The Perfect Cake: Your Ultimate Guide to Classic, Modern, and Whimsical Cakes

by America's Test Kitchen (editor)

Featured by QVC, Hallmark Home & Family, Tasting Table, and the Washington Post.Cakes are the all-occasion dessert--the center of attention at birthdays, holiday celebrations, and dinner parties, and the most welcome brunch, after-school, or teatime snack. America's Test Kitchen's first all-cake book is the definitive guide to any cake you crave from Classic Pound Cake to enjoy anytime to a stunning and impressive Blueberry Jam Cake with brilliant jam stripes and ombré frosting. In addition to foolproof recipes are features that make towering 24-layer Hazelnut- Chocolate Crêpe Cake as approachable as Applesauce Snack Cake. Sidebars include step-by-step photography for cakes with more advanced techniques like piping the ribbons of frosting that help give beautiful Rhubarb Ribbon Cake its name. Our years of test kitchen knowledge on the art and science of baking cakes provide all the tips and tricks you need for executing perfect cakes every time.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Culinary, Reference, Food and Drink

432 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 27, 2018

About the author

America's Test Kitchen, based in a brand new state-of-the-art 60,000 sq. ft. facility with over 15,000 sq. ft. of test kitchens and studio space, in Boston's Seaport District, is dedicated to finding the very best recipes for home cooks. Over 50 full-time (admittedly obsessive) test cooks spend their days testing recipes 30, 40, up to 100 times, tweaking every variable until they understand how and why recipes work. They also test cookware and supermarket ingredients so viewers can bypass marketing hype and buy the best quality products. As the home of Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country magazines, and publisher of more than one dozen cookbooks each year, America's Test Kitchen has earned the respect of the publishing industry, the culinary world, and millions of home cooks. America's Test Kitchen the television show launched in 2001, and the company added a second television program, Cook's Country, in 2008.

Discover, learn, and expand your cooking repertoire with Julia Collin Davison, Bridget Lancaster, Jack Bishop, Dan Souza, Lisa McManus, Tucker Shaw, Bryan Roof, and our fabulous team of test cooks!

Learn more at https://www.americastestkitchen.com/.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read a library copy, and NOW I HAVE TO BUY IT!! So good. Eggnog bundt cake? Yes!

[Jenni B · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bake exotic things bc my cakes come out dry or dense or they spill out over the edge of the pan. For someone who has perfectly baked French macarons and cheesecakes for years, cakes have always evaded me!

This book is fantastic. One of the key things to success with this cookbook is actually reading the paragraph that explains why the recipe works. I've picked up a ton of tips and I've made 3 flawless cakes from scratch from this book. For someone who has never made a successful cake, let alone a layered one with jam frostings, this has been a God-send.

[Mburrows · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can’t wait to try these recipes.

[Mei · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photos, so so recipes.

[Mariko · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of cakes I want to try! I like how they give different recipes for the same type of cake but different presentation. I didn't realize that shape of the cake affects the structure and ingredients needed.

[MountainsMama · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too much butter

[Ace · Rating 4 out of 5]

TL;DR: A great cookbook, similar to other America's Test Kitchen books. Well illustrated and well-written recipes -- if sometimes not the best organized.

This is a very large cookbook; I've included the recipes at the bottom of this review, and you can see from those lists that it is quite sizable and has listings of just about every type of cake you could possibly think of, from poundcakes to ice box cakes to cake pops to a plain old sheet cake. I've tried a few recipes in this book and I'll write thoughts out about them below, but first a few words on what I like and dislike about the structure of this cookbook:

Structural Likes:
- I love that every recipe starts with a full color photo of the finished product. The color photos are helpful, well lit and focus entirely on the item that is being produced. Good use of photography to make the food appealing but the photos aren't distracting.

- I love that every recipe has a "why this recipe works" introductory paragraph that describes what they were going for for their recipe. This saves a lot of time as sometimes what they feel is ideal may not be what you feel is ideal, and sometimes is helpful when trying to figure out if you will like an unfamiliar desert.

Structural Dislikes:

- The recipes aren't indexed in the table of contents and I don't think their chapter titles are necessarily the most elucidating. What puts a recipe in "Great American Cakes" and not "Holiday" cakes or "Elegant Cakes" or "Classic Layer Cakes"? More than once I've forgotten what section a recipe is in and have to annoyingly search the entire book for it. This is a big annoyance and I knocked it down a star for it.

- The recipes are written in imperial units and there's no metric conversion, which limits the audience here to imperial unit using nations.

