What Is The Best Of The Best Cake Recipe Book Out There???
Decorating By CocoaBlondie Updated 10 Jul 2008 , 5:28pm by pirogilady
Well I guess it enlarges but you can't read it--the devil is in the details!
If you want it,
Please email me--not a pm please at
k8 memphis (at) yahoo (dot) com
remove all spaces
so I can just hit reply
I hope it will enlarge if you click on it. If it doesn't enlarge I could email it, pm me.
It worked perfectly -- thanks a million!
Whimsical Bakehouse... I personally can't rave enough about her recipes and techniques. Her fillings and icings are wonderful -- and easy to make.
The Cake Bible was the first cake book I bought about 4 years ago when I really wanted to get into cake baking. Maybe I was just doing something wrong, but all of the cakes I tried from this book have been dry and fall apart. I have since bought many new cake books and will try one of the recipes here and there from the Cake Bible and still get bad results. She has great sounding recipes in there, I just haven't been able to have any success at it. But it sounds like many others have lots of success with hers, so like I said, maybe I'm doing something wrong...
You are not alone. I mean some people love the book, but it is a common consensus that her cake formulas don't work. It works for her, it works for some but the kindest way to say it is it's not versatile, the cake formulas haven't translated well into different kitchens across the lands.
She's got a nice website.
Is there a good site to purchase the whimsical bakehouse or any or these other great books?
I generally use Amazon.com -- decent pricing and free shipping if you're willing to wait a little bit.
But here's this too...
http://www.whimsicalbakehouse.com/
Overstock . com is a good one too sometimes.
I agree w/ whoever said the recipes here on CC are great - they are!!
I also have a book I bought cheap at Barnes & Noble called "The Cake Mix Bible" and saw one similar to it at Sam's yesterday. As someone who likes to doctor mixes, it's a great reference tool for me.
I have Martha Stewart's Wedding Cakes book and have tried about 6 or 7 of her cake recipes from this book. All of them have been fantastic, and have given me the best results. In fact, I did her coconut cake recipe for my nephew's birthday party a couple weeks ago and everyone just loved it.
I have never had any success with Marthas recipes. Made the marble cake from her wedding cake book last weekend and had to throw the whole thing out.
Have had great success with whimsical bakehouse cake and frosting's and kate sullivans hummingbird cake.
Also fifty year old cookbooks often have killer scratch cake recipes in amongst the fried chicken & stuff. .
I totally agree with you. I found an old cookbook from mid 50's - at the thrift store for 50 cents. It has all of those great old recipes in it - just like grandma's.
Thanks for all the internet sites to check 
. It sure saves you time when you know where to look. My conclusion thus far is The Cake Mix Bible, Martha Stewarts wedding cakes, & Whimsical Bakehouse. These are looking like the most voted ones. 
I am a total cookbook addict, and my favorite, hands down, is the WBH cookbook. Every single thing I have made from it (almost all of the recipes) has been delish.
So glad to learn I'm not the only cookbook junkie! 
My Favs
For scratch cakes - the Bakers Dozen (still testing, but looks awesome)
For the best buttercreams - the Whimsical Bake House (but have not tried cake recipes yet)
For doctored cake mixes - The Cake Mix Dr. ( may cake mix bible right now)
No book needed. The recipe gallery on CC has the best of the best in my opinion! :O)
I have to agree on this one. Also, you punch in what your feeling on the internet and presto, it's there to try.
Betty Crockers old book my mom had given me is good.
The joy of baking.
Sky High is about 221 pages and they have recipes in there like tiramisu, vanilla bean, Sour cream choco cake with peanut butter creamcheese icing(Just made this two days ago and "OH MY GOSH" it was awesome).
Theres chocolate lovers cakes, vanilla lovers, fruit lovers, nut and spice cakes, cakes with a world of flavor and holiday and special occasion. By far my fav book!
CC does have the best recipes! For more free recipes try Recipezaar.com. My new favorite cake recipe book is one that my husband already had in his collection. It's The Encyclopedia of Cajun and Creole Cooking by Chef John Folse. Not only does it have wonderful scratch recipes like grandma made, but he gives you the history and traditions behind them. It's where I found the Gateau de Figue (Fig Cake) recipe I tried Sunday.
I've always been a book junkie. Like some of you, my husband and I are recipe book junkies - he's a barbecue fanatic and also loves to cook lots of different things - soul food, comfort food, Italian, Cuban and Brazilian dishes, etc. But I am the baker and when I became interested in cake decorating, I wanted to buy every book in sight. But, the old addage is true - don't judge a book by its cover. So many of them have great cover photos but no substance between the covers.
I have borrowed every cake decorating book our library offers. I like to make sure a book is worth the money before purchasing it. I also spent time at nearby Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million stores reviewing books that the library didn't have.
If you don't have a decent library or bookstore in your area, you can also learn a lot by reading customer reviews on the Amazon.com website, as well as reading comments in the CC forums!
I'm also cheap...u-hum...frugal, so I shop for used books on Amazon.com and eBay. You'd be amazed at the prices. I purchased The Cake Bible for about $12 (haven't tried any of the recipes yet). I got Peggy Porschen's Pretty Party Cakes for $1.38 and $3.99 shipping! It was sold as "Used", but it was brand new.
Gonna do some reading now. 
BakerzJoy this sky high book sounds awesome . I'm putting it on my list!!! I want to try all the recipe you described
Is there a good site to purchase the whimsical bakehouse or any or these other great books?
This has become my "go to " site for cake books:
http://www.ecookbooks.com/nsearch.aspx?keywords=whimsical+bakehouse
I usually get the reviews off of Amazon.com, but purchase from the above site. (a.k.a. www.jessicasbiscuit.com)
Fast shipping, great prices, decent shipping charges!
I'll also add Crazy About Cupcakes by Krystina Castella. While it's all cupcake recipes, they translate well into cake layers - I got my coconut cake recipe and sour cream chocolate cake recipe (my basic chocolate cake) from this book.
rezzycakes - Thank you so much for this post. I went to amazon to check out all the books & almost purchased them, then went to your site you posted. I got all the books I wanted new for less $ & received free shipping, free coffee, & free sub. to Gourmet mag. WHAT A DEAL I ending up buying Whimsical Bakehouse, The Cake Mix Doctor, & Sky High. Thanks everyone for all your help, I feel very confident about my purchases
hi, there are many- it really i think all depends on who are you as a baker. more traditional, more basic, more adventurous, from scratch or not really, how deep lies your interest in baking. there are many good books for every level and direction of interest. there are books that offer simplicity and then there are books that offer almost science- taking time to explain how everything is affecting everything else.
Also- there are DECORATING books and there are baking books- I am sure you know the difference. I never make the recipes fromt he decorating books- I use their techniques and ideas for decorating. but the insides of my cakes- I like to learn more about, use creative and different tastes... although I LOVE cooking light magazine believe it or not- for many many cakes- as I prefer light tasting desserts you don't feel like you swallowed a brick from- my favourite remains somewhat long, yet VERY education THE CAKE BIBLE by Rose Levy Beranbaum. yes it's more work, yes it's not light, but you LEARN SOOO much from her. I can read it as a book, learn and then apply it to other recipes.
hope that gives you more ideas...
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