Customer Reviews

The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun-to-Make Cakes That Taste as Good as They Look

5 star:		(72)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book's ONLY lack is its shortness. I wanted a few hundred more pages of ideas. However, despite its brevity the book is absolutely chock-full of ideas most of which seem obvious in retrospect but I would never have thought of (a deliberately tilted cake?).

Its strengths:

(1) the recipes are really, really good. Those who remember the old Wilton cake decorating books will understand why I say that this is not always common in books about decorating cakes.

(2) the photos illustrate creative use of color and the text contains charts to explain how to reproduce the effects and generate similar ones on one's own, using the different types of food coloring available, the pros and cons of which are clearly explained.

(3) the text explains clearly how to use "wafer chocolate," which is really a malleable and dyeable form of white chocolate, for truly stunning effects.

(4) children _love_ the cakes. My five-old-daughter grabbed this book, studied it cover-to-cover, and then asked me to read it out loud to her. She will actually sit for fifteen minutes listening intently to a description of how to construct the cakes that she likes.

This really is a generous book. The cakes are spectacular enough that the authors probably could have found some way to franchise or trademark their designs and thereby made a lot of money. Perhaps they will make a lot of money selling copies of this book (I hope so) but the information is free if you check the book out of the library. They explain enough of their methods that we all can make cakes in our kitchens that make us laugh out loud. And that is a Good Thing.

Although the photos of cartoon-like full-color images translated into white chocolate that festoon many of the cakes featured in this book intimidated me, I decided to give the technique a try. I found the necessary supplies at my local hobby store, and by following the instructions in the book I produced a white-chocolate replica of my church in about an hour. The techniques featured in this book are fun, absolutely unique, relatively simple to master and even taste good. I can't believe more people don't copy this style. I have several cake books and bought this one to learn the decorating techniques, so discovering it has great cake recipes on top of the decorating instructions made this book a real find for me. Lots of books teach you how to decorate with fondant, gum paste and royal icing--all of which look great but taste like sugary concrete. These decorations aren't just edible; they're delicious. If you are looking to make very special family cakes and willing to invest a little money in decorating supplies to get started, this is the right book for you.

The cake designs in this book use a combination of buttercream icing and chocolate accents. Instead of fondant, the authors use ganache, glaze, or buttercream to paint the canvas of the cake. Recipes for House Buttercream, Kaye's Buttercream, Chocolate Glaze, and a Whipped Chocolate Ganache are included. To fill the cakes, recipes for Lemon Curd, Whipped Cream, and Cookies and Cream are provided. The cakes themselves run the gamut from a traditional Chocolate Butter Cake to an artistic Ode to Jackson Pollock.

The Introduction to this book is a two-way conversation with Kaye and Liv. They discuss the Bakehouse itself (located in New York State), the merits of edible flowers, and Liv's special chocolate decorations. Part One moves into the basics of cake decorating. The authors provide a list of tools, instructions on working with chocolate, a color mixing chart, and step-by-step directions on preparing the cake for decoration (tilted and flat cakes are included here).

The Mini Birthday Cake recipe on pages 62 - 65 features a ten-inch tilted cake. These unusual cakes feature prominently in recent cake magazines and publications. One side of the cake is markedly higher than the other, creating a slope across the top surface of the cake. The Mini Birthday Cake is anything, however, but mini! At ten inches, it will comfortably serve 15 guests at your party. The authors introduce this cake as the product of a "Cat in the Hat baker". The cake is adorned with bright purple, orange, yellow, lime green, and teal buttercream icing.

The authors recommend using the Chocolate Butter Cake recipe (page 65) for the birthday cake. The recipe calls for coffee, cocoa powder, water, cake flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. The recipe calls for baking the cake in two 10x3" pans by increasing the baking time, it is only necessary to bake one 3" layer. The finished cake is moist and delicate, lending itself well to the suggested cookies and cream filling. The cake is billed as pleasing "screaming kids." I don't know about that, but it sure worked for my husband! The combination of coffee and cocoa gives the cake depth of flavor.

