The Confetti Cakes Cookbook: Spectacular Cookies, Cakes, and Cupcakes from New York City's Famed Bakery Review

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The Confetti Cakes Cookbook: Spectacular Cookies, Cakes, and Cupcakes from New York City's Famed Bakery ReviewWhat a lovely book of cake decorating education!! Well done Elisa!! Ms. Strauss is the owner of New York City's "Confetti Cakes". Though she worked in the fashion industry, a playful idea of mixing her love for baking with her eye for fashion brought her to this career, and it seems to suit her well. From her bakery comes this addicting book!!
Having been mesmorized by the feats and skills of such accompished cake decorators, I always look forward with great anticipation, to the latest tomes written on this subject. Ms. Strauss does not disappoint. She has compiled a rather delightful writing of the mastery of cake design and teaches a wide range of baking skills. The cake decorating devotee is given all the information necessary to reproduce what you seen on each wonderful page. This book has the ability for anyone, from novice to professional, to use and create and ooooh and aaaaah!
The instructions run from basic cookies in shapes from onesies outfits (that's the baby's first year everyday garment of basically longjohns) to purses, and cupcakes with beribboned polka-dots to beach sandals to the main event of spectacular cakes that would fool anyone due to their unique appearances, like popcorn bags to a sushi table, replete with "rice" and "California rolls".
The book is sturdy and thick with beautiful and detailed photography of each creation so that any questions can be answered with just a glance of the eye. Her explanations are clear and concise and they are given to you in steps both for the actions required as well as the timetable needed in order to plan your time wisely.
Her book is written in this order:
EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES:
This photographic and written section has what you need to work with as far as equipment and decorating tools, and each piece is numbered with a matching explanation of how you use it. There is a glossary, baking terms, practical matters, how to transport your creations, techniques for the actual decorating, filling cakes, sculpting cakes, covering cakes with fondant, constructing the cakes to hold their weight, piping with frosting and royal icing, brush embroidery, "wood staining" for making candied "tables" and "crates", making sugar bows, and more.
BASIC RECIPES:
Chocolate cake
Vanilla cake
Red velvet cake
Banana cake
Vanilla sugar cookie dough
Chocolate cookie dough
Cupcake frosting
Swiss meringue buttercream
Chocolate ganache
Royal icing
Simple syrup
Rolled fondant
How much fondant
COOKIES: (some templates are included)
Heart cookies
Snowflake cookies
Stacked wedding cake cookies
Baby onesie cookies
Birthday cake cookies
Stiletto cookies (so much fun to make!)
Handbag cookies
Witch's wardrobe cookies
Modern wedding vow cookies
Fruit cookies (they look so real)
Dragon and butterfly cookiesCUPCAKES:
Crystal cupcakes
Polka dot cupcakes
Sports cupcakes
Pool ball cupcakes
Flip-flop cupcakes (yep, little tiny sandals!)
Seashell cupcakes (the "seashells" are so easy to make)
Snowman cupcakes
Rubber ducky cupcakes
Hydrangea cupcakesMINI-CAKES:
Tomato mini cakes (a tomato sitting in dirt in a pail)
Monogram mini cakes
Party hat mini cakes
Dice mini cakes
Mini present cakes
Retro TV mini cakes (so darn cute!)
Popcorn mini cakes (this is easy and fun and everyone loves them!)
Tote bag mini cakes
Mini wedding cakes
Teacup mini cakes
CAKES:
Bow cake (very simple yet elegant, especially for a first time project)
Baby blocks cake
Baseball hat cake
Chinese takeout box cake (clever; fortune cookie recipe too!)
2-tiered stripes cake
Brush embroidery (another very elegant first time cake)
Hydrangea cake
Appliqued flower cake
Chocolate embroidery wedding cake
The handbag cake (from the from cover of the book)
Wine bottle cake
Sushi cake
Sugar stiletto cake and shoebox cake (this put Elisa in the spotlight and you will see why!)
RESOURCES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
INDEX
Being prejudiced to all that is baking, I am picky about what really inspires and educates and this book is up there with the other great volumes of true baking eduction. I would highly recommend this for anyone who enjoys this type of culinary conquest; no doubt about it, you'll be happy with this acquisition to your baking library!The Confetti Cakes Cookbook: Spectacular Cookies, Cakes, and Cupcakes from New York City's Famed Bakery Overview

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Hello, Cupcake: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make Review

