Hi guys

Can anyone recommend a couple of good cake recipe books for me to look at?

Want to have loads of different, weird and wonderful options for my cakes (hummingbird, peanut butter, red velvet etc) but am not sure which books offer the best value for money and the most reliable results (my interference notwithstanding lol)!

Also, can I ask the same for cupcake books too!?

Is it advisable to "scale up" from cupcakes or have seperate recipes?

Many thanks all

V x Vixen.pixie

Hi,

Try these-:

*Any of the Maida Heatter books although some are Out Of Print
*Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Beranbaum
* Baking From My Home To Yours - Dorie Greenspan

And, although not a book, I love, love, love this website. It's my go-to baking site for recipes that are great and really work. You'll find all the classics and more.
I have had rave reviews for every cake and cookie I've made off this site.
www.joyofbaking.com

Hope this helps.

I agree with everything butterlove said. Also search the internet. There is a wealth of information of everything you said you wanted.

Also, go to a local bookstore or library and start reading. That is half of the fun of this process is the exploring. And you will find out a lot more than asking here.

I agree. Joyofbaking.com is my absolute fav site for all things yummy!

Agreed, look at the internet. Check out Amazon too, just start searching and see what others say about these books.

In terms of 'weird and wonderful' cakes. I really like the Whimsical Bakehouse books. They also have a cupcake book called Little Cakes
They don't do fondant cakes but make and decorate all of their 'weird and wonderful' cakes using real buttercream or melted & coloured chocolate in place of fondant and gumpaste so you can have your cake and eat it all too!
No picking off thick, pasty fondant. Their methods are quite 'out of the box' and their use of colours really fall into the 'weird and wonderful' category.

Cheers,
butterlove

I like Sky-High Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes (more for the cake flavors than for the frostings) by Alisa Huntsman.

For free downloadable PDFs of professional pastries (there are lots of recipes in those pages if you really check, even though some stuff requires equipment we don't have). Among the pages, though, you will also find cake decorating once in a while... Ron Ben Israel, an anemone cake, a popcorn bag, etc. AND THEY'RE FREE!

http://pastryna.com/

It's an amazing collection of magazines, and every two months they put in the new "back" issue. The Asian versions also have translations to English, so don't dismiss them.

Vixen, you might also click the link in my thread, that goes to all the google docs with recipes from all the threads here on CC that have them. And they're free!!