Spectacular Cakes: Special Occasion Cakes for any Celebration

In the beginning the author teaches the reader the technical aspects of cake making.It feels like ur being taught by a professional culinary artistThen here comes the cakes!So so beautiful!Perhaps not for a beginner due to really advanced techniquesIt’s worth every penny!!The photography is wonderful!!Highly recommend

Although some of the styles of cake in this book are a bit outdated, the techniques are very well explained and can be applied to all cakes. This book teaches some invaluable tips and skills (example, how to make your own modeling chocolate for sculpting). Also includes some really great recipes.

Fabulous book, some beautiful cakes to make just in time for the holiday season.

I am new to Baking and Cake Decorating. I just started baking from scratch, having usually opted for Duncan Heinz or Pillsberry cake mixes (which are not really suitable for carving). The recipes in this book are easy to follow and are really wonderful. I made the Carrot Cake (with the crystallized Ginger)- Which was moist and wonderful!There are clear descriptions with photo's that are easy to follow or adapt to your own ideas for decorating cakes. I've already purchased over 20 books on cakes and decorating and along with Colette Peters' books, this is one of my favorites! Cakes to Dream On: A Master Class in Decorating

I love this book, it has tons of pictures. Very easy to browse. Exactly what I was looking for.

It bears repeating........absolutely lovely! That is how one can describe this very well-written book on cake making and cake decorating.I was initially drawn to the cover photo of pink, green, and orange neon-piping placed vertically, from the edge down, and in alternating colors, on a simple white fondant cake, with lovely orchids used as the crowning centerpiece on top of this gorgeous creation, which pulled all the piping colors together. And that was just for openers!Ms. Mich Turner is an accomplished cake decorater coming to us from across the pond, with quite the reputation that has been requested by some of the finer hotels of that regal land. She has compiled quite a educational book of sorts to help anyone from a beginner to a more advanced cake artist. And she has done so with meticulous preparation and attention to teaching details.The first chapter is of course, Cake Techniques, and with that introduction, you are blissfully on your way to learning the basics of pan preparation which seems simple but is most fundamental in getting those moist and heavenly creations out of their pans, without the frustation of torn, ripped pieces. For those who have initially struggled with this step, you realize how important this chapter is for a beginner.The photography is just splendid with sharp colors and definition of each cake creation so that all the details are there for you to gauge your progress. And the instruction itself is detailed enough but not overwhelmingly complicated, therefore someone just starting out will be quite pleased with their finished work of art.For the sake of understanding how each chapter is in perfect step with the next, this is how she has presented her outline:CAKE RECIPES:Carrot cake, lemon cake (definitely my favorite because of it's light and airy taste), chocolate truffle, coffee and walnut, and fruit cake)MeringuesCookiesButtercream with alternating flavorsChocolate Ganache ButtercreamCovering A Cake with MarzipanCovering A Cake with Fondant (guides/charts to determine amounts needed)Royal Icing (w/ guides & charts for determining amounts)Covering A Cake with Royal IcingPiping Icing (also "flooding" techniques)Glazing (gels, lusters)Icing TechniquesHow To Prepare Cake Stands (iced stands, chocolate-covered stands, etc)Blocking A Cake (to determine placement of layers)Stacking A CakeUsing Pillars To Separate TiersStacking Tiers with A Central ColumnFinishing TouchesICED CAKES/WORKING WITH ICING:Tiffany Pearl Ribbon Cake (tiny little pearl-size drops of icing set into an alternating pattern placed just above a thinly ribboned base)Full Tiffany Pearls (same as above but with larger size pearls of icing)Cascading Pearls (just as written, cascading pearls placed sparsely near the top but becoming more condensed as you reach the base of the cake)Ribbon Loops (such a wonderful idea; using royal icing, you make loops that you let dry then place at the base of the layers; very 3-D!; these were also used as 1 or 2 on top of petit fours)Candy Stripes (the cover photo)Catlia Lace (this reminds me of Australian piping techniques that were used 1-2 centuries ago to create lace-like creations; her instruction in this technique is worth the price of this wonderful book alone!)Lace Brush Embroidery (it reminds of Alencon Lace used on wedding dresses which is very soft and delicate and romantic!)Hand Painted Orchid (again, a very fine lesson on watercolor "painting")Ballerina Fairy (another example of exquisite hand painting)Birds of Paradise (fine, delicate hand work)Woven Ribbon (a technique I haven't seen very often but which I found so fascinating in that it looks as if there truly is a woven ribbon in the fondant)CHOCOLATE CAKES:Tempering ChocolatePouring Chocolate Ganache Icing (the look of shiny chocolate on a cake is just an incredible touch of elegance especially on a heart-shaped cake)Chocolate Plastic (this is a technique to be proud of once you master it)Piping ChocolateChocolate Glazing LustersChocolate Ganach TorteChocolate RosesTri-Colored Fans and RosesWhite Velvet Roses (this cake was gorgeous; it used white chocolate curls to line the sides of the cake then used the "velvet roses" to finish)Individual Ganache BitesCAKES FOR EVENTS:Valentine Hearts (a chocolate heart with chocolate curls on the side and wrapped with a delicate red ribbon; the top of the cake with luscious strawberries with "flooded" piped chocolate ribbons)Rosebud Hearts (extremely delicate rosebuds and silver dragees on a white fondant-covered stacked heart cake)Daisy ChainEaster Bunny Cake (I loved the marzipan bunnies, carrots, and tulips!)Summer PavlovaWinter PavlovaChocolate BonfireAmaryllis ChristmasChristmas Tree Cake (very unusual but spectacular cake of purple fondant with white fondant stars on the sides and a 3-D fondant star tree built in the center with silver dragee "ornaments")Individual Christmas Cakes (let your Christmas imagination run wild)Christmas PackageWinter Igloo (marzipan penguins and igloo)Building Blocks (baby blocks petit fours)Birthday Clown CakeTeddy Bear Christening CakeChristmas CookiesSIGNATURE CAKES (prepare your eyes!):1950's Chic (white cake w/white roses, white side piping; gorgeous!)Cascading Lily CakeCorsage Rose CakeButterfly Cake (flooded yellow/white icing butterflies on a white ribboned and white fondant cake)Fleur-de-lis Cake (an all white stunner!)Contemporary Romantic (rose separating the layers)Aroma Romantic (another version of above)Faberge Cake (simple yet elegant piping on the center of each cake side)Vanity Fair (very elegant piping which will take a bit of time to do)Art Deco Cake (the name says it all)Straawberry Helter-Skelter Cake (the use of plastic chocolate)Black-Pearl Tiara Cake (dramatic effect with black piping)Individual CakesTEMPLATES and RESOURCESThis will be a very welcome and essential addition to your cake baking/decorating libray, to be sure. For more detailed cake construction points, there are other books that go into even more detail, but for the novice to the intermediate baker, this is an excellent teaching tool.