Recipes I've tried (rated w/ no substitutions):

Lemon Layer Cake: I tried this for a birthday cake and was hoping I wouldn't hate meringue. I still hate meringue, but the actual lemon cake in this is quite good. The meringue is...meringue, and I think if you enjoy meringue you will like it, but it won't win over any converts. The cake has a strong but sweet lemon flavor.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake: Tastes like a box mix, which is either a pro or a con depending on who you are. The malted chocolate frosting that is suggested for use with this raises it up a good level, however; worth making, even if you cheat and use betty crocker for the cake instead. (I couldn't taste a notable difference between this and box mix, but both were excellent.)

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake: The rare miss in this collection! I felt like this was dry and kind of bland as a recipe as written.

Pomegranate Walnut Cake: The biggest winner for me so far; this is a very heavy, very dense cake, but it's been a winner and gets the highest amount of raves for anything I've made out of this book. Rich, buttery taste. The pomegranate doesn't get overwhelmed by the nuts, and the sweet-sour pomegranate tang compliments the sweet nuttiness of the walnuts very well.

Pound Cake (with: Almond, Ginger, Lemon, and/or Orange): I've made every variant listed in this book and they're all bangers. This is probably my favorite pound cake recipe, and I like that each variant has a strong flavor. Makes a really lovely party display with some food coloring to show off different flavors. Recommended!

Complete List of Recipes in Book:

Classic Layer Cakes: Fluffy Yellow Layer Cake , Classic White Layer Cake, Old-Fashioned Chocolate Layer Cake, Devil’s Food Layer Cake ,Genoise Sponge Cake, Red Velvet Layer Cake, Carrot-Honey Layer Cake, Maple Layer Cake, Vegan Yellow Layer Cake, Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake

Cupcakes, Cake Pops, Mug Cakes and more: Yellow Cupcakes, Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes with Ganache Filling, Carrot Cupcakes, Chocolate Cream Cupcakes, Red Velvet Cupcakes, Boston Cream Cupcakes, Pumpkin Cupcakes, Strawberry Cupcakes, Salted Caramel Cupcakes, Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes, Vegan Dark Chocolate Cupcakes, Gluten-Free Confetti Cupcakes, Party Cake Pops, Cookies and Cream Cake Pops, Molten Chocolate Microwave Mug Cake, Mocha S’mores Molten Microwave Mug Cake, Blackberry-Walnut Buckles (also: Cherry-Almond or Raspberry-Pistachio Buckles), Lemon Pudding Cakes (also: Blueberry Compote), Sticky Toffee Pudding, Fallen Chocolate Cakes, Orange Lavender Tea Cakes with Vanilla Bean Glaze, Petit Fours

Crowd Pleasing Sheet Cakes: Yellow Sheet Cake, White Sheet Cake, Chocolate Sheet Cake with Milk Chocolate Frosting, Simple Carrot Sheet Cake, Lemon Buttermilk Sheet Cake, Spice Cake, German Chocolate Sheet Cake, Tres Leches Cake, Pumpkin Sheet Cake, Texas Sheet Cake, Buttermilk Caramel Cake, Strawberry Poke Cake

Sky-High Cakes: Carrot Layer Cake, Coconut Layer Cake, Lemon Layer Cake, Black Forest Cake, Chocolate Turtle Cake, Smith Island Cake, Strawberry Cream Cake, Rainbow Cake, Apricot-Almond Meringue Cake, Strawberry Stack Cake, Cherry Chocolate Chip Cake, Summer Berry Trifle Blackberry-Mascarpone Lemon Cake, Peanut Butter Pretzel Cake, Hazelnut-Chocolate Crêpe Cake, Rhubarb Ribbon Cake, Toasted Almond Cake, Blueberry Jam Cake

Elegant Cakes & Tortes: French Apple Cake, Italian Almond Cake, Cornmeal Cake with Apricot-Bay Compote, Pomegranate Walnut Cake, Flourless Chocolate Cake, Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake, Chocolate-Raspberry Torte Gâteau Breton (with: Prune Filling) Chocolate-Pecan Torte Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake, Refined Strawberry ShortCake, Chocolate-Espresso Dacquoise Chocolate-Caramel Layer Cake, Raspberry Charlotte, Baked Alaska

Great American Cakes: Strawberry Dream Cake, German Chocolate Cake (with: Banana, Macadamia, and Coconut Filling and/or Coffee, Cashew, and Coconut Filling), Jelly Roll Cake, Hummingbird Cake, Chocolate Blackout Cake, Boston Cream Pie, Blitz Torte, Italian Cream Cake, Wellesley Fudge Cake, Bananas Foster Cake, Peanut Butter and Jam Cake, Minnehaha Cake, Blackberry Jam Cake, Lady Baltimore Cake, Blum’s Coffee Crunch, Swiss Hazelnut Cake

