Rating: 
Summary: This book woke me up!
Review: I have been making cakes and pastry for many years and I have read many great books about it, but this book helped me push my work to another level and thank you Margaret Braun for that! I am now using my eye in a different way. I have started mixing colors differently and looking at art for new ideas. This book is a must have for the serious cake decorator. Would love to see more!
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: I just ordered two copies of "cakewalk" after a friend of mine recommended it to me. This book is an incredible find! I just spent two hours totally engrossed. Not only are the cakes completely awe-inspiring, the whole book is beautifully designed , full of luscious illustrations that look like hand-painted wallpaper. The insights of the writer/cake-artist Margaret Braun are really interesting and personal. The book seems very accessible, not just for pastry people or chefs but for anyone looking for a whirlwind tour of one very gifted woman's creative journey-- her ideas, personal history, family recipes, art and architectual references, etc. There are so many people I'd love to buy this book for. It's that kind of book, a really great gift. One of a kind and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Highly recommended!
Review: I just ordered two copies of "cakewalk" after a friend of mine recommended it to me. This book is an incredible find! I just spent two hours totally engrossed. Not only are the cakes completely awe-inspiring, the whole book is beautifully designed , full of luscious illustrations that look like hand-painted wallpaper. The insights of the writer/cake-artist Margaret Braun are really interesting and personal. The book seems very accessible, not just for pastry people or chefs but for anyone looking for a whirlwind tour of one very gifted woman's creative journey-- her ideas, personal history, family recipes, art and architectual references, etc. There are so many people I'd love to buy this book for. It's that kind of book, a really great gift. One of a kind and highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The most beautiful cake book I've ever seen
Review: If you're a cake or sweets lover or are drawn to the culinary or fine arts, this book will knock your socks off. Like the cakes, this book is a visual extravaganza. And there are great recipes for cakes and fillings, too. The book is really a work of art by a visionary. Every page is different and filled with fine art and beautiful photography. This is the best-looking cake book I've ever seen. Absolutely a treasure.
Rating:
Summary: Cakewalk: Adventures with Sugar
Review: LOVE THE BOOK! I admire the way Miss Braun explains "how-to's" in this book. I love how she expresses architectural art and brings it out into sugarcraft. She depicts art of decorating to a more creative level, which makes a decorator at any level of expertise more comfortable doing a job that they love. Also I compliment the recipes that the book has to offer.
Rating:
Summary: Love it!!!
Review: Margaret Braun is an artist. This book is worth every penny for the pictures alone. Ms Braun includes just enough instructions and recipes to let an amateur like me make one of her cakes - which I did for a friend's wedding (All About the Bows). This book is like a walk through Tiffany's or something. I am amazed by her work.
Rating: 
Summary: Not much for the money
Review: Margaret Braun is very talented and her cakes are splendid! Nonetheless, I was initially disappointed in this book, because there are just a few cakes shown, and although they are beautiful indeed, they don't begin to be worth even the discounted sticker price! A good number of the pages have just a few words spaced widely apart, having mostly to do with her thoughts on art or history. But even those very brief comments only offer the type of information you'd get in an 8th grade classroom. Also, this book is mainly for inspiration, not direction. She says at the beginning that if the reader is a beginner, to read the whole book ... but I find it hard to believe with the spare directions that any beginner would be able to actually use the book. They also said in the jacket that detailed diagrams are displayed -- when in fact they are just a sketch of the finished product, that you can see a picture of a few pages later. I got the feeling these were part of the filler. However, I do like how, on the pages where she shows a standard technique or a decoration she uses, there are several pictures of details from different building facades and references to art and history. Looking at the pictures, I felt as though I was standing next to her, getting inspired by everything around me.
Rating:
Summary: A Cakewalk with the Queen of Sugar
Review: Okay everyone ... this one is a GEM. Margaret is an amazing artist, and her cakes are extroadinary!!! You will get quite an insight into the technical aspects of her breathtaking sugar work from this book. It has an endless supply of historical references, recipes and practice exercises ... not to mention the inspiring photographs! Cakewalk is overflowing with personality and charm and is a must for anyone who is interested in cake design. These cakes are on a whole different level!
So, for those of you who paint ... for those of you who bake ... (and for those of you who just like cake!) ... you will NOT be disappointed!!!
Rating:
Summary: Zen and The Art of Decorating
Review: Reding this book was an education in many ways The design
and illistrations show a subtle influence of art, architecture,
and music in this artists approach to design. I've never seen
such original yet classical looking decorating. I am a pastry chef by profession in the business for 22 years and
I have neverseen work this beautiful, or skilled.
I am humbled with each beautifully
photographed page.
Rating: 
Summary: Planning On Building A Masterpiece . . . ?
Review: Then this book is for you. The author is truly a master at her craft; the cakes pictured are architecturally striking and marvelously beautiful.The book is a large-scale glossy hardbound volume, which might lead one to believe it is filled with pictures of hundreds of different cakes Ms. Braun has baked/built/decorated/bejeweled. Instead, it is a painstaking, precise instruction manual on how to construct a relative few of these matterhorn confections. It's exciting to witness an accomplished chef so willing to share the detailed, step-by-step secrets of her craft. For someone without aspirations of building at least one epic wedding cake, however, this book may disappoint despite the generosity of its author.
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