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The Whimsical Bakehouse: Fun-to-Make Cakes That Taste as Good as They Look
Three neon-bright layers of cake, tilted at a jaunty angle and adorned with edible chocolate candles; a Jackson Pollock–inspired cheesecake spattered with chocolate, caramel, and peanut butter icing; and a swarm of plump bees perched atop a rainbow of candy-colored cupcakes—these are only a few examples of the unfettered creativity at work at the Riviera Bakehouse. There, mother-daughter bakers Kaye and Liv Hansen turn out some of the most charming, refreshingly eccentric cakes ever to grace a birthday or wedding celebration.
Kaye and Liv believe that a cake should taste as good as it looks, so they skip esoteric (and inedible) decorations in favor of simple buttercream, flavored whipped cream, and tinted candymaker’s chocolate, covering their luscious cakes with amusing designs and gorgeous color that are easy to make and delicious to eat. The cakes themselves are no less enticing, pairing old-fashioned favorites like Banana Cake and Spice Cake with sumptuous fillings such as French Custard and Chocolate Mousse. Simple step-by-step lessons, illustrated with photographs, explain how to re-create Liv’s charming chocolate designs, from the bright polka dots that shine against dark chocolate glaze to the shimmering stars that adorn the enchanting “Starry Night.” Templates for the delightful designs allow you to adapt these techniques to create your own unique decorations.
With time-tested tips and complete information on everything from mixing colors to adjusting pan sizes, the Hansens explain all you need to know to get started. Whether you’re dreaming of an elegant Chocolate Apricot Pecan Torte or a three-tiered butter cake filled with spiked mocha cream and embellished with fantastical spring flowers, The Whimsical Bakehouse is the ultimate guide to creating delicious, showstopping confections that are completely original.
Kaye and Liv believe that a cake should taste as good as it looks, so they skip esoteric (and inedible) decorations in favor of simple buttercream, flavored whipped cream, and tinted candymaker’s chocolate, covering their luscious cakes with amusing designs and gorgeous color that are easy to make and delicious to eat. The cakes themselves are no less enticing, pairing old-fashioned favorites like Banana Cake and Spice Cake with sumptuous fillings such as French Custard and Chocolate Mousse. Simple step-by-step lessons, illustrated with photographs, explain how to re-create Liv’s charming chocolate designs, from the bright polka dots that shine against dark chocolate glaze to the shimmering stars that adorn the enchanting “Starry Night.” Templates for the delightful designs allow you to adapt these techniques to create your own unique decorations.
With time-tested tips and complete information on everything from mixing colors to adjusting pan sizes, the Hansens explain all you need to know to get started. Whether you’re dreaming of an elegant Chocolate Apricot Pecan Torte or a three-tiered butter cake filled with spiked mocha cream and embellished with fantastical spring flowers, The Whimsical Bakehouse is the ultimate guide to creating delicious, showstopping confections that are completely original.
160 pages, Hardcover
First published August 20, 2002
16 people are currently reading
108 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
March 22, 2008
Anyone interested in cake decorating should own this book. I get all my reading material from the local library, but I plan on purchasing this one, which is the highest compliment I can give. The decorating style is completely accessible, going for charm over perfection, and the recipes are fantastic. The relief chocolate method is also within an amateur's reach, and it such a creative and original method that the author deserves an award for it alone.
The philosophy of this book is that everything on a cake should be edible - and not just technically edible, but the kind of edible that makes you want to eat it. I applaud this approach, since so much of cake decorating looks and tastes like hardened cement. The styles of the cakes are not all ones that I would want to copy, but again, this is something original enough that it should be part of your cake decorating library.
The philosophy of this book is that everything on a cake should be edible - and not just technically edible, but the kind of edible that makes you want to eat it. I applaud this approach, since so much of cake decorating looks and tastes like hardened cement. The styles of the cakes are not all ones that I would want to copy, but again, this is something original enough that it should be part of your cake decorating library.
December 31, 2007
This book contains the most consistently good scratch-cake recipes that I have found so far. Every recipe is delicious, and they take a more free-form perspective on decorating, so it's more fun than work to replicate any of their cakes.
Beautiful pictures, excellent instruction. If you've had any desire to learn to bake a cake from scratch, or to try some "fancy" decorating, this book will be the most fun way to do it.
Beautiful pictures, excellent instruction. If you've had any desire to learn to bake a cake from scratch, or to try some "fancy" decorating, this book will be the most fun way to do it.
July 17, 2007
I really love this cookbook. I appreciate that she makes the most amazingly beautiful cakes without sugarpaste or fondant - just painted chocolate. I've wowed so many friends and family members just doing polka dot cakes. THe chocolate glaze recipe is delicious too. The only recipe I don't love so far is the vanilla cupcake one - they turn out way too dense and dry for my liking.
