Wednesday Review: Sweet and Simple Party Cakes

I WANT TO MAKE ALL THE CAKES. Seriously - they're all beautiful in this book. Sweet and Simple Party Cakes by May Clee-Cadman is fantastic.

What I Like:

·         It's well laid out. There's a small introduction and then it dives into recipes and techniques. It lists the equipment essentials, discusses different icings and fillings, and how to assemble your cake. The design sections are divided between pastels, whites, and brights. (I may like this because the last 2 rhyme.)

·         Mini cakes. This book has a lot of ideas on how to decorate mini cakes. You can either cut out rounds from a normal cake or use mini cake trays. MUST FIND THESE IMMEDIATELY.

·         Polka-dots. I'm a HUGE fan of polka-dots and a few of their cakes are decorated with different color polka-dots - easy and awesome. (also they're RAINBOW!!)

·         Everything looks really easy to do. I'm not sure if it actually is, but this book just makes it seem so simple. Maybe because each decorated cake doesn't have a ton of different things on it. It's the KISS principle.

·         They show you how to trace designs directly onto your cake using a pin/toothpick and tracing paper. Then you can trace icing over the indents for an easy way to get fancy uniform designs.

·         It pairs mini cakes or cupcake designs with a big cake. So you could make both to fit all into one theme, or just one of them depending on what you have time for.

·         There's a whole section on how you can use items like ribbons, silk flowers, jewels, and feathers to decorate your cakes.NEAT!

What I don't Like:

·         I don't have time to do all the baking I want.. or all the running I'd need to do if I could do all the baking I want.

This is a great book - wonderful pictures and ideas. There is really something about the simplicity of the designs that keep all the cakes looking beautiful. There's not one in here I wouldn't want to make!