Showing posts with label whimsical. Show all posts
Showing posts with label whimsical. Show all posts

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

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

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Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and Other Mini Treats Review

Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and Other Mini Treats
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Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and Other Mini Treats ReviewFirst, as this book's title indicates, this is a book about little desserts. From cupcakes to muffins to small cakes. Dessert in miniature, which is pretty trendy right now. So if you're looking for a repeat of their first book, you'll find it here, only in miniature form.
The corn muffin recipe was delicious, and their decorations are phenomenal.
Just to give you an idea of the recipes offered, here's a selection. . .
Anytime Little Cakes & Muffins. .
Corn Muffins, Blueberry Muffins, Zucchini Muffins, Banana Muffins, Whole Wheat Blackberry Muffins, Oatmeal Muffins, Pumpkin Muffins, Coffee Chocolate Chip Muffins, Almond Coffee Cakes, Blueberry Crumb Cakes. .
Special Occasion Little Cakes
Strawberry Shortcakes, Raspberry Cheesecakes (miniature, of course), Falling leaves (melted candy painted to look like leaves!), Pumpkin spice cheesecakes, Matt's upside-down cakes (they look soooo delicious!), Nostalgic nibbles and Devilish delights (basically their nod to the twinkie and a chocolate counterpart), Make a wish cupcakes (their interpretation of their "mini" cake from their first book, only in cupcake form), halloween cupcakes, Pate a Choux nests and Pastry Cream, Wild Meringues, and Dulce De Leche, and more!
There are even 3-d Apple bushel cakes (the actual cupcake looks like a bushel of apples - so cute!), Flower pots (the actual pot is candy coating!), and there are directions on how to make your cupcakes look like several different flowers (gorgeous!), and then there's the 3-d Christmas trees, & the much desired Tiered mini cakes (one's a dragon - it's gorgeous, another one has a Paisley design, and the final cake is decorated in beautiful Lilacs.
And all of the frosting and filling recipes they suggest using are here, plus the cake batters. I think you'll find their books inspiring, easy to use, and fun to look at over and over again.
Also, the recipe for Kaye's buttercream is in here (it is out of this world!) and it's scaled down from the version in their first book, to make half a recipe.
I can't stress this enough, this is a miniature bakery book - think cupcakes, mini muffins, muffins, and single portion desserts. If that interests you, then you're going to absolutely love this book!
As a sidenote, as anyone who owns any of their three cookbooks can tell you, the photos are fabulous! You never have to guess what your dessert is going to look like, and the templates are included in the back of the book.
Just buy it!Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and Other Mini Treats Overview

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Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions Review

Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions
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Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions ReviewWhat a gem of a cookie decorating book! Many books have been written on this subject; some OK and others are great---add this to the "great" list! Bakers and writers Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer have turned out quite the encyclopedia of cookie design and here's why.....
Visually, the photography is sharp, clear, and very detailed; this is necessary in any instructional book that needs to show you how it's product is to turn out. And instead of one page and one cookie, the cookies are grouped into a category and photographed all together on that page. Each cookie stands out alone, but as a finished photo, each category of cookies is lovely.
On the opposite page of each grouping of cookies, they have made a outlined, numbered chart that describes how each cookie was decorated, step-by-step, so that you can't make a mistake. How much more could a cookie baker ask for other than having Valerie and Janice make them for you?
Peppered throughout the book are sidebars and hints on all the little things that you can do to make your cookies just that much more perfect, along with all the trials and errors they've had over their years of baking, to help you avoid the same problems.
Then, to make your cookie experience even easier, they made cookie templates that you can zerox and enlarge in order to make the shapes and designs you see in the book. This is a wonderful part of their book, but for myself, I don't have the time and patience to do that, so in addition, they have listed some sources for cookie cutters. My personal suggestion for a great cookie cutter company would be "Fancy Flours" at "www.fancyflours.com". This company literally has hundreds of the most unusual and adorable cookie cutters, and they have every single one used in this book as well.
As a little sidenote, in Chapter 7, they teach you how to make cookies for construction pieces like houses, sleighs, gift boxes, etc. It is an excellent chapter and is worth the price of the book all by itself. It details what type of dough to use to withstand the weight of the project, how to construct each piece, etc.
The book is sectioned as such:
CHAPTER ONE: COOKIE CRAFT INSPIRATIONS
COOKIE CRAFTS for HOLIDAYS and SEASONS
New Year's
Winter
Valentine's Day
Winter Into Spring
Easter and Spring
Mother's Day
Father's Day
Halloween
Thanksgiving and Autumn
Christmas
Hanukkah
COOKIE CRAFT for CELEBRATIONS
Showers and Weddings
Milestones
New Baby or Baby Shower
Kid's Celebration and Sports
Girlfriends
Pets
CHAPTER 2: INGREDIENTS, SUPPLIES, and EQUIPMENT
Flours, icings (thickness, thinness, etc), cookie sheets, cookie cutters, color charts, how to use your supplies
CHAPTER 3: COOKIE CRAFT PLANNING
Designing cookes (it even has a suggested sheet to use and mark your notes), color palettes, organizing your work area, cleaning up
CHAPTER 4: COOKIE RECIPES for CREATING BLANK CANVASES
Rolled Sugar Cookies
Coloring Dough
Rolled Chocolate Cookies
Rolled Nutty Cookies
Rolled Gingerbread Cookies
How to cut the dough, how to roll it out, etc
CHAPTER 5: PRE-BAKING DECORATING TECHNIQUES
Imprinting an Unbaked Cookie
Creating Windowpanes
Making Holes or Cut-Outs
Adding Dimensions to Cookies
Painting with Egg Tempera and Using Eggwash
Sugaring A Cookie or Attaching Add-Ons
CHAPTER 6: AFTER BAKING DECORATING TECHNIQUES
Royal Icing Recipes (how to's, the consistency needed, etc)
Piping and Flooding (the quintessential skill for cookie decorating)
Decorating Techniques
Using Fondant
CHAPTER 7: SIMPLE TO SHOWSTOPPING COOKIE CRAFT CONSTRUCTION
Multi-Cookie Creations
Stand-Up Cookies and Cookie Pace Cards
Cookie Messages
Party or Shower Favors, Cookie Boxes
Double-Sided Cookie Pops
Halloween Haunted House Luminaria (awesome!)
Santa's Sleigh Centerpeice
Baking Cookies for Construction
CHAPTER 8: FREEZING, STORING, WRAPPING, and SHIPPING
CHAPTER 9: COOKIE CRAFT EVENTS
Bakesales, parties, cookie swaps, etc
RESOURCES
Suggested sources for cutter, baking supplies, etc
This is a very sweet book of knowledge, hard work, and creativity; you will be very happy with this as part of your baking library, thanks to Valerie and Janice!
If after this endeavor, you would like to go to the next level of cookie creations, I would highly recommend "Creative Cookies" by Toba Garrett; the dimensions of this art are boundless, and Ms. Garrett will instruct you as she is a Master Cake Designer and Sugarcraft Artist.Cookie Craft: From Baking to Luster Dust, Designs and Techniques for Creative Cookie Occasions Overview

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Professional Cake Decorating Review

Professional Cake Decorating
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Professional Cake Decorating ReviewThis really is a comprehensive, excellent instruction book and it is appropriate for people at all levels of cake decorating experience. Toba Garrett covers everything from start to finish and at the end of each lesson she provides a self-quiz that will help you see how much you have learned, practice each technique and make sure you understand the terminology that goes with this exciting career/hobby.
I teach cake decorating at a local craft store and I own my own cake decorating business and Toba is an inspiration and my absolute favorite cake decorator. If you want to learn anything about the art of cake decorating, this book is worth the price! It could replace all the other cake books in my library all at once. Oh - and the recipes are fabulous too! Try the chocolate fudge cake recipe if you like chocolate cake, it's OUT OF THIS WORLD.
I want to mention that the recipes have the ingredient measurements for both a 5-6 quart mixer and a 20 quart mixer for those who are starting a kitchen with bigger equipment.Professional Cake Decorating Overview

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