April 15, 2008
This is a fantastic book for anyone who is interested in cake design. I have used melting chocolate for designs before but this book opened up so many possiblities to me. I particularly love the snowman scene design in the book. I have lifted many designs in this book for my own cakes and they are always a big hit!
March 19, 2016
I am an amateur baker and successfully baked and decorated the firefly cake in this cookbook! The recipes are delicious and were very easy to follow. Lots of great photographs throughout the book, too! This book is a feast for the eyes and as sweet as can be!
February 17, 2020
If you looked at this book, you might expect sickly sweet cakes with gimmicky kiddie flavors and lots of artificial or shortcut ingredients. If I hadn't been looking through every cake book at the library I would have passed it over. This book has the best layer cake recipes out of probably 30 cake cookbooks I've looked at. Rather than pages on pages of different kinds of spice and fruit cakes that nobody wants to eat, these are delicious combinations. Surprisingly, they are also 100% from scratch. For instance, every other cookbook's cheesecake recipes include crushing up store-bought cookies to make the crust; here, they start the recipes with delicious and simple wafer cookie recipes to use. I'm not going to use any of their decorations, but the cakes are gold.
March 29, 2022
This is the book that I read as a child that inspired me to go to culinary school to learn how to bake.
February 22, 2009
This book is full of fun, beautiful cakes with complete instructions on how to do them yourself. I love beautiful cakes, but can't bring myself to cover a delicious cake with bad tasting fondant. These authors agree and just use buttercream and colored chocolate. It inspired me to try some of the colored chocolate designs. The safari animals are adorable and will be decorating my great-grand daughter's 1st birthday cake. After getting this book from the library, twice, I had to buy my own copy. I do differ from the authors on the use of candy colors only for the chocolate. They may be the best choice, but I bought the primary candy colors figuring I could mix from those. Unfortunately, the blue is not true blue and when mixed with red does not produce purple, but brown. So, I took a chance and used my Wilton icing gel colors, even though the authors said they wouldn't work. Of the 7 colors I mixed, only one seized up and was unusable, not bad considering the wider color choice available in my own pantry. Even a non baker would enjoy just looking at the colorful pictures in this book.
January 9, 2010
This is one of my favorite EYE CANDY books. I saw the mom and daughter team on a morning show several years ago and got this book from the library. I loved it so much that I bought it. Really, I like just browse through the book. The recipes are delicious and full of butter and other goodies.
I'm not much of a cake decorator, but I did try using their method a few years ago with piping melted chocolate into a design and for not being an artist, I was pleased with the Little Einsteins rocket that I made to put on the cake.
The recipes that I've made are delicious: the truffle cake with no flour, I also did their starry night cake (p. 50) decorations using that recipe and the chocolate glaze.
I just made the chocolate chip pound cake (p.58) yesterday and used xylitol instead of sugar. It is also delicious.
What a fun cookbok! and now looking it up on goodreads, I've found that the Hansens have published even more books, so I'll have to check them out as well. It even looks like this one was just re-published this month!
I'm not much of a cake decorator, but I did try using their method a few years ago with piping melted chocolate into a design and for not being an artist, I was pleased with the Little Einsteins rocket that I made to put on the cake.
The recipes that I've made are delicious: the truffle cake with no flour, I also did their starry night cake (p. 50) decorations using that recipe and the chocolate glaze.
I just made the chocolate chip pound cake (p.58) yesterday and used xylitol instead of sugar. It is also delicious.
What a fun cookbok! and now looking it up on goodreads, I've found that the Hansens have published even more books, so I'll have to check them out as well. It even looks like this one was just re-published this month!
February 16, 2011
Can I give this book more than 5 stars? It's that good. Her buttercream was a dream come true for me. I was always afraid to try Italian buttercream because of the cooked sugar syrup. Candy making scared me to death. But her recipe is based on time, not a specific temperature and it works! Every time! Her cake recipes are very good also. They've become my standard cakes that I use in my business.
May 6, 2015
Although I don't bake myself, I love Food Network's Ace of Cakes. So this book is just food porn to me, especially since I love eating icing, which is the main concentration of the book, rather than the cake within.
April 4, 2010
Delicious and beautiful. This is my new go to for all things cake! I've gained five pounds from eating cakes from this book, but they are scrumptious. If you only buy one baking cookbook, this should be it.
November 28, 2016
If you love COLOR, you're going to be tickled by the cakes shown in this book. Her introductory guide to the basics of cake assembly were very helpful to me (a self-described novice). She includes great recipes for basic frosting and cakes.
January 10, 2008
Made my daughter's first birthday cake from this cookbook and it got rave reviews - from how it looked to how it tasted.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews