I am interested to see what everyone thinks is a valuable reference/guide for cake decorating. I would love to get some books to look at and learn from while I am on my breaks at work. ANyone have a must have book?
mostly buttercream, but I am open to anything.
It's not really a "how-to" book, but right now I am a big fan of Cake Love by Warren Brown. He is a very methodical baker who seems to have put a lot of thought into his recipes and why they work. His book delves a little more into the actual science of baking, and his explanations of why and how certain techniques and ingredients work are really helpful. What's more is that his recipes are phenomenal. I have yet to find a better pound cake recipe!
It's not really a "how-to" book, but right now I am a big fan of Cake Love by Warren Brown. He is a very methodical baker who seems to have put a lot of thought into his recipes and why they work. His book delves a little more into the actual science of baking, and his explanations of why and how certain techniques and ingredients work are really helpful. What's more is that his recipes are phenomenal. I have yet to find a better pound cake recipe!
But for decorating, buy The Well Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett. She covers buttercream and fondant, gumpaste flowers, stacking and levelling, and pretty much everything else. Good photos, plenty of detail on the instructions, and outstanding recipes for everything from cakes to fillings to homemade fondant.
i know there are some die-hard anti-Wilton's here but i love getting their yearbooks-plenty of ideas and some great how-to s on basics (sorry guys, i have them dating back to the late 90's) lol
I have to agree with the book by Toba Garrett. Any book by Collette Peters is full of ideas, instructions and patterns as well.
i know there are some die-hard anti-Wilton's here but i love getting their yearbooks-plenty of ideas and some great how-to s on basics (sorry guys, i have them dating back to the late 90's) lol
You can even check these (and many others) out at the library. That way you can see if you like them before purchasing them. Just a thought.
I'm a huge fan of the whimsical bakehouse. I love both of their buttercream icing recipes and she has some very unique ideas for decorating cakes, I can't even tell you how many times I've made really cool things out of chocolate because of her. I have the first book that covers cake and I also have the cupcake book. I wasn't as impressed with the little cakes book. There's also one by Mich Turner that I really liked. It covers tiered cakes if you're getting into wedding cakes and it has a lot of patterns to follow. I can't for the life of me remember the title though and I'm not at home to look. I have two of her books, one is called Party Cakes which again I wasn't as impressed with as the first one and the one I liked I think has a picture of a tiered cake with stripes on the front?
Ohhh... cake decorating! Dur! Don't know how I missed such an integral part of the discussion!
I love Cakes to Dream On by Colette Peters. The Sheet Cake Way by Vi Whittington has a lot of interesting ideas for both fondant and bc that are really accessible.
Though this is just my opinion, I think it's much better to learn decorating either in person or via video. I'm the monkey see, monkey do type 
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