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Hello, Cupcake: Irresistibly Playful Creations Anyone Can Make ReviewSUGAR ALERT: I will be fawning and tripping all over in talking about this book!
If you are a closet cake-decorator but you don't feel up in the ranks of Duff or Colette or Martha, then grab this book and hold on to your socks, because Karen Tack and Alan Richardson will take you on a fabulous decorating ride!!
Wow, wow, and WOW! This veritable encyclopedia of "mini-cake" decorating is so fun and easy that there is absolutely no excuse for anyone to lament "they can't". With the use of food items found anywhere, you will be making the cutest, and most impressive cupcake creations you can possibly think of, and Karen and Alan will make you legendary to boot!
This team of talent has come up with extremely amazing and irresistable cupcakes like giraffes, Van Gogh paintings, clowns, aquariums, etc that will all fit on top of a little poof of cake batter.
The book size itself is large with big print which lends itself to the purpose of the photographic detail that is so big, sharp, and clear, there is no doubt or question on sequence or step. Karen Tack is the recipe creator and food stylist and Alan Richardson is the text writer and photographer; both are brilliant and incredibly talented individuals, so as a team, they are a match made in cupcake heaven.
The Acknowledgement page was itself fun and relaxed, not something plodded through; you can tell it was done with real gratitude and thought, which is part of the overall charm of how this book was put together.
There are 8 chapters between the "Introduction" and the "Sources"; got those socks gripped?........
INTRODUCTION: Your text page begins the journey, and right after, you are given an impressive section of pages that visually, and with text, show you how you will make the many creations through the use of candies, cookies, and types of sugars.
CUPCAKING TECHNIQUES: This was invaluable for those who are novice cupcake bakers or wannabe's. Hints and instructions on methods for pouring batter, spreading frosting, making frosting, and melting chocolate for designs, are shown in close detail. They show you how to make "fur" for the lion cupcakes and "leaves" for flowers. This is followed by methods used to draw "bugs", people faces, and hairstyles by using melted chocolate and candies. The next section shows how you will literally build up these creations, like the bowling pin cupcakes, so instruction is shown in simple and fascinating detail. Part of the more complex designs require a grouping of cupcakes, like "corn on the cob", "rabbits in a hole", or the "alligator", and you are given an idea of the schematics involved in getting them just right!
APRIL FOOL'S THEME:
Corn on the Cob
Bagels and Lox
Buttered Popcorn
TV Dinner ("peas & carrots", "drumsticks", & "mashed potato" cupcakes!)
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Box of Chocolates
Van Gogh's "Starry Night" in frosting (he'd love it!)
PARTY ANIMALS:
March of the Penguins
Fat Cats (cats with their paws on fishbones!)
Fishbowl (you use those Pepperidge Farm fishies for this one!)
Panda-monium
Westies
Crazy Horses (this uses candy circus peanuts and wafers)
Pup Cakes (a whole bunch of poochies to choose from!)
Monarchs (what a great Spring party or bridal shower presentation!)
Shark Attack (you'll want to go into these waters!)
Old Swampy the 'Gator
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CUPCAKE!:
When I Grow Up
Party Princess (any little girl will just LOVE these!)
Slumber Party
Big Birthday Party
Bowl Me Over (this is soooo darn cute; pins and a bowling ball!!!)
The Big Top (definitely a more time-required, but great, project)
HOSTEST with the MOSTEST:
Sunflowers (a veritable burst of green and yellow and Oreo cookies!)
Black and White Party
Play Pool (no one will mind the 8 ball!)
Baby Shower
Petit Fours (very elegant and delicate)
Garden Party ( a "garden" of carrots, peas, radishes, and cabbage)
Easter Eggs
Rabbit Holes (so unbelievably clever; Karen Tack is a genious!)
Candy Stars and Stripes Forever
Family Tree
Wedding Cake and Monograms
NIGHTMARE BEFORE THANKSGIVING:
Alien Invasion
Creepy Crawlers (almost good enough for goin' fishin')
What a Hoot
Pumpkin Patch ( absolutely adorable; Alan's photography is superb!)
Howling Werewolves
Autumn Leaves (how did they think of this great project?!)
Larry the Turkey
HOLIDAY ON ICING:
Edible Ornaments (incredible boxed "ornaments"!)
String of Delights
Snow Globes (this was sheer genius by placing the cakes on their side!)
Gingerbread Boys
Partridge in a Pear Tree (fantastic!)
Nutcracker Sweet (you'll be dancing!)
Frosting the Snowman (too darn cute!)
White Wreath (Christmas glory in white and red! Awesome!)
CUPCAKES AND FROSTINGS:
(Cake mix recipes): Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Chunk Surprise, Chocolate Mint, Orange Spice, Banana Chocolate, Gingerbread
(Homemade recipes): Chocolate Cupcakes, Banana Cupcakes, Carrot Cupcakes, Almond Cupcakes, Lemon-Poppy Seed Cupcakes, Vanilla Cupcakes
(Frostings): Next-to-Instant Ganache (melted chocolate), Homemade Ganache, Almost-Homemade Vanilla Buttercream, Cream Cheese Frosting, Chocolate Frosting
SOURCES
OK, OK.................I have gone beyond fawning but if you're a cake decorating fool like myself, you understand the passion. My deep gratitude to Karen and Alan; you guys ROCK!
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Professional Cake Decorating Review

