Hi! Does anyone have any suggestions for favorite Cake Decorating books? There are so many different ones out there and they all have so many mixed reviews, it's overwhelming!!

I am new to cake decorating and self-taught from this website and youtube, and would like to expand my learning materials to include books! Please let me know of any suggestions or favorites that y'all have!!

Thanks!!!

The thing about books is that they are subjective. Some love some because they involve a certain medium they enjoy, like fondant or flowers.

I would start with checking out your local library and seeing what they have to offer. That way you can sneak peek before you buy. I also suggest going to a book store, like Barns and Nobles. There are many books I bought because people raved about them, that while I thought they may have been good books, just weren't what I wanted or needed.

Other than the fun of looking through cake books, I really don't use them that often when it comes to making or doing cakes. Because you can find so much information , cake pictures and how tos on the internet now a days, a book has to be really something for me to want to buy it.

what sort of decorating do you see yourself doing? Kids cakes? Wedding? Character cakes? It depends on your style, really.

For kids character cakes:
Maisie Parrish does very detailed instructions in all her books covering modelling figures on childrens character cakes, she rocks.
Debbie Brown has a lot of books out, with a lot of designs in them, but nowhere near as much detail as Maisie. Though Maisie might take 12 pages to explain something in depth, so she doesn't have as many designs per book as Debbie.

Lindy Smith does several good books, on different sorts of cakes.

Planet Cake lays their book out as a lesson, with good instructions. They are not for the faint hearted though. I see my Planet Cake book as a bit of a coffee table book really, as I am a long way off being skilled enough to do most of them.


Peggy Porschen makes the most elegant cakes ever, her books are beautiful.

Ohh... I love the Whimsical Bakehouse, that's the one I'm looking at the most nowadays. It doesn't have any fondant in it, it's all buttercream and chocolate, it's awesome.

This is the best book I ever bought, it has a little bit of everything. Wedding cakes, kids cakes, modelling, gateaux cakes..... the lot! Hands down the best, though the Amazon preview makes it look a bit naff:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1552852369/?tag=cakecentral-20

YES Zespri!!!!! You beat me to it! That was the book that came to my mind immediately I saw this topic! That book is a school on its own and I recommend it to anyone who asks me !!!It will give you a good foundation on which to build your skills with other books and videos.

I have that book, too. I think it's British so be prepared for the wording to be a bit different. Nothing too hard- it's things like calling tips tubes and stuff like that. It's inexpensive, and has tons of info. I have several of these types of books along with Debbie Brown. Before you buy new, check half.com; a lot of my Debbie Brown came from there.

Edited to say: from the description on Amazon, it looks like it's British. Same wording difference, though.

Thanks, y'all!! I guess I'm not really sure what kind of cakes I'm into making yet, so I really like the Essential Guide to Cake Decorating book since it's a little of everything! Good suggestion! Also, the Planet Cake book looks great and so do the books by Peggy Porschen!! They are all so beautiful and inspiring and though I may do most of my research on the internet, I just wanted a few pretty books to have around as well (I love books)!! So thanks again for the great suggestions!

TexasSugar, thanks for the idea of going to the library to preview books before! I totally did not even think of doing that! It's been a while since I've been to a real library! LOL!

Thanks!!

Thanks for the Half.com suggestion too! I will have to check that out!!

I always go to the library!! you can have the book for a month! I would like to mention that since I live in a big city, I have lots of different libraries to go to! So take advantage of that also. I love books! I will check on your sugestion zespri, next time I go to Barnes. Thank you!