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Decorated: Sublimely Crafted Cakes for Every Occasion
Whether it’s a birthday or wedding, promotion or dinner party, there’s no better way to celebrate than with a slice of glorious cake. In Decorated April Carter shows home bakers how to take your cakes to the next level of amazingness without all the fuss. Crammed with tips and tricks, there is something for everyone, from beginners to experienced bakers.
Use fresh flowers, fruit and sprinkles for decorative impact, master the art of piping, add tiers, color and height to your basic sponge, and discover new and delicious flavor combinations. Try your hand at a flourless chocolate almond cake with an impressive decoration of amaretto whipped cream, toasted almonds and chocolate shards, or for ambitious bakers there’s a choux bun tower with rainbow icing! Delight your friends with the dark chocolate blackberry cake, topped with blackberries dipped in edible glitter for some extra sparkle.
If you are bored of novelty cakes and fussy sugarcraft isn’t your thing, Decorated is the book for you.
Use fresh flowers, fruit and sprinkles for decorative impact, master the art of piping, add tiers, color and height to your basic sponge, and discover new and delicious flavor combinations. Try your hand at a flourless chocolate almond cake with an impressive decoration of amaretto whipped cream, toasted almonds and chocolate shards, or for ambitious bakers there’s a choux bun tower with rainbow icing! Delight your friends with the dark chocolate blackberry cake, topped with blackberries dipped in edible glitter for some extra sparkle.
If you are bored of novelty cakes and fussy sugarcraft isn’t your thing, Decorated is the book for you.
- GenresCookbooks
160 pages, Hardcover
First published October 14, 2014
24 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
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March 19, 2020I picked this one up a couple of months ago and haven't yet had the chance to try any of the recipes. However, today I felt like going through it and putting markers on the pages that I found interesting. And let me tell you, there are quite a few cakes in here that I am just dying to recreate. Moreover, I actually took the time to read the chapters not directly containing recipes. The thing is, I've been baking on a very regular basis for some ten years now and I mostly think that I know what I'm doing. Hence why I often cannot be bothered to read introductions or chapters on how to best apply your butter cream. And yes, it's true that a great deal of the information in this book wasn't new to me, but I still believe there were a couple details I wasn't quite aware of before. It was a bit annoying that there were some really, really basic bits in here, though. I am not trying to say that everyone has to be an expert already (or that I myself am an expert, for that matter), but if you have to be told that you need things like a whisk or a spatula if you plan to bake a cake, I dare say that the actual recipes in this book might be too complex for you.
I reckon I'd best not rate this before trying at least a couple of the actual recipes, but it was definitely an inspiring read. In addition, I probably ought to mention that the design as well as the photographs are absolutely stunning, which of course adds to the inspiration. I'm genuinely so excited to bake one of these.
I reckon I'd best not rate this before trying at least a couple of the actual recipes, but it was definitely an inspiring read. In addition, I probably ought to mention that the design as well as the photographs are absolutely stunning, which of course adds to the inspiration. I'm genuinely so excited to bake one of these.
December 22, 2014
Artistically beautiful cakes. The book is beautifully presented in hardback, with colour photographs. Photographs so pretty that you almost want to lick the page. This is certainly the book for you if you want to break out from the traditional victoria sponge.
The first few pages are an introduction from the author, along with baking tips and essential ingredients and equipment to get started.
Chapter 1 is all about the cakes, and they look so good. The weights for the ingredients are listed in ounces as well as grammes, which is really helpful as I am old school and was raised on the ounces system. Saves all that fussy conversion! There are some unusual recipes with maybe combinations you haven't tried before, but I intend to try, (like beetroot and parsnip) Well who would have thought that carrots taste good in a cake?
There is a Victoria sandwich cake in the book, but it is nothing like any you would have seen before in your grannie's kitchen. This one is a work of art, but not beyond a mildly experienced baker.
I want to try the chocolate beetroot cake after Christmas is out of the way. I did try one of the recipes in the book. The one that most appealed to me was the Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl cake. It was delicious and not too arduous to make. A simple yet elegant looking cake. The icing recipe is there too, so put your tub of Betty Crocker's frosting away and try making your own for a change.
Chapter 2 is all about flavour and colour with techniques on how to whip cream, use food colouring and melt chocolate.
Chapter 3 is about constructing and levelling cakes so that you get that perfectly even sponge. Further tips on how to use fillings and how to assemble tiered cakes conclude the chapter.
Chapter 4 concentrates on making buttercream icing or ganache. There are tips on how to fill a piping bag and various piping methods.
Chapter 5 is all about the finishing touches to your cake. Using such things as edible fresh flowers, fondant icing and edible glitter for a bit of sparkle.
A wonderful book, one of the best I have seen on the subject and not overwhelmingly worded so you lose the less experienced baker.
The first few pages are an introduction from the author, along with baking tips and essential ingredients and equipment to get started.
Chapter 1 is all about the cakes, and they look so good. The weights for the ingredients are listed in ounces as well as grammes, which is really helpful as I am old school and was raised on the ounces system. Saves all that fussy conversion! There are some unusual recipes with maybe combinations you haven't tried before, but I intend to try, (like beetroot and parsnip) Well who would have thought that carrots taste good in a cake?
There is a Victoria sandwich cake in the book, but it is nothing like any you would have seen before in your grannie's kitchen. This one is a work of art, but not beyond a mildly experienced baker.
I want to try the chocolate beetroot cake after Christmas is out of the way. I did try one of the recipes in the book. The one that most appealed to me was the Blueberry Cinnamon Swirl cake. It was delicious and not too arduous to make. A simple yet elegant looking cake. The icing recipe is there too, so put your tub of Betty Crocker's frosting away and try making your own for a change.
Chapter 2 is all about flavour and colour with techniques on how to whip cream, use food colouring and melt chocolate.
Chapter 3 is about constructing and levelling cakes so that you get that perfectly even sponge. Further tips on how to use fillings and how to assemble tiered cakes conclude the chapter.
Chapter 4 concentrates on making buttercream icing or ganache. There are tips on how to fill a piping bag and various piping methods.
Chapter 5 is all about the finishing touches to your cake. Using such things as edible fresh flowers, fondant icing and edible glitter for a bit of sparkle.
A wonderful book, one of the best I have seen on the subject and not overwhelmingly worded so you lose the less experienced baker.
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January 20, 2015Bought ingredients for the Citrus Confetti Cake, blocked out time to make it, but then just…didn't. I'm breaking my own rule by taking a cookbook out of the library without at least trying one recipe. Cakes! They're time-consuming! And expensive! So many fucking eggs.
Really lovely photos in this book, though, and lots of useful tips for cake decorating basics like leveling a cake, as well as fun extras like how to cover pecans with edible gold dust (if you want to! if you need golden pecans! which I do! RIGHT NOW).
Really lovely photos in this book, though, and lots of useful tips for cake decorating basics like leveling a cake, as well as fun extras like how to cover pecans with edible gold dust (if you want to! if you need golden pecans! which I do! RIGHT NOW).
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews