Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com

Average Customer Rating:

much better than the "cake bible"

Customer Rating:

My sister has the booked named the "Cake Bible". It appeared to be a wonderful book, but not so much! The "bible" had mostly cake never in reach of beginners and the recipes were extremely unforgiving. One mistake and it would fail. This book is not only much more versatile but is very beginner friendly. Loads of basic recipes are supported by ideas on how to go further and make a more advanced cake. Excellent book, would buy if I didnt already own!

Fabulous!	Customer Rating:
One of all time favorite cookbooks! I have tried about 15 recipes and they all come out perfectly and so delicious!!! Lots of desserts in here that I'll be making for years to come.

A staple for any Serious Cake Decorator/Designer

Customer Rating:

Tish Boyle has really pulled through with this book, The Cake Book, to create a staple for any cake Decorator/designer's library. A beginner would be pleasantly surprised on their success with the recipes in this book as well. The layout is concise and to the point. You can choose easy to hard recipes. Since I have made many of the recipes in this book I can honestly say the success of them have been quite rewarding in my cake business. My two favorite is the "Silky Chocolate Buttercream" on pg. 326 and the easy "Red Berry Sauce" on pg. 350. I also found the beginning sections of this book refreshingly informative on a general level. The only thing this book lacks is there aren't a ton of color photos, but in return you get more recipes. The sketched drawings in the front are at a "tips level" so I don't count that as a minus. In this case I'm glad she wrote/compiled it in the way she did. Note: Anyone posting a review of any baking/cook book that hasnt tried the recipes should be taken with 'grain of salt' IMHO - readers please keep this in mind when looking at other reviews that have that statement.

Just a Terrific Cake Book	Customer Rating:
I own more than a few baking books and I've realized recently that this one of the few - out of the hundreds of books in my collection- that I consistently return to because of the great selection of recipes, and the fact that the cakes taste great and the recipes work. (This book also happens to have the only crumb topping recipe I've ever found that really works (at least for me.)

Plenty to Celebrate

Customer Rating:

As author Tish Boyle put it, "Cakes are the edible symbol of life's celebrations." Cakes are - or should be - celebrations on their own, however, and this volume gives many reasons to rejoice. Boyle is a professional. She serves as editor-in-chief for both "Chocolatier" and "Pastry & Art Design" magazines and is a graduate of LaVarenne Ecole de Cuisine (founded by the extraordinary Anne Willan). She has worked extensively as a pastry chef, food stylist, caterer, and has authored several other dessert books. Cakewise, Boyle is in the same caregory as Carole Walter, Susan Purdy, Rose Levy Beranbaum, Maida Heatter, Carole Bloom, Nick Malgieri, and Lisa Yockelson - all of whose books I own, along with another dozen devoted to cakes alone. Did I need this volume? Absolutely. Did I glean things from this book that I had not found in others? Without question. Is the book overpriced at $40? Yes, it is - about $10 more than it should be - but it can be had for less at Amazon and other sites. What makes this book valuable? For me, cookbooks and baking books should be as much about technique, equipment, and ingredients as a compilation of recipes. The first 57 pages of "The Cake Book" is just that. The first chapter, "Ingredients for Cakes" boasts a simple guide for "Boiled Sugar Syrup Stages". In the third chapter "Cake-Baking Equipment", there is a handy "Guide to Cake Pan Sizes" giving not only surface area, but volume in cups for 24 different pans! A guide to blanching and toasting nuts in Chapter 4: "Cake-Making Techniques, Tips and Troubleshooting" provides oven temperatures specific to five different varieties of nuts. A chapter toward the end of the book, "Basic Recipes and Accompaniments" gives instructions for tempering chocolate, and provides recipes for "Basic Soaking Syrup"; "Praline Paste"; "Lemon Curd"; "Caramel Sauce"; and "Candied Orange Zest" among others - including a recipe for "Banana Ice Cream". The final chapter, "Sources" supplies 21 different sources for hard-to-find ingredients and equipment. Now for the recipes: The "Banana Cake with Caramel Espresso Frosting" is a winner - at least the cake part - I frosted my cake with whipped chocolate ganache. The cake was moist and full of banana flavor. The "Brooklyn Blackout Cake" shares a similarity to Dorie Greenspan's "Devil's Food White-Out Cake" in that both use chocolate crumbs from one of the layers to cover the frosted cake. One of the disappointments was the "Dark Chocolate Sour Cream Pound Cake" until I made it again with Pernigotti cocoa, instead of Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa (I was temporarily out of the Pernigotti). The cocoa switch made all the difference, eliminating the dry texture and bitter taste. I like to use boiling water to bring out the cocoa flavor - but using Boyle's technique worked fine. The chapter entitled "Cheesecakes" is especially appealing, with such offerings as "Classic New York Cheesecake"; "Hazelnut Vanilla Cheesecake"; and "Marbled Mascarpone Cheesecake". Another reviewer pointed out the obvious error in the "Fresh Ginger Spice Cake", which lacks a rising agent - no baking powder! While some pound cakes and certainly flourless cakes do not use baking powder or soda, this one will indeed suffer without it. My suggestion would be to add 2 teaspoons baking powder to the dry ingredients. One grave sin is the "Strawberry Shortcake" recipe which employs a Genoise rather than the traditional biscuit shortcake - so it really isn't Strawberry Shortcake after all. (A biscuit base is sturdy enough to support all the juice from the strawberries, without falling apart). The given recipe appears to be a lovely cake, however and is probably delicious. There are 24 fillings and frostings offered with variations (I'm going to try the fig filling with my mother's Lady Baltimore Cake) and none are difficult. The book is peppered with charming sayings throughout - from George Bernard Shaw to Calvin Trillin and there are 16 pages of beautiful color photographs. My recommendation is to buy the book more for techniques and information than the recipes (although the Banana Cake was among the best I've ever tried). This shouldn't be your first or only book dedicated to cakes. There are many other books with a larger collection of classics. Most of the recipes in "The Cake Book" appear reliable, however - although I have only tried a few - but there are many handy tips and resources that will serve the cake baker well (although on a personal note, I prefer baking parchment to silicone baking mats any day of the week).