I finally bought "The Cake Bible"!!!!


I mostly bought it for all the "science" of the recipes...but can anyone tell me if the actual cake recipes, especially the vanilla ones, are really moist and good? What about the pound cake?

Some of the fillings look really nice too...alot of basic recipes that every caker will eventually need...

Looks like the kind of book I just need to sit down and read it cover to cover!!!! Lots of good stuff in there.

I love the recipes in it~! The Perfect Pound cake to the White Chocolate Whisper cake. Her curd recipes are great too. You will get others who do not like her methods though... so, try some, and decide for yourself...

Where can I get this Cake Bible?

I got it at a local Borders but its probably cheaper at amazon.com or something...somebody bought it for me today as a gift.

I have this book and I LOVE it!! I'd love to work my way through it but as always, not enough time but everything I've made so far has turned out great.

I have what must be the American version of the Cake Bible (I got it from amazon.com in the US), but I don't quite understand why it wouldn't work in the UK or Australia. All measurements are given by volume (cups, teaspoons, tablespoons, etc.) and by weight, both in English and metric units. It seems to me that the only thing that needs to be converted are the oven temperatures, which - strangely enough - are only given in Fahrenheit. Just out of curiousity, what other problems are there from the UK/Australian standpoint?

Marianna,

The flour in the UK is different to the flour in US. So is the butter, cheese and other ingredients. We don't have Crisco in Australia and many other differences.

I know it sounds weird when you think butter & cheese are from cows milk - how can it be different? but is the processes and the additives different countries use or add. Same with the flour.

Here is the link to the authors comments on reproducing The Cake Bible for the UK.

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/2006/07/crossing_the_atlantic_by_cookb.html#more

Nel

Thanks for the information, nelikate,this is just fascinating. I guess I shouldn't be too surprised: I live right next door to the US in Mexico and many things are different here, including the flour! (Although it works okay for most American cake recipes, but I can't get "cake flour" here to save my life). I can't really make marshmallow fondant because marshmallows are made so differently here, too. And thanks a million for the link to Rose Levy Beranbaum's blog - I've put the gingerbread recipe in my favorites!

I have it for a reference. I didn't much care for the recipes. The fondant recipe isn't bad though. It was one of the first "cake" books I ever bought. She also has a newsletter you can sign up for that you get electronically.

I resisted buying the Cake Bible because of reading about adjustments that needed to be done in some of the the cake recipes in the book. If you don't know to go to Roses blog, you wont know the proper adjustments that need to be made and your cake might not work. I was hoping Rose would come out with a revised edition of the cake bible with any corrections, but her book Heavenly cakes came out instead.

If you want to check out the adjustments, or errata, in the Cake Bible book click on the link.

http://www.realbakingwithrose.com/book_errata/

Thanks! I'll print the stuff and add it with the book.

Just bought the cake bible afetr reading on the net about all the hype. She has some fantastic sounding recipes in there. So far gave only made the downy yellow cake which came out beautifully, with an extremely fine almost powder soft texture. Not the cake to use for carving! But after I froze it, and tested it after a week, the texture was perfect (and it was so tasty!) went great with the Italian Meringue Buttercream I also had on hand.

I just went to Rose's web page, and after looking at all those changes and modifications . I can't even imagine buying The Cake Bible...it all seemd so complicated and way too much adjusting

I don't care for the cake recipes at all. I still want to try some of the other recipes, like fondant and fillings though.

I love it! I read it cover to cover also. I haven't tried that many of the recipes but I like her downy yellow cake and the white chocolate whisper cake. I did not care for her chocolate cake (can't remember the name but its very similar to the downy yellow cake, just chocolate) as it is not quite chocolatey enough for me. I found myself wanting even more baking science, though, after reading it so I got Shirley Corriher's Bakwise a few weeks ago. I'm still in the process of reading it cover to cover (I've been busy). I'd like to eventually get to where I can design my own recipes because I know how the ingredients interact with each other and in what proportions they should be.

I'm not crazy about the Cake Bible.

One thought to share with you all--the deal she gets into about baking powder whatever that is all about--all of the commercial bakers I've ever worked for or known just multiply out all the ingredients without any of that baking powder mumbo jumbo of hers.

I got my daughter the Dorie Greenspan baking book--she loves it--and man can that girl bake!

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0618443363/?tag=cakecentral-20

I also think Nick Maglieri's book, Perfect Cakes, is a wonderful compendium of great cakes.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0060198796/?tag=cakecentral-20

I heart it. Her recipes are finicky, but oh so good.

I'll save the white recipe...I'm kind of looking for something with the same texture as doctored box mix, and roughly the same flavor, but of course minus the "commercial" background taste.

Because everybody seems to love that "bakery style" cake, as I call it...

I'm not sure what a doctored mix tastes like (or what you do to doctor yours) but I think this is why people like this recipe. Its scratch but is similar to a boxed wasc without the commercial taste. I just like it because it tastes good Too bad you don't live close, I've got some here you could come try a slice!

I've never made a doctored mix so I'm not sure how they bake. I'm not sure I would call this recipe fluffy (although I'm not sure I know exactly what that means ). It will rise nicely above the edges of your pan but you have to fill the pan pretty full. I fill mine probably 3/4 full to get it to rise above the edge.

I'm almost afraid to try a scratch vanilla cake because the recipe I use is just a doctored cake mix and it was the most popular cake at the bakery I worked for. Betty Crocker french vanilla cake (sifted) with a touch of Cream Bouquet. The owner said she'd tried all different types of recipes but this was the most consistent in flavor and texture. And it is! Always moist, stacks and carves well and tastes wonderful. No one ever thought it was from a box. That little touch of Cream Bouquet brings out the vanilla flavor while giving it a touch of citrus. Makes all the difference. Sure makes it a lot easier too! I guess I should branch out, and I want to...but hey, if it ain't broke...

Hi,

I just bought this, and have to say I am totally flummoxed with the modifications section. I don't know the editor, but wouldn't hire him/her for a book I was writing!! The talks about the factors 3 and factor 8, and then says to multiply all the ingredients by 3 for an 8" cake???  And then there is the baking powder factor. What the heck?? None of it makes any sense at all, and I read it about ten times, and am an English teacher, so supposedly, I can read.

Can anyone recommend a good source for changing any of the recipes most commonly shared here for, say, a 14 inch tier? Thanks,

Nancy