After baking and cooling the Chocolate Butter Cake, I prepared the Cookies and Cream filling (page 65). This simple recipe is truly astonishing. The recipe calls for heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and crushed Oreos. The taste was reminiscent of a heavy ice cream, but with the texture of a cloud. It is glorious. Combined with the Chocolate Butter Cake, it is truly a delight.

Once the cake had been layered and filled, I prepared the House Buttercream recipe (page 36). This recipe has a surprisingly high ratio of sugar to shortening and butter. For six cups of sugar, the recipe uses 2¾ cups high-ratio vegetable shortening in addition to 1½ sticks of butter. This ratio gives the icing an understated flavor, making it an ideal complement to the heady chocolate cake and filling. The icing requires a mixing time of 10 - 20 minutes in a large mixer. Due to the long mixing time, the icing is extremely light in texture, and has a very thin consistency. One full batch of this icing (9 1/2 cups), will ice and decorate the ten-inch mini birthday cake. The completed recipe will fill a five-quart mixing bowl. For hand mixers, you will need to cut the recipe in half.

The House Buttercream is ideally suited to the bright colors used in the Mini Birthday Cake. Very little color gel was needed to achieve a bright, vivid color. However, the high shortening and butter content makes this icing extremely greasy. While the texture is light and airy on the tongue, there is a sheen of shortening left on the palate after eating the icing. Also, the shortening makes for some extra work in cleaning up. Be sure to use a good grease-cutting detergent and hot water when washing out your mixing bowls. Parchment decorating bags may be a wise choice for this icing, cutting down on your cleaning time. The thin consistency of the icing is ideal for icing the cake, handling beautifully in large quantities. However, the Mini Birthday Cake calls for some string work garlands. Thin consistency icing will not fall correctly and has to be traced onto the cake, instead of pulling out a traditional string. This will impact the roundedness of the string work, and has to be compensated for by the decorator.

Of the many cake decorating books on my shelves, this is a favorite! The writing style is personable and accessible, and the directions are easy to follow. I buy books to learn about decorating, not to collect recipes, but I will say that I have tried a few of the cake recipes in this book, and they're too crumbly for me. The fillings and icings recipes are absolutely impossible to beat, though--especially cookies & cream and raspberry or hazelnut mousse.

I especially appreciate the decorating style--the emphasis on edible decoration (I love how fondant looks, hate how it tastes, and even though marshmallow fondant is better, it's still a lot of work for something that basically tastes like circus peanuts, which not everyone goes for). The designs in this book are charming, with great photographs and chocolate techniques. If you like very neat, uncluttered cakes, this might not be for you. These designs are exuberant, colorful, and maybe even a bit messy. I recommend you thumb through the pages in your bookstore before ordering, to be sure it's a style you're interested in, since it is so distinctive. I am just relieved to find something out there beyond Wilton and fondant, and this book is it.

I absolutely loved reading through this book! It's fun to read, and the cakes are adorable! I've made two of the cakes so far and have gotten sooo many compliments on them - your cake will always steal the show.
What I find a little disappointing with this book is the way it goes about telling you how to make your cake. As you flip through, you will see a cake with instructions on how to assemble the cake shown. Then on the following few pages you'll see optional cakes with which to make the cake displayed, and optional fillings. Then to ice the cake, you are refered to the front pages where they list their 3 main icing recipes - 2 buttercream, one chocolate glaze. But the icing recipes seem to be recipes for icing in mass production - because after you follow the recipe you have enough chocolate glaze to make about 4 cakes! Now, after making 2 chocolate glaze cakes, I have a bix tub of it in my freezer still, waiting to be used. :(
Next time I will probably use a quarter of the recipe and save myself some time & money. Other than that, a very very good book!

