Hi there,

I was recently trying to build up my cake book arsenal, and bought the book "Wedding Cakes You Can Make". It is all buttercream, and that was the appeal for me when buying. Once going through the book, I got the crazy idea to deviate from my tried and true yellow cake recipe (Why do I do that?!) and it turned out awful!

Does anyone else have the book, and has had bad luck with the recipe too? It only has 3 cake recipes in it, all titled "Essential Yellow" "Essential White" and you guessed it, "Essential Chocolate".

The designs in the book aren't bad, but that recipe has really turned me off trying new ones LOL. It was very thick once mixed. I guess that's a lesson for me, from now on I'll stick to what I know!


I also bought the 'Creative Cookies" by Toba Garret, and was uninspired by that too :/ (though simply due to designs, not recipes). Oh well, I guess they can't all be gems to everyone

My two newest cake books are Wedding Cakes You Can Make AND Hello, Cupcake! I LOVE Hello, Cupcake....was less impressed with the other. I also have Toba Garrett's Creative Cookies and I really like it.

I have the book "Wedding Cakes You Can Make," and I love it. I use it mostly for design ideas. I was drawn to it and her other book "The Wedding Cake Book" because of her buttercream work. The only cake recipe I have tried is the Essential Chocolate, and that was because I had received some comments about my chocolate cake recipe being a bit too dry and firm for some people's taste. Essential Chocolate was suggested by another CCer. It is lighter and moister than what I was making, so I am going to use it for awhile and see how it is received.

I like DeDe Wilson's books because they are well-written with very detailed descriptions on how to do things and how to plan a wedding cake. I have also gotten some cake/icing combo ideas from her cakes. I have tweaked a couple of them a bit for my own use.

I have that book "Wedding Cakes You can make". I have made several of the cake recipe's and did not like any of them. I bought the book because the designs looked pretty and simple. I do the same exact thing, try out a new recipe and if it fails and I wonder why did I do that. I have my favorite recipes so I will stick to them, LOL.

I have that book "Wedding Cakes You can make". I have made several of the cake recipe's and did not like any of them. I bought the book because the designs looked pretty and simple. I do the same exact thing, try out a new recipe and if it fails and I wonder why did I do that. I have my favorite recipes so I will stick to them, LOL.

I have both of those, and I like them. I don't get books for recipes, generally. If you have found something you like, stick with it! I LOVE the book and I haven't tried ONE recipe

I bought it for inspiration also, not for the recipes. I just got that crazy idea that "hey I'll step outside of my norm and try something new". I definately have my fave recipes that I will stick to.

As for Creative Cookies, it is well written, I just wasn't that inspired by the designs. I don't know what was used on the spring ones with the birds, where she says to hand-paint flowers on... you know the one? It looks like it's been outlined in pencil. I realize it's for photos, not necessarily to eat in that instance, but I wouldn't want to get that cookie LOL.

I'll have to learn to resist that silly urge I get to try a new recipe LOL, maybe it's because I'm sort of new to it, and love to find that perfect recipe that you swear by. Haha, I'll learn one day! All wasn't lost anyway, they made just fine cake balls!

I have that book in my collection. I use it for all of the neat ideas. I just love the designs! I haven't used the recipes, though, cuz I've got my "favs".

I have the book "Wedding Cakes You Can Make" but have never tried the recipes. I think I just by the books to look at the creations.

I think I need to stop buying b/c I get all my cake ideas from the cakecentral website.

I checked the book out from the library and really liked reading it and looking at all the beautiful yet simple cake designs. I was really interested in the moistening syrups and using them on cakes. I tried it with petits fours and everyone loved them. Has anyone used them on cakes? And do you use them on any cake recipe. I think I remember reading that the cake recipes in the book are european style and more like sponge cake. The recipes I use usually include a cake mix and are pretty moist already I guess.

One more thing... I really liked the idea in the book about getting glass circles cut for cake boards. I actually had a 14 inch circle cut at a glass shop, it was about $15. I didn't know that you could buy these in the candle section at Hobby Lobby! I saw them today and bought a large square and a 10 in. circle. They are on sale 50% off so they were $2.50 each!!!