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

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Summary: made believers out of my in laws!!
Review: I got this book because of the reviews I had read, and I love it! I made a three tier cake for my little boy's third birthday party, and while I was rushed making the icing and decorating it didn't matter. The cake turned out great, he would have been happy with a big bowl of the icing and everyone else loved the cake. It had great flavor and it was really easy to make. To get the same results again would be simple, and even better with a little more practice the cake would look perfect too.

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Summary: FUN, FUN, FUN!
Review: I have bought other cake decorating books but none have propelled me to actually take action. These are fun, they are crooked (I can do crooked!)they have crazy colors and crazy shapes and they start you out slowly. I love the explanations of why they used certain products, you understand the how and why. Working with chocolate is no longer a scary contraption of double boilers but a short use of the microwave. Buy it, you will love it.

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Summary: This is the best cake book ever!
Review: I just made the best tasting birthday cake ever for my four year old following the recipes in this book. I have been decorating cakes for a long time, but they never really tasted that great. This time, everyone at the party couldn't tell me enough just how great the cake tasted. And it looked absolutely fantastic too. Finally a book that gives you cakes that taste as good as they look. I have to agree with the other reviewer that this book is truly a gift. Thank you Kaye and Liv Hansen.

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Summary: You can do it!
Review: I ordered several cake decorating books to see what would appeal to me.I am a baker trying to elevate my decorating skills.This is the only book that I did not return.If you want to try eating a little bit of cake with your sugar,get the others.If you want a beatiful cake that you can actually eat,get this one!

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Summary: LOVE IT!
Review: I purchased this book because I enjoy baking birthday cakes for my children, but, I'm a novice cake baker/decorator and am in need of some guidance. The simple instructions and wonderful pictures are an asset and the recipes alone are worth the price of the book. Some decorating techniques are currently beyond my capabilities but they are inspiring and with each cake I'm improving my decorating skills. I was truly pleased by ALL the recipes I have tried. Each was as good, if not superior to the 'better' bakeshops in my city. I have made the house buttercream, cookies and cream filling, pinwheel cake, and vanilla cupcakes. Plus, by following their instructions, I made my first 3-tiered cake that didn't tilt to one side!

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Summary: Great if you like that style of cakes!
Review: I really do love this book. I have been a cake designer for only a few years. They (the authors) give wonderful instruction on making the chocolate decorations that they use on most of the cakes featured in the book. They give wonderful cake, but especially icing and filling recipes. This is totally worth having in your cake book library. The only negative is that there really isn't a lot of variety in the book. The cake featured on the front cover is the same type of cake shown throughout the book. There are a lot of different versions and themes, but they are mainly the same brighlty colored, whimsical style cakes. In their defense, they totally admit to this, and I am not complaining about it because I love thier designs, but I just didn't expect when I purchased the book that all of the cakes would be so similar. Again, I do highly recommend it if you like wacky whimsical cake designs.

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Summary: A nice change from traditional cake decorating!
Review: I received this as a gift and I love it. I had taken a cake decorating class and was excited about getting this book. It puts a new spin on the traditional methods of cake decorating. I have tried a few of the designs, and lots of the recipes- they are truly fantastic. Plus, they are very easy to understand with the step by step instructions- I have had a sucess every time. Not to mention the rave reviews from my friends on my "masterpieces". I would encouarge anyone to buy this book.

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Summary: I love this book!
Review: I use this book for ideas, recipes, techniques and inspiration! The techniques are easy, and the recipes are delicious! (Chocolate chip pound cake and Vanilla cupcakes are a family favorite!)I decorate kids cakes, and they love the ideas I use from this book. It's well worth the money. (and it's just a fun book!)

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Summary: Not enough pictures
Review: I was excited about this book, however I find that there are not enough pictures to go along with the information. This is truely more of a book rather than a cook or decorating book. I must admit that this is a different spin on traditional cake decorating, however I never had a complaint with the tradtitional. Brought this book to jazz up the tradtitional and that mission has been accomplished with this book.

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Summary: Even a Home Kitchen can make these
Review: I was looking for a book on Whimsical cakes and how to make them. I bought this book and decide to read it first before even contemplating making one of their recipes.
As I read I found that the recipes were easier than I had expected......so I made a cake.
Ususally I don't even read some of the cake recipes from bakery books, I don't have the ingrediants or the tools. But I found that I had all that were required and made the Chocolate Butter Cake. I don't even like Chocolate ( my husband does) but I made this cake and I tried a small piece and it was great!
I then tackled the House Buttercream icing. Be prepared, When you mix the boiling water into the powdered sugar mixture it does not look like it will turn into icing.
I was making a mental note to see if I had enough ingrediants to make my regular icing because I didn't think this would come out.
I also used a hand mixer for the icing ( they state to use a stationary mixer). Yes I had to mix it by had for 15 minutes BUT it was worth it! Really! The BEST buttercream icing I have ever had!
I am not a proffesional baker and I try to buy books that accept the fact that I don't have all the tools or ingrediants to make thier recipes. They are few and far between sometimes. But this was such a delight to get and find that it was easier than I had expected to make a very special cake.
Now that I found how easy this cake and icing were I am now making a Chocolate Glaze cake tonight. Will wonders never cease?
The extra was that reading the Hansen's book was like being in their kitchen with them.Questions I had as I read were eventually answered.
Excelent book!