I just have to agree with reviewer Ruth Edlund that there isn't enough in this book! (Bare in mind, there are already 20 cakes in it) I want more! I kinda wish they had included the princess cake that Meredith Vieira mentioned in the Foreword where Liv transform a doll into a princess!

There aren't many cake decorating books using butter cream and I am not talking about those cupcake books. The cakes in this book are either covered with butter cream, or chocolate glaze, and decorated with either butter cream flowers, simple piping designs, and / or melted chocolate decorations. Don't get intimidated by the chocolate decorations as the authors use chocolate wafers, better known as candy coating or confectioners' chocolate, which doesn't require any tempering, simply melt and use.

Unlike other cake decorating books that usually slap you with the basic cake recipes, and butter cream icing that uses tons of butter, makes me feel doubtful as to how tasty they are! This book on the other hand have so many delicious and interesting cake recipes, example: chocolate chip pound cake, lemon ginger cream cheese pound cake, orange butter cake, banana cake (I did have some trouble with this one, the cake didn't rise as much as I thought it should, but it's very tasty, would try and experiment again), hazelnut cake, walnut caramel cake and freckled mocha cake. There are also some cheesecake recipes like mocha chocolate chip cheese cake, Grand Marnier cheese cake, and Julie's chocolate Peanut Butter swirl cheese cake. The fillings that goes with the cakes (usually suggested by the authors in the beginning of each cake) includes whipped chocolate ganache, lemon mousses, chocolate-hazelnut mousse, orange mousses, French custard, cookies n' cream, just to name a few. Can you imagine what you could do with all these recipes? I just can't believe but very glad that the authors aren't keeping all these great recipes to themselves. Thanks Kaye and Liv!

Back to the book, the icing includes a recipe of the house butter cream which has been used in the bakery for more than forty years, Kaye's butter cream which uses egg whites and real butter (I use powdered egg whites), it taste light yet buttery, and the nice thing is that they have included a bunch of variations for the butter cream recipe like chocolate, lemon, raspberry, chocolate hazelnut and coffee. Some of the cakes are covered with chocolate glaze, and I have to agree with the other reviewer that this recipe yields way too much for those of us that are just making A cake. Though the remaining glaze can be used on ice-cream (add more heavy cream), I'd still half the recipe or quarter the recipe the next time I make it, depending on the size of the cake you're making. There¡¦s also the whipped cream icing recipe. I recommend that if you use this icing to cover your cake, try to get the whipped cream stabilizer from any cake decorating supply stores near you, or thru internet, it just works wonders to stabilize the whipped cream.

What makes this book so unique from other books is that they use melted and colored chocolate (note: you'll need gel paste colors that are made specially to color candy or chocolate, don't use the gel paste that's for butter cream, you'll understand better when you read the page on "working with Chocolate"). The decorations can be as simple as melting and coloring the chocolate and pipe into edible candles for a birthday cake, or they can be outlined and filled with one or more colors. Each method is carefully described and shown with pictures. They are just so fun to make. You can use the templates given or you can trace designs of your own----there's no limit with this method. I've posted some pictures of a cake I made for a friend who's not crazy for chocolate but has 4 young children (hey, you've gotta satisfy the kids too, even though it's not their birthday), so I used the techniques from the book for the decorations--- the kids love the chocolate decorations, and mom was happy with the cake too! ;) I can't wait to make the safari cake for my son's 2nd birthday! By the way, Kaye and Liv are not afraid to use bright neon colors, as you can see on the front cover of the book, and they really turn out to be fun, whimsical and funky!

So, if you're interested in making tasty, funky, fun, beautiful and whimsical (just like the title of the book) cakes, this book is for you. Even if you're not into butter cream covered cakes, the book is still good for the cake recipes. There are NO fondant or gum paste cake/decorations in here, look elsewhere if that's what you want. This book is definitely one of my top favorites!

