reader to the basics of layer cake making, complete with helpful pointers like how to butter pans for different types of cakes. The layout and methods explained in this book make every type of layer cake baking from the simplest yellow birthday cake to an elaborate wedding cake (yes this book has several recipes for them!) seem like a snap.

And the results! The cakes this book produces are wonderful. So far I've made a good variety--Boston Cream Pie, Strawberry Butter Cake, Vanilla Buttermilk, Chocolate Peanut Butter with Chocolate Peanut Butter Ganache, as well as several of the icings and all have been delicious and show stopping.... People literally gasp when I unveil one of these cakes because they can't believe that I made it by myself, at home, and that I'm not a professional.

So if you're looking for a book to help you make great layer cakes that look and taste fantastic without needing to go to pastry school first, this is the book for you. Seriously, this book is worth it! Read more ›

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Happy customer February 9, 2008

By Wifey

Format:Hardcover

The recipes in this book come out very delicious! I would recommend!! The seller shipped very fast thanks!!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Great cake book! February 8, 2008

By Elizabeth L. Hyzy

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great book for people who love to make cakes. The recipes are pretty easy to follow and the pictures are gorgeous. Many of the flavour combinations are very creative and unique, but the book also includes classic flavours such as black forest and pina colada. If you like to make impressive-looking cakes, get this book!