This cake baking book was purchased as a gift for my daughter-in-law's birthday. I selected it from her Amazon wish list. How could I miss? The gift was a success. A few weeks later a recipe was chosen and presented at a wedding shower held at our home. The guests loved the cake and demanded the recipe. Therefore, one can assume that SPECTACULAR CAKES deserves an A+ and a 5 on the ratings scale.

I could hardly wait to get my book and I was not dissapointed. Beautiful pictures and the instructions were very clear. I would recommend it for both beginners (a few simple designs) and professionals (intricate piping). She used Royal Icing, which I'm familar with being from the Caribbean, to decorate along with great chocolate, marzipan and fondant designs. Excellent book for the avid decorator.

I bought this along with another Mich Turner book, and I have to say that I wish I had only bought one of them (the other one!). So much of the information is just the same in both books, the one saving grace was the addition of a Lime & Coconut Cake recipe in this book............... until I went to gather the ingredients together, and realised there's absolutely no mention of how many limes you need!!!!!This isn't a cheap book, and I feel that fundamental mistakes like that shouldn't happen in a quality product. Please, before buying this book, look through the wedding cakes book and compare the two - and just choose one of them, you really don't need them both!

Excellent and well written. Borrowed from a friend and photocopied a couple of pages. Then decided to order my own. Good reference and as I was making my daughter's wedding cake there were some good tips and illustrations in there. Just one thing I did not find working well for me was covering your cake board with fondant icing prior to placing your cake upon it. If you don't use your cake immediately the fondant icing underneath the cake goes very soggy. Next time I will ice cake on the board and bring it down to cover board so no icing goes underneath the cake. Just my point of view. Not criticising the experts. Go on spoil yourself and buy a copy.

The celebration fruit cake recipe in this book is the best I have ever cooked. I can't wait to try the other recipes...... It had good illustrations but placing an iced cake onto an iced cake drum proved to be the most difficult part for me. The difficulty did not come across in the illustrations/photos. I also thought the cake decorations quite ambitious. I made my first wedding cake using this book. The iced cakes (three tiers) turned out very nicely but I chickened out with the decorations and used fresh flowers.Instructions for preparing the cake drums was good and worked well. I was very pleased with the finished result. A really good book.

I BOUGHT THEM TO HELP ENHANCE MY KNOWLEDGE YES IT WAS VERY USEFUL, I LIKE IT THOUGH NOT VERY IMPRESSIVE

Spectacular cakes is the title, and spectacular cakes is what you will find in it. It has it all; the recipes, the techniques, the designs, the templates. There is something for everyone, from the novice baker to the experienced decorator. I don't have other Mich Turner books so can't compare this with the others but there are so many beautiful cakes in this book that I am dying to make, it will be a long time, if at all, that I would need another.