Finally, a cake decorating book which shows great cakes which do not require intricate sugardough cut outs and fancy floral sprays. I just got into cake decorating and I can see myself being able to make many of these cakes which look great without tons of hours spent fussing with flowers and such. I really liked this book. Excellent choice for someone who is just starting out and for cake decorating ideas.

I'm obsessed with this book. I had to have it when I first saw it in Border's bookstore. I ran out to Michael's Craft store that night and loaded up on Wilton "candy melts". The decorated cakes in this book are fabulous. They are not your ordinary buttercream rose cakes that are a single uniform color. They are not formal fondant covered structures. They are...well..whimsical - that is the perfect word for these cakes. They are bright and fun and bold and artistic, delicious and just plain amazing. But I must admit, the melted chocolate decorations are not as easy as they appear in the book's instructions. I'm not at all a beginner baker but this is the first time I've made "art" with melted chocolate and mine did not look so good. I've only tried it twice though and I am going to keep trying. Hopefully I will improve. The chocolate designs in this book are the dream results I strive for. I've sat and read this book cover to cover about 4 times now. I'm obsessed! The tiered cakes that she designs can have 2 or 3 completely different patterns or colors in the same cake. Sometimes each tier has a different pattern and color on each side. The colors are deep and are not commonly seen on cakes but on her cakes they look appropriate. Usually a cake decorating book concentrates on just the actual decorating part and the recipes are not that important to the author. Not with this book. These recipes are excellent and easy. Pretty basic flavors and instructions and very very good. I can't wait for the Christmas season when I can attempt to make that cute light blue snowman cake. The decorated cakes shown in this book would be fun to design but they just put ideas in your head for your own creations and you can just go wild with the possibilities! I highly recommend this book!

I have an almost two year old son and I wanted learn to make super cool cakes for his birthdays. I haven't had time to take a cake decorating class so I thought I'd get this book and see what techniques, tips or tricks it may offer.

It's awesome! It's not so much the decorating with icing that I found so helpful but decorating and embellishing with candy is soo much fun! Plus it looks like it took way more work than it does. I have started making cakes for family and my friend's children (for practice) and have already gotten several (PAID!) offers to make cakes for their kid's birthdays or other special occasions. Almost all of my embellishment and decor is done with candy. Including any text...it comes out so neat and clean looking because you can do it over and over until you get it right...not so with icing. With candy, you can add edible sparkles, metallics and color so bold that it will excite any child (or adult) just by looking at it.

Soooo...until I can make time to take a cake decorating class, I will keep on practicing and playing with candy as my means of decorating. Heck, I may just use only candy from now on since it's been such a hit. (BTW, when I say candy I mean melted chocolate wafers that can be dyed or bought in various colors)

Last but not least are the delicious cake and frosting recipes...they are incredible. The cakes are very moist and flavorful and the icings range from light and whippy to RICH and CREAMY. This is just as important (if not more) as the presentation. Because if a cake or icing tastes mediocre or bad it doesn't matter how beautiful it is. (Yes, fondant...I'm talking about you! :-)

Cakes are tasty. Good cakes, that is, not those storebought pasty-tasting aggregates of chemicals and sugar. Great cakes, however are something to behold. These are the good-looking ones that are the awe of the party. And these are the cakes presented by Kaye Hansen in "The Whimsical Bakehouse."

Feeling overwhelmed by the thought of such artistry? Don't be. These can happen in your kitchen, and even mine. The recipes and designs aren't some hoity-toity baker's hallucination, but constructed of ingredients you might already have on the shelf. Or, you can quickly grab them at your local supermarket.

Some aren't necessarily for beginners, but enough are that you could realistically crack open the book and have something ready the same night. You'll have plenty of ideas with which to impress your mother-in-law.

In some ways, consider "The Whimsical Bakehouse" permission to play with your food. Learn that a cake is more than flour, sugar and eggs, but an empty canvas. Let your creativity explode, and then... pour a glass of milk and slice up a delightful piece of art.

Enjoy!

Anthony Trendl