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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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The Well-Decorated Cake Review

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The Well-Decorated Cake ReviewFINALLY, of all the cake decorating books I own, a new one comes along that could almost make ALL the others obsolete -- it's that good.
A recent review of Collette Peters' "Cakes To Dream On" (a book which claims in its subtitle to be a "A Master Class in Decorating") says, and I quote: "While I concede that this book is stunning to look at, Colette Peters does not want you to learn how to make these cakes. The cake decorating instructions are vague and absurdly simplistic in the extreme; general discussion of technique ... is either absent or useless in its brevity... This is another narcissistic venture by Colette Peters."
Well, Ms. Garrett, on the other hand, is REALLY offering you 'a master class in decorating'. Unlike Ms. Peters, Ms. Garrett DOES want you to learn how to make these cakes and DOES want to help you do so. I am overcome with admiration for her for that fact alone. She'd have every right in the world to be narcissistic and stuck-up, to jealously guard all her professional skills and secrets ... and yet she's not and she doesn't. She gives the real deal in this book and it's worth every penny and more of its purchase price.
Books like Ms. Peters' various books which may in truth, despite claims to the contrary, serve only as inspiration rather than instruction, still meet a very real need -- and I don't mean to imply otherwise. However, what's so admirable about "The Well-Decorated Cake" is that in it, Ms. Garrett -- a seriously skilled decorator -- offers BOTH: real, hard-core instruction on sophisticated, professional techniques, AND inspiration and ideas galore thanks to the numerous photos of completed cakes.
Would this book be appropriate for absolute beginners? I'm not entirely sure -- it aims high and assumes at least a working familiarity with the fundamental components involved. Still, it spells out any number of details carefully and thoroughly -- far more carefully and thoroughly than any number of books and/or articles I've read in my years of researching this subject. She teaches professionals and it shows.
By the way, I purchased the paperback edition and am more than pleased with its quality. The paper is heavy and smooth and the font crisp and clear. Add to that truly superb photographs in abundance and lovely line drawings and diagrams.
This book is, undeniably, a winner. Congratulations, Ms. Garrett, and THANK YOU!
P.S. (April 2006) I see Ms. Garrett is coming out this September with another book on cake decorating (Professional Cake Decorating, Wiley publisher) intended for professional students. Betcha it'll be really comprehensive and solid. Keep your eyes open!The Well-Decorated Cake Overview

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Wedding Cake Art and Design: A Professional Approach Review

