I was wondering what cake books that you absolutely love and can't live without? I'm wanting to start my collection and want to get the ones that you think are best. The cakers on these boards are amazing and I bow to your judgement.

I'll compile the list and post it in a word doc so everyone can see it easily. If you want, you can even give your favorites in different categories (Baking, Children's Cakes, Fondant, Techniques, Flowers, General, Novelty, Wedding, etc.) but certainly don't have to. Thanks - I can't wait to see your favorites!!!

Hi!

You're probably going to get a lot of responses, as we're all pretty passionate about our cake books! Personally, the ones I go back to often are Nicholas Lodge's International School of Sug arcraft books. They cover a lot of subjects in each volume, so there's a lot to learn and try out. The cake cookbook I go back to most often is our own Sugarflowers' (Michele Foster) cookbook "The Sugar Fix." You can order that at www.lickthespoonproductions.com

HTH!
Deanna

Out of curiosity, do any scratch bakers have "antique" cookbooks that they won't part with? Which ones are the most useful?

I like Debbie Brown's books for ideas but they are small cakes and some of the instruction could be better (I'm the only one in the world who feels this way though). I really like Confetti Cakes and Confetti Cakes for Kids for ideas too.

I love Toba Garrett's, "The Well Decorated Cake"

Now that I am advancing in the gumpaste/sugarpaste arena, I love,
Leslie Herbert's Complete Book of Flowers. It's the one my instructor relies on as well.

Cake Mix Doctor. God bless her, what more can I say?

I like the Whimsical Bakehouse book (great ideas with chocolate) and Nicholas Lodge's books- especially the third one. I enjoy looking at the pictures in both of the Confetti books.

Debbie brown is my favorite!

I saw that Toba Garrett's Professional Cake Decorating's book was on amazon for $53. Is it worth it?

Well I am just about an antique myself

But but but I have the original red Betty Crocker's Picture Cookbook 1950 or 1951 I think it is. It was Mom's and it is so torn up but it's priceless to me. So I'm not sure what constitutes an antique but there's that.

Well I do actually have older books than that somewhere come to think of it but none more precious.

I love Margaret Braun's book, Cakewalk, because she describes the mental process--the inspiration and the craziness that is creating a cake. Hers is a red book with gold edged pages. C'mon, it doesn't get any better than that, huh.

I love and have learned from all my cake books.

I also really like Kerry's book, Romantic Cakes--they are so different.

Here is a list of the favorite books named so far. This sure is a good start! Does anyone else have any favorites?

Nicholas Lodge's International School of Sugarcraft
The Sugar Fix by Michele Foster (Sugarflowers)
Books by Debbie Brown
The Confetti Cakes Cookbook by Elisa Strauss & Christie Matheson
The Confetti Cakes for Kids by Elisa Strauss & Christie Matheson
The Well-Decorated Cake by Toba Garrett
Lesley Herbert's Complete Book of Sugar Flowers
Cake Mix Doctor
Whimsical Bakehouse books
Cakewalk: Adventures in Sugar by Margaret Braun
Romantic Cakes by Kerry Vincent