Cookbooks Galore: The Cake Edition!

I was recently sent a variety of cookbooks to review.  Don't miss - at the end of each of these book reviews is a great discount code for you to shop online with New Holland Publishers so you can buy these books for yourself at a great price!

A Piece of Cake by Leila Lindholm

From the publisher: A complete, basic, international baking book filled with delicious recipes for everything from biscuits, pastries and cakes to breads, crisp breads and accompanying jams and sauces.  A complete, basic, international baking book filled with delicious recipes for everything from biscuits, pastries and cakes to breads, crisp breads and accompanying jams and sauces. New exciting flavour combinations, such as chocolate cupcakes and toffee and pecan pie are featured alongside classics like muffins, meringues and cheesecake as well as nine different flavourings for basic sponge cakes. Recipes for brioche, fougasse from Provence, sourdough baguette and nine types of scones are mixed with healthy rolls, Danish rye bread, Leila's delicious lingonberry loaf and a whole range of tempting little cakes.

My first impressions of this book were good. For starters, it's very me - lots of gorgeous lifestyle pictures and Cath Kidston fabrics - anybody who knows me would say I am a sucker for that! It's a really nicely presented book and feels, and looks, good quality.

I have to admit to needing to Wiki Leilia Lindholm as I wasn't sure who she was and it turns out she is a Swedish TV chef. This doesn't mean all the recipes are Swedish though - there is a really good mix of recipes, many of which you would be familiar with.  The book also covers drinks, savoury baking and a section with some creams, sauces and jams.  I particularly like the handy "cake SOS" section at the back to help you with troubleshooting your baking problems.

One of the features of the book is that she will take a concept like a crumble or a muffin, give you the basic recipe for that and then lots of variation recipes. I've seen this has been received negatively by some reviewers however I happen to love this idea.  I love a crumble and this now gives me lots of inspiration.

An example of some of the recipes and some of the things I hope to try out in the future: raspberry lemon meringue pie (pictured above), lovely toffee slices, almond butter biscuits, banana fudge cupcakes and malteser muffins.

A Piece of Cake is published by New Holland Publishers, price £19.99

Enter the code MrsMBlog at the checkout to receive 20% discount and free P&P.

(Offer vaild until 30^th September 2011, UK only)

Cake Decorating Tips by Sue McMahon

From the publisher: Celebration cakes have grown in popularity over recent years, and the materials and equipment for making them at home have become more readily available. In this invaluable book Sue McMahon takes full advantage of all the latest gadgets as well as basic kitchen equipment which can be used to achieve professional looking results as quickly and easily as possible. From the very basics of successful cake baking through to the different types of icings to hints and tips for making the finished cakes really stand out, this book covers the whole process of creating a celebration cake at home. Cake decorators can choose which effects to combine to create a unique finished design for a truly personal celebration cake - just let your creativity flow!

I think it's probably best if we don't say too much about my cake decorating skills, perhaps other than to say they are pretty much non-existence. I doubt this down to complete lack of skill but it is definitely a combination of lack of know-how and patience! Sue McMahon is the Cookery Editor of Woman's Weekly and has been since 1993. She's passionate about cakes and cake-decorating and has taught classes around the world. Safe to say, she knows her stuff.  

The book is comprehensive starting with how to line tines (always handy because I struggle with this often and many cookbooks assume you already know how to do this) and includes covering cakes with different types of icing sugars and buttercream before launching into the basic decorations and techniques using crimping, embossing and texture cutters etc.  I found it fascinating to see how to make the strings of pearls and beads that you see wrapped around the bottom of the cake - it looked quite simple and gave me hope that maybe I can decorate cakes after all!  There's a section on working with chocolate and my favoruite part - making sugar-paste models. I'd love to have a go at this!

The methods are easy to follow because of the clear instructions and step-by-step pictures.  The sugarpaste roses are probably a bit above me to be honest but I think this book is ideal for anyone new to cake decorating as all the basics are covered here.

Cake Decorating Tricks is published by New Holland Publishers, price £12.99
Enter the code MrsMBlog at the checkout to receive 20% discount and free P&P.
(Offer vaild until 30^th September 2011, UK only)

love & kisses 
Mrs M x