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Wedding Cake Art and Design: A Professional Approach ReviewOnce again, we have been given a gem in the form of a cake decorating "bible" of sorts except this time, the essence of this book brings you beyond the fondant and royal icing and other assorted expectations with wedding cakes. This time, Ms. Garrett gives you her professional insight into how, when, why, and how much to consider in approaching the subject of the wedding cake business.
For those professionals who are well-associated with the legistics end of cakes, you already know the information within the covers of this book. But for those cake/wedding cake bakers just starting out, or those not quite sure what demands are non-negotiable when choosing to work in this field, here it is just waiting for you.
Toba Garrett is a solid and established player in the field of cake decorating as she teaches at the Institute of Culinary Cake and Design in New York as head of the Cake Decorating and Design Department. And for those who know what ICES is (The International Cake Exploration Society), she is counted among its esteemed members. Add to that her three other books (Professional Cake Decorating, Creative Cookies, and The Well-Decorated Cookie) and you are looking at The Cake Professor.
Where to begin? "Wedding Cake Art & Design: A Professional Approach" is a heavy, luxurious book of top-notch photography and print that draws you into each cake project with zeal. Aspects of planning, creating, and executing that most important cake are all given the respected attention they require and that the wedding couple deserve. But it is also necessary to advise those considering this book, that they have a very solid foundation of cake preparation, decorating, and assembly skills already under their belt. As Julia Child once said, "This isn't for fluffies!".
280 pages await you in instruction, construction, and advice to help perfect your knowledge and skills. The photography is pristine and clear, the teaching precise, and the anticipation heightened as you truly want to achieve the end result. The contents of the book are as follows:
Chapter One: Designing the Cake
Chapter Two: Creative Designs
Chapter Three: Romantic Designs
Chapter Four: Textured Designs
Chapter Five: Modern Designs
Chapter Six: Wedgewood-Inspired Designs
Chapter Seven: Chocolate Designs
Chapter Eight: Seasonal Designs
Chapter Nine: Fashion-Inspired Desgns
Chapter Ten: Floral Designs
Chapter Eleven: Textile-Inspired Designs
Chapter Twelve: Setting Up A Cake Decorating Business
Chapter Thirteen: Recipes and Flavor Combinations
Appendix (with templates and cake-cuttting guides)
Chapter One: Designing the Cake
We have come a long way from the cookie cutter wedding cake of years past. Today's brides (and grooms) know what they want even if they can't conceptualize their thoughts, therefore they will look to you for direction. This is an enjoyable aspect of the pre-cake decorating phase because imagination has no limits. Many aspects of the wedding will most definitely bring you to the style and texture they'll want for the cake, and starting with the color theme, will bring you closer to making the final decisions. How to prepare a bridal couple for their first meeting with you, getting those all-important samplings presented in order to choose a flavor and batter, cake size, cake sketch, cake cost per servings, etc all play together in the cake choice. Also covered is estimating the time and labor that will go into the cake as well as transporting it. The transportion costs themselves, and other legistics, round out this chapter.
Chapters Two through Chapter Eleven involved the specific styles and designs as mentioned in the above "contents" section. This is where Ms. Garrett shines in her skills and imagination. Flowers, textures of the fondant or gumpaste, cameo disks, use of stitched monogramms, fondant pleating, color-washed fondant, marzipan fruit, netting, stenciled designs, petal crowns on the tiers, pastillage disks, chocolates, fondant bows, run-outs, appliques, and most exquisite (and my favorite!) Australian stringwork are just some of the techniques and amazing skills she possesses and patiently passes along to you. While all the cakes are beautiful, some are just masterpieces of art with the most simple being the most exquisite!
Chapter Twelve: Setting Up A Cake Design Business
This is what made the book for me because most cake decorating books are about the baking and the cakes. Period. But what about those of us who are seriously comtemplating a shoppe? What is neccessary to run your business from your home as opposed to a store front? What are the legalities of such a venture? What about the health codes? Once you do decide to open your business, how do you get started and get your name out there? What equipment will you need? While this chapter just scratches the surface of these very important questions, they are a good start from which to find those people and places that can safely guide you through the process. I thought the most important question in this whole chapter was "do you want to be married to your business 24/7?". That will give you a good "think" to be sure!
Chapter Thirteen: Recipes and Flavor Combination
Batters and flavors have gotten way past yellow batter and vanilla buttercream, haven't they? A guide for flavor combinations awaits you at the end of this chapter. So here are some great recipes for:
Chocolate Pound Cake
Lemon Pound Cake
Red Velvet Cake
German Chocolate Cake
Almond paste Cake
Dominican Cake (pineapple juice and rum.....yum-yum!)
Peanut Butter Cake
High-Yield Yellow Cake
Chocolate Fudge Cake
Carrot Cake
Almond-Walnut Pound Cake
Lemon Coconut Cake
Decorator's Buttercream Icing
French Vanilla Buttercream
Swiss Meringue Buttercream
Amaretto Mocha Buttercream
White Chocolate Buttercream
Ganache
Dark Chocolate Buttercream Icing
Italian Meringue Buttercream
Meringue Icing
Cream Cheese Buttercream
Confectioners Glaze (aka "glue" for holding things together like flowers or textures to the cake)
Quick Glaze
Marzipan
Marzipan Fondant Paste
Rolled Fondant
Pastillage
Rolled Fondant Modeling Paste
Marzipan Chocolate Fondant Paste
Chocolate Rolled Fondant
Modeling Chocolate (aka "chocolate plastic")
White Modeling Chocolate Paste
Egg White Royal Icing (note: I only use pasteurized egg whites to always be on the safe side)
Meringue Powder Royal Icing
Quick Gumpaste (my ace-in-the-hole many a time)
Flood Icing
Lemon, Lime, or Orange Curd
Pineapple Curd
Passion Fruit Curd
Sieved Apricot Jam
Pastry Cream
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and know that it will be a very welcomed book on your cake book shelves. As I said earlier, Ms. Garrett is one of the best, and while she doesn't get into the exploding field of shaped cakes and forms (animals, "people", themes and such that you see on shows like Food Network, Amazing Cakes, etc), her genteel and pristine works of art are more ethereal in nature.
And if you should have the chance to look at her cookie decorating books, by all means, do so! What a lovely presentation to have not just her cakes, but some of her fabulous cookie art to accompany the wedding dessert table!
Peace!
Wedding Cake Art and Design: A Professional Approach Overview

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