Holiday Cakes: Honey Cake, Maple-Pumpkin Stack Cake, Pumpkin Roll, Yule Log, Apricot and Cherry Modern Fruitcake, Eggnog Bundt Cake, Chocolate-Peppermint Cake, Gingerbread Layer Cake, Hot Cocoa Cake, Chocolate-Raspberry Heart Cake, King Cake, Flag Cake, Patriotic Poke Cake, Confetti Cake, 60-Minute Birthday Cake

Snack Cakes and Rustic Fruit Cakes: Sour Cream Coffee Cake (with: Apricot-Almond, Lemon-Blueberry, and/or Chocolate Chips), New York–Style Crumb Cake, Cream Cheese Coffee Cake, Applesauce Snack Cake (with Oat-Nut Streusel, Ginger-Cardamom), Blueberry Boy Bait, Easy Chocolate Snack Cake, Oatmeal Cake with Broiled Icing, Tahini-Banana Snack Cake, Summer Peach Cake, Rustic Plum Cake, Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Apple Upside-Down Cake (with Almonds or Lemon and Thyme), Pear-Walnut Upside-Down Cake, Honey-Rosemary Polenta Cake with Clementines

Pound Cakes, Bundt Cakes & Tube Cakes: Pound Cake (with: Almond, Ginger, Lemon, and/or Orange), Chocolate Pound Cake, Cream Cheese Pound Cake, 7UP Pound Cake, Cranberry–Sour Cream Pound Cake, Lemon Bundt Cake, Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake, Honey-Oat Bundt Cake, Marbled Blueberry Bundt Cake, Saffron-Orange Bundt Cake, Cider-Glazed Apple Bundt Cake, Tunnel of Fudge Cake, Bold and Spicy Gingerbread Bundt Cake, Olive Oil–Yogurt Bundt Cake, Magic Chocolate Flan Cake, Angel Food Cake, Chiffon Cake (with: Lemon, Mocha-Nut, or Orange)

Cheescakes, Icebox Cakes and Ice Cream Cakes: Foolproof New York Cheesecake (with: Marble Cheesecake), Lemon Cheesecake (with: Goat Cheese and Lemon Cheesecake with Hazelnut Crust, or Triple Citrus Cheesecake), Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake (with: Pumpkin-Bourbon Cheesecake with Graham-Pecan Crust), Milk Chocolate Cheesecake, Red Velvet Cheesecake, Icebox Cheesecake (with: Icebox Peanut Butter Cheesecake), Icebox Margarita Cheesecake, Chocolate Éclair cake, Basic Ice Cream Cake, Tiramisù Ice Cream Cake, Banana Split Cake, S’mores Ice Cream Cake, Watermelon Ice Cream Cake, Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream Torte

[Denise みか Hutchins · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a book that truly lives up to its title. Every recipe produces the perfect cake! Not only that, the book contains a wealth of general cake-making information that can be applied even when using a recipe from another source, covering everything from tools to decorating techniques. To top it all off, every recipe has a beautiful photograph of the finished product, which to me is vital in choosing a recipe. This is my go-to book when I want to bake a cake, whether for a special occasion or simply because I'm in the mood for sweets~ Two of my favorite recipes are the Strawberry Cream Cake (p 148) and the Lemon Bundt Cake (p 335), plus every chocolate cake I've made from this book is dreamy. This is a must-have if you enjoy baking!

[Jeannine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book truly lives up to its title: it's the ultimate guide to all things cake. I will definitely be buying it to add to my collection of essential cookbooks. The recipes range from super simple (Angel Food Cake) to fancy (Gingerbread Layer Cake). There are recipes for just about every type of cake you might ever endeavor to make, and the pictures and sidebars are gorgeous, full-color, informative, and written for the average cook. There are lots of frosting recipes and cake tips in the back, as well as a comprehensive index in the back. As always, America's Test Kitchen does not disappoint!

[Pam Christison · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been subscribing to Cook's Illustrated and Cook's Country for many years, so I'm familiar with many of these beautiful and delicious recipes. This book combines them all in a lovely way, with pictures for everything (one of my pet peeves about baking cookbooks is not enough pictures), and adds some recipes that I haven't seen before. The reason I love America's Test Kitchen is because I don't really love cooking, and when I'm going to go to all that trouble, I really want it to be great. Their recipes are (almost) always great (and when they're not, it's either my fault, or something just not to our family's taste - not a flawed recipe).

[Tyler · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally love some of the recipes in this book. There were several pieces of advice that I found helpful such as the decorating tips. My favorite is where they demonstrate how to smoothly apply frosting and use small cookie cutters to imprint a design on top of the cupcake with sprinkles. Although there are some recipes that are more difficult to make due to the egg white to yolk ratio, most of the recipes are easy to follow along with. I personally cannot wait to make a s’mores ice cream cake in my free time.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic!! I don't often buy cookbooks, simply because I already have many of them. I typically just get just a couple of 'keeper' recipes from cookbooks. This one has been added to my 'to buy' list. I would make the majority of these recipes. The fact that the science behind great, successful cakes is included just puts the icing on the cake (pun intended). Basic, as well as more elaborate, recipes are included as well as icing and filling recipes. I highly recommend this one!

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely detailed cookbook--it breaks downs kinds of frostings, allowable substitutions, etc. The authors explain what was tried and failed, which was interesting to read. And every single cake is pictured (beautifully).

The recipes aren't necessarily simple, but they are replicable, and America's Test Kitchen does try to simplify the most complicated of the recipes. I do wish the recipes were listed in the Table of Contents.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

America's Test Kitchen puts out the best cookbooks! I've wanted this one for a long time and was so glad to finally get my hands on it. So far I've only made 3 recipes and honestly, not all of them turned out how I would've liked, but that doesn't mean they're not still excellent recipes. Eventually I hope to bake my way through this whole book!

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is full of cakes I’d love to try with decent directions and drool worthy pictures. I made the honey-carrot cake with the honey cream cheese icing. The cake was excellent, but the icing really wasn’t my favorite. The honey with the cream cheese just isn’t quite sweet enough and has a tangy taste to it that I didn’t care for.

[Meg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this company! The way they make these cookbooks are great. I LOVE seeing the way the recipe is supposed to end up. It is so nice to have suggested tools and equipment they prefer as well as tips to fix errors. Highly suggest to any baker. It even includes snack cakes, bundt cakes, cake pops and more.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is well-researched and interesting guide to all different types of cakes, with options for lots of variations. I wish that it contained a bit more scientific discussion in the recipe notes on how the recipe was discovered, as Baking Illustrated does, but it still has some interesting descriptions of the process of testing the recipes.

[Spencer Pullen · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading Bread Illustrated and The Perfect Cookie, I knew this was going to be another hit. I really like that ATK takes the time to test recipes many times to ensure they will work. This book isn't just about cakes, there are also recipes for fillings, frostings and more. For anyone who is looking for a cake for a celebration or just to have on the counter, this will fit the bill.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sooooooooo many of these cakes look scrumdillyumptious!!! It's definitely a great one that I must buy one day!!

Beautiful photos and easy to follow recipes from America's Test Kitchen...so they've pretty much perfected each cake. (Like they say)

Haven't made anything out of the book.

YET.

[Wendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book, but not nearly as much as Perfect Cookies. I guess I'm just not that into cakes. Who wants to make something you can't even sample until you present it to a big group? I'm too interested in 'taste testing' for that nonsense!

[Gayle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this series of cookbooks by America’s Test Kitchen. I made the Sour Cream Coffee cake on page 292 and it was a big hit. There’s a photo for each recipe and I want to bake them all! Highly recommend for all levels of bakers.

[Tory · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional cookbook, all about cakes. The recipes are clear and straight-forward, with many, many helpful photographs. The paragraphs at the beginning of each recipe, explaining why the recipe works, are extremely helpful. Recommended!

[Elisabeth · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my book ATK can do no wrong. Every recipe starts with 'why this recipe works' which empowers you to try new things. This cake book does the same. I've made 5 cakes from this book and they were all masterpieces! Thanks for making me look good, ATK!

[Dray · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very nice cake book and they do stay within the genre for the most part. I didn't find a lot of whimsey but I wasn't looking for that. Instead there is good exposition on a wide array of cakes, excellent coverage on basics and mainstays as well as some that are lesser known. Great resource.

[Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Test Kitchen always puts out a good cookbook, but a lot of the recipes are beyond my skill level.

The section on cupcakes in this book is great, and definitely something the home baker can handle.

Photos are fabulous!

[Sbell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this!! It had lots of great
ideas for me and my daughters
baking needs. Loved the vanilla
cake recipe.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection - now to start baking...

[Gwen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one I think I'm going to have to buy to have around my kitchen just for reference. Too many that I wanted to make copies of!

[Nupur · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of fancy cakes that I would love to make some day!

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lots of good cake recipes. It is a book worth owning.