My 12 year old niece has asked for a baking cookbook and some piping bags and tips to start getting into some decorating for Christmas. Being that I am the family baker it was suggested I could tackle this request for her. I am excited to do that for her and maybe work with her to show her some things but being that I don't have any kids I thought maybe someone could suggest a good cookbook for her to start out with. Any suggestions would really be appreciated. Thanks!
I got my first baking book from a car boot think and it covered the basics of filling and covering etc. That said, it seems that most cake decorating books now also have an introduction section in them which covers all of that and basic techniques so I would just look for a book which is focussed on the type of baking she likes...maybe specialises in character cakes or animals or something. I would also look at maybe building her up a 'magic list' of resources...maybe the websites you have used, really useful videos etc. I started buying books to begin with only to find the first half was all repeated and the rest i could figure out for myself or get better online!
Hope she enjoys it though...I want to do the same thing for my god daughter but she is only 4 so I have to wait a few years!! xx
i gave my daughter dorie greenspans baking book --
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0618443363/?tag=cakecentral-20+from+my+home+to+yours
if she can read (and of course she can) she will become a very good baker -- the book will become a lifelong reference
Originally Posted by Snowflakebunny23
Hope she enjoys it though...I want to do the same thing for my god daughter but she is only 4 so I have to wait a few years!! xx
we have the easy bake oven here in the states at least -- do you have a version of it in your part of the globe?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Easy-Bake-Ultimate-Oven-Purple/26680910
i mean it does state it is for 8 years old and up but i think i got one for my 5 year old niecelette -- maybe in a few years?
I started when I was 14ish, My first book was the Australian Womens weekly http://www.booktopia.com.au/the-australian-women-s-weekly-children-s-birthday-cake-book-pamela-clark/prod9781742450582.html which was very basic easy fun kiddy cakes, they have extensively expanded their cake books range now, and I still pick them up when a new one comes out http://www.booktopia.com.au/books-online/non-fiction/cooking-food-drink/australian-woman-s-weekly/cWB1-p1.html .
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we have the easy bake oven here in the states at least -- do you have a version of it in your part of the globe?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Easy-Bake-Ultimate-Oven-Purple/26680910
i mean it does state it is for 8 years old and up but i think i got one for my 5 year old niecelette -- maybe in a few years?
That is cool! I'd never seen it before but a bit of research says we can get them here...but like everything, they are the same cost in GBP as they are in USD! Lol. I'll keep an eye out though to see if I come across any. At the moment, her entire life revolves around Frozen so i think a mini-oven would be a distraction (although maybe one her parents may appreciate ;-) )
For my children (all adults now) I created a cookbook of family recipes that I collected from siblings, cousins and passed down favorites. You can purchase a nice binder with blank pages and print up your own pages. Here is an example of what I am talking about.
Then you can include pictures of the food with family members. You can then make each recipe with her which would be a lot of fun for both of you. You don't have to fill it up, you can start with a few of your favorite recipes and if you save some of the blank pages, you can print them up for her as birthday gifts or 'just because' gifts. Something she will probably treasure for a long time.
Hello, If she has access to the internet, for cake decorating purposes she could go there and type in any and everything to do with cakes, cake borders, frosting flowers, buttercream flowers,cupcake decorating, leveling cakes,tier cakes, and so on. These videos will show her how to do many buttercream flowers.
If she is into fondant she can type that in as well to learn. Sometimes it helps to actually see how they hold the decorating tubes and how they make flowers along with all the different types of borders they make. This will give her many free cake decorating courses of which she can learn much not to mention you giving her free courses as well. Good luck, I am sure that you will have fun together!! The old Wilton books are fantastic also!! You can normally get them on Ebay.
The Cake Mix Doctor has a lot of good info in it about why buttercream does this and why ganache' does that. http://www.cakemixdoctor.com/ Some folks on here don't like it but it is a great beginner book I think.
Quote:
we have the easy bake oven here in the states at least -- do you have a version of it in your part of the globe?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Easy-Bake-Ultimate-Oven-Purple/26680910
i mean it does state it is for 8 years old and up but i think i got one for my 5 year old niecelette -- maybe in a few years?
I must confess that I had an Easy Bake oven when I was very young. I guess you can say that is truly where I got my start. I even got one for my daughter when she was young. It was one of her favorite things. By that time, Easy Bake had a little kitchen counter with a sink, and it had a little blender and mixer that really worked. She would make Kool Aid and Tang in the tiny blender and use the little mixer for the cake and icing mixes. She had that for years.
Thank you for reminding me, K8.
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Originally Posted by -K8memphis
we have the easy bake oven here in the states at least -- do you have a version of it in your part of the globe?
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Easy-Bake-Ultimate-Oven-Purple/26680910
i mean it does state it is for 8 years old and up but i think i got one for my 5 year old niecelette -- maybe in a few years?
I must confess that I had an Easy Bake oven when I was very young. I guess you can say that is truly where I got my start. I even got one for my daughter when she was young. It was one of her favorite things. By that time, Easy Bake had a little kitchen counter with a sink, and it had a little blender and mixer that really worked. She would make Kool Aid and Tang in the tiny blender and use the little mixer for the cake and icing mixes. She had that for years.
Thank you for reminding me, K8.
i had one too [high five] i love love loved it --
but then i never got any refill mixes or anything so i matriculated myself to the big oven 
and the rest is cellulite history hahaha
Wow.......sorry I haven't checked on this in a couple of days. Thanks everyone for all the feedback and great ideas. I haven't decided on a cookbook yet but, I did have a 50% off coupon of JoAnn's the other day and started her with some tips and a small case to store them in. Thanks again for the input and Merry Christmas to everyone!
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