Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites [Paperback]

Maria Bruscino Sanchez (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1998

The author of Sweet Maria's Italian Cookie Tray shares her simple secrets for making bakery cakes at home.

Sweet Maria's is an amazingly popular bakery that brings together family recipes, and contemporary favorites. Now, those of us who aren't lucky enough to drop by Sweet Maria's can make wholesome, delicious bakery-style cakes at home to celebrate a birthday, get-together, fresh pot of afternoon tea, or any other cakeworthy occasion.

Basic enough for beginners but creative enough to satisfy experts as well, Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen collects 65 of the bakery's most popular cakes, including: Almond Pound Cake, Orange Plum Loaf Cake, Amaretto Apple Cake, Tiramisu Cake, White Chocolate Ganache Wedding Cake (it's easier than it sounds!), Mini Chocolate Mocha Loaves, Cappuccino Chiffon Cake, and many more, plus bakery secrets for prepping the ingredients and decorating with simple panache.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Connecticut bakery owner and author Sanchez is smart enough to teach the basics, then build on those fundamentals. Pound, sponge, and three different (white, yellow, and devil's food) layer cakes are explained, with variations discussed later on. Of course, all 65 recipes are prefaced by rather stern instructions on ingredients, equipment, and techniques; lest we forget, she reminds us that cake baking is an exact science--and an unforgiving one. Chatty introductions and sidebars generously give additional professional advice to the novice (e.g., the right pastry tips to create specific patterns). A good basic book for those afraid to tackle the likes of Maida Heatter. Barbara Jacobs

About the Author

Maria Bruscino Sanchez is the owner of and baker at Sweet Maria's Bakery in Waterbury, Connecticut.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin; 1st edition (August 15, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312195273
• ISBN-13: 978-0312195274
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,188,547 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Your taste buds will thank you for tryin these recipes, March 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites (Paperback)

"Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen" by Maria Bruscino Sanchez published by St. Martin's Grifiin Maria Bruscino Sanchez has made her name known in Connecticut, thanks to her baking efforts at Sweet Maria's Bakery as well as winning the Grand Prize at the Connecticut Bakers Association Cake Decorating Contest two years in a row. In "Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen," her second dessert book, Sanchez spills some of the secrets that she has developed over the years. Like many cookbooks, "SMCK" begins with the basics and then uses them as building blocks or layers to create delicious layer, loaf and bundt cakes. For veteran home chefs who are comfortable at the controls of their Kitchen Aide, you'll find intriguing combinations of flavors and ingredients in her 65 recipes while amateurs can accept the hand-holding directions that take you from the first mixing to the final baking. If you're tired of plain old chocolate cake, white cake or yellow cake, flip through the 129 pages here and update your repertoire with the likes of the Elvis cake, the Tiramisu cake and the toasted lemon snowball cake. Your taste buds will thank you. By Mark C. Guncheon

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars So Far, So Good, December 15, 1999

By 

Gail Dini (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites (Paperback)

What I like to do is to take the book out of the library first, glance over and try a recipe. I tried Black & Tan cake on page 82-83 for a Christmas Party last week. What a show stopper! Sweet Maria's made me look really good. I have put this book on my Christmas list. Hope Santa is checking my list twice.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is a great cookbook for cakes!, September 27, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sweet Maria's Cake Kitchen: Classic and Casual Recipes for Cookies, Cakes, Pastry, and Other Favorites (Paperback)

I absolutely love this cookbook. I have tried several recipes and they came out wonderful. I love the fact that is is very simple to understand and yet yields great results. A definite winner!