I bought this book because, although I love to make dessert, I usually end up making “boxed” desserts. I know that online sites like allrecipes.com have lots of desserts, but I find they actually have TOO MANY! I always get lost on that site. For example, I’ll try searching for chocolate cake recipes and I’ll get (at least) a dozen matches. But which one is good? and which is easy? Now I have to read each one, then I find comments on each one that suggest variations… I’ve also found that just because it has 5 stars doesn’t mean it’s good because some people will give it 5 stars than leave a comment that says “It was only 5 stars if you change this, that and the other thing”
Then, I saw this book and thought this would simplify things for me. Here I could get some homemade recipes with no additional comments or changes or whatever! But are they good? So far, so good…read on for more info 🙂
Part 1: Cakes
It seems like more than half of this book consists of cakes of all different shapes, flavors and types. You are sure to find your favorite flavor as well as the favorites of all your friends and family members. This half starts with a short 3 page intro that has 2 very important sections.
The first is tips for successful cake baking that includes common sense tips, but things you may not practice such as “Set out the pan you will be using and all the ingredients. I have seen people who try to cook without taking everything out first and they always have a hard time. The second section is cake troubleshooting which has a list of problems and solutions such as: “Problem – Cake falls. Solution – Not enough flour or oven not hot enough” This section will help you with any cake baking you do. Of course, I assume the books recipes tell me how much flour to use so I haven’t had any of the problems listed yet.
The Cakes!! (122)
Categories are: Classic (33), Pound/Coffee/Loaf (21), Layers/Tortes (7), Angel Food/Chiffon/Sponge (14), Cheesecakes (12), Fancy/Specialty (7), Esther (the author’s) Favorite (13), and Frostings and Glazes (15). Some of these categories are divided into all the various flavors/types that fits under the category. For example under classic cakes we have Chocolate, Carrot, Fruity, Lemon and Others. You have plenty of choices!!
Part 1: Pies
This section starts with its own 2 page intro and has 2 of its own important sections. The first is about making a perfect pie crust and contains 13 tips such as “add liquid slowly” with more detail of exactly how to add the water. This is to ensure your pie crust is soft, flaky and yummy 🙂 The second section is about making the perfect meringue and contains 8 tips such as “For max volume, egg whites should be at room temperature.
The Pies!! (108)
Here we have Pie Crusts (29), Fruit Pies (52), Tarts (6), Chocolate (8), Other (8) and Esther’s Favorites (5). Sections such as Fruit Pies are further divided into Apple, Berry, Lemon/lime, Peach Pumpkin and Other. I defy you to find your favorite pie recipe missing! This book has it all!
Recipe Layout
Each section list all the cakes/pies in that section so you don’t have to flip back to the intro or to the index to see what recipes there are.
The recipe layout is very nice. First there is no more than 1 or 2 recipes per page so you have plenty of blank space on most pages for any notes you may want to write. There is a column on the left of each recipe that list how many people the recipe serves (Serves 12-16) and then all the ingredients divided by what part it is used for. For example it will first list the ingredients for the Cake mix, and then separately list the ingredients for the Cake glaze. This is very handy! So if you use Flour in the Cake Mix AND in the Cake Topping, it will list it in each space with the appropriate measurements. This is as opposed to just listing “Flour” once with the overall measurements. It is very nice.
The recipe itself is usually only in 4-6 steps, but some steps contain multiple “to-dos” I prefer steps to be broken into simpler steps, but the book is so easy to read that it’s ok. Underneath you will find a tip for almost every recipe that might help you spread the frosting, measure certain ingredients, or know when your pie is done. These tips can be used for almost anything you make in the future so it’s great.
Finally, some recipes have variations. I found a total of 36 variations as I flipped through. The variations are usually as simple as adding different ingredients or making minor changes to suit your taste buds. So in essence you have another 36 recipes!
Ease of Cooking
I have had no problem making any recipe out of the Cake side, but I have not yet tried to make a pie crust. I instead buy the pie crust premade and then make the rest of the pie following the recipe. I know I’m bad! I’m just so afraid it won’t turn out right!
The cakes and pies and even the crusts have very few steps for the most part and are quite simple to make. So far all the ingredients that are used seem to be very common and easy to find which is a major plus. I hate recipes that call for obscure ingredients! Let’s pick at random….
Strawberry Cream Shortcake Ingredients:
Strawberry jello mix
frozen strawberries
mini marshmallows
flour
baking powder
salt
sugar
shortening
eggs
vanilla
milk
whipped cream
fresh strawberries
So you probably have most of that stuff already in your kitchen! Most of the recipes in this book follow that logic that you already have the ingredients and only have to buy a few odds and ends. I’ve only come across a few things I wasn’t sure of due to my lack of experience with fancy ingredients, but after a few minutes of asking friends or family, it was all clear. There isn’t a lot of confusion in this book.
The Bad
There are 3 negative things about this book that keep it away from a being perfect.
1) If you were following my math, there are only 230 counted recipes in this book. I am baffled as to where the other 20 are. I even added in all the variations and got to 266, but still not 250. Even so, it’s still a great collection!
2) There aren’t any tabs to make the sections easy to flip to. I made my own sticky note tabs for each section, but I wish this book had it’s own tabs. With so many sections I have 14 sticky notes that are starting to fall off 🙁
3) There are a few pictures every now and then, but not nearly as many as I would have liked. Sometimes I miss all the pictures completely as I flip through! I like to see the finished product because then I know if what I’m making is coming out right.
Conclusion
My 3 issues are minor and I still think this is a great book. I love that I can find almost any cake or pie flavor in here to suit the tastes of everyone around me. I love that all the cakes and pies I’ve tried so far come out really good 🙂 And I love how easy it is to make them! Go pick this up today – you won’t regret it. Enjoy!!
