Rose's Heavenly Cakes

Rosie, Rosie, Rosie!! You are a queen upon a very special pedestal which has very few equals! And anyone who possesses this tome of baking knowledge will absolutely agree! Rose Levy-Beranbaum has outdone herself in her latest offering of baking excellence! Where her "Cake Bible" was a standard for many years, this has outdone even that book!The first time I met Rose was at a tiny little bookstore in Chicago many, many years ago. She was there for the signing of "Cake Bible" and she was the very first professional baker/chef that I had met on the beginning journey of my road to serious baking/cooking. She was most kind and gracious and I remember thinking of what a wonderful life would lie ahead for this sweet lady. Needless to say, her "Cake Bible" became a standard for many people but this latest offering from her talented mind is exquiste and is by far, one of the very best learning and reference books ever! Also, within the last couple of years, I have enjoyed her website/blog which makes her even more accessible for general or specific questions on baking. The journey she took us on while making this wonderful new book was a joy to follow.It is a large, heavy, detailed book of cakes, cupcakes, bars, baby-size cakes with excellent photography, all printed on heavy, high-end paper to for which you would expect of books of this quality. Immediately at the introduction of each recipe, you have the serving size and baking time, followed by a brief synopsis of what she feels is the essence of that particular recipe. Then the "Batter" ingredients are laid out in a graphic form in which you are given the ingredients, with the Volume listed next to it, then the Weights of each ingredient, in both American and Metric form. Under this graph of information begins the steps to be taken beginning with any special equipment that would be needed, oven preparation, then the actual preparation of the batter. Any variations that could be taken, as well as "Highlights for Success" are listed and very much appreciated in that sometimes, there are little tricks, sidebars of information, and alternatives that you can incorporate into making the recipe a bit easier or more grand.For example, I never realized that the leavening agents within cupcakes require that you bake them immediately or they will lose the power of that ingredient, so unless you have a large oven to bake all the batter at one shot, you're better off making the batter in batches.Also, the presentation of these creations can be made so much more impressive with just a little creative help such as gingerbread boys and girls encircling a "Ginger Cheesecake" (who would have thunk it?) or using ladyfingers as an upright band of crust for the "Cranberry Crown Cheesecake" which also have a lovely wide ribbon around their base for an extraordinary presentation.Being someone who appreciates photography in a cookbook, the photo's contained within are both superb and generous, with close-up shots that show detail. There is also single or sequential photography for certain cakes that require more intimate knowledge of preparation or assembly such as the "Holiday Pinecone Cake" (it acutal looks like a pinecone) or how to make "Spun Sugar" or how to pipe the "Ladyfingers", etc. Sometimes, just one little photo will clarify a question in your mind and Rose seems to know which step would benefit from a photo. Many of the cakes have their finished photo in this grand book but not all, though there are enough to satisfy everyone.Her book is constructed as such:ForewardAcknowledgementsIntroductionRose's Rules of Cake Baking (Though you may know these tips, this is an essential read)BUTTER and OIL CAKES:Apple Upside-Down Cake, Plum and Blueberry Upside Down Torte, She Loves Me Cake (a standard batter using the Nordic Pan Daisy Cake pan), White Velvet Cake w/ Milk Chocolate Ganache, Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake, Southern Manhatten Coconut Cake w/ Silk Meringue Buttercream, Whipped Cream Cake, Karmel Cake (that's spelled correctly per book), Spice Cake w/ Peanut Buttercream, Golden Lemon Almond Cake, Lemon Poppy Seed Sour Cream Cake, Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake, Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake, Marble Velvet Cake, Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake, Swedish Pear and Almond Cream Cake, Cradle Cake (a buttermilk batter with dacquoise cake), Sicilian Pistachio Cake, Gateau Breton (as Rose states, the outside looks like pastry but the inside is moist and tender), Sticky Toffee Pudding, Enlish Gingerbread Cake, Fruitcake Wreath, Rose Red Velvet Cake, Chocolate Tomato Cake w/ Mystery Ganache (you actually use a can of tomato soup!), Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Cake, Chocolate Banana Stud Cake, Devil's Food Cake w/ Midnght Ganache, Chocolate Layer Cake w/ Caramel Ganache, Bernachon Palet d'Or Gateau (the cover cake, "merci Rose!"), Double Choclate Valentine, Chocoalte Velvet Fudge Cake, Black Chocolate Party Cake, Classic Carrot Cake w/ Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting, Pumpkin Cake w/ Burnt Orange Silk Meringue Buttercream, Many-Splendored Quick Bread, Banana Refrigerator Cake w/ Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting, German Chocolate Cake, Chocolate Ice Cream Cake or SandwichSPONGE CAKES:Angel Food Cake, Chocolate Tweed Angel Food Cake, Chocolate Apricot Roll w/ Laquer Cake, Genoise Rose, White Gold Passion Genoise, True Orange Genoise, Genoise Tres Cafe, Chocolate Genoise w/Peanut Butter Whipped Ganache, Moist Chocolate Raspberry Genoise, Red Fruit Shortcake, Catalan Salt Pinch Cake (a great story with this cake), Almond Shamah Chiffon, Orange Glow Chiffon Layer Cake, Lemon Meringue Cake, Torta de las Tres Leches, Apple Caramel Charlotte, Chocolate Raspberry Trifle, Saint Honore Trifle (beautiful presentation with spun sugar!), Holiday Pinecone CakeMOSTLY FLOURLESS CAKES and CHEESECAKES: (for those with celiac or gluten allergies, this is great!)Cranberry Crown Cheesecake, Pure Pumpkin Cheesecake, Coconut Cheesecake w/ Coconut Cookie Crust, Ginger Cheesecake w/ Gingerbread Crust, No-Bake Whipped Cream Cheesecake, Lemon Canadian Crown, Ladyfingers, Tiramisu, Sybil's Pecan Torte w/ Coffee Cream, Chocolate Feather Bed (a mousse-like cake), Hungarian Jancsi Torta (moist chocolate cake w/ nuts), Le Succes (almond cake w/ tea ganache), Zach's La BombaBABY CAKES:Yellow Butter Cupcakes, Chocolate Butter Cupcakes, White Velvet Butter Cupcakes, Golden Neo-Classic Buttercream, Dreamy Creamy White Chocolate Frosting, Chocolate-Egg White Buttercream, Designer Chocolate Baby Grands, Gold Ingots, Chocolate Ingots, Peanut Butter Ingots, Plum Round Ingots, Financier-Style Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes, Mini Vanilla Bean Pound Cakes, Baby Lemon Cheesecakes, Quail Egg Indulgence Cake, Marionberry Shortcake, Coffee Chiffonlets w/ Dulce de Leche Whipped Cream, Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes, Caramelized Pineapple Pudding Cakes, Classic Brioche, The Bostini, Deep Choclate Rosebuds, Molten Chocolate Souffle and Lava Cakes, Chocolate Bull's-Eye Cakes, Barcelona Brownie Bars, Baby Chocolate Oblivions, Two Fat Cats Whoopie Pie (remember those as kids?), Mud Turtle CupcakesWEDDING CAKES: (oooh-la-la!!! While these are not elaborate cakes that you would get in the single-subject wedding cake books, they are delicious batter recipes for which you can then build on your own from that solid foundation. There are definite written and photographed instructions for building and decorating the basic wedding cake and that's the strength of wedding cake knowledge which she provides most adequately.)Tropical Wedding Cake, Golden Dream Wedding Cake, Grand Marnier Wedding Cake, Deep Chocolate Passion Wedding Cake, Double-Chocolate Whammy Groom's Cake, Wedding CupcakesSpecial Effects and Techniques: This is pretty much your decorating section with the basics of cake preparation and such; working with chocolate, making flowers from fruit peels, etcIngredients and Basic Recipes: Discussion of what the ingredients do and how to work with them, as well as cream recipes, how to use fruits, spices, nuts, and substitutionsIngredient Sources: A wonderful directory of resources!Equipment: A must read section to ensure perfect recipes! Plus a very appreciated cake pan sizes and volume chartEquipment SourcesAppendix: Recipes using only egg yolks, recipes using only egg whites, quick-and-easy recipesIndexI have since made the Lemon Poppy Seed-Sour Cream Cake as well as the Individual Pineapple Upside-Down Cakes and they were excellent! Do I believe in the delicious outcome of the rest of the recipes? Absolutely...............many years of referring to Rose's "Cake Bible", "Bread Bible", and "Christmas Cookies" have made me a ardent follower and trusting devotee of Rose.This is without a doubt one of the best books that I've seen and I would absolutely rank this as an instant classic. I would describe this not only as a wonderful book of recipes but an excellent teaching tool and reference guide to place on a more prominent part of your book shelve.A deep bow of gratitude to our Rosie!!

I must first agree with the other reviewers that this book is yet another amazing book by Rose, but I believe there are probably many of you who, like me, own and love The Cake Bible (CB), but aren't sure if we *need* Rose's Heavenly Cakes (HC). My answer: while you probably don't need it, you will surely love it if get it.Some comparisons:Logistics:* HC has color throughout, color pictures for most of the cakes, and good quality paper.* HC keeps the ingredient measurements in three columns (volume, ounces, and grams), but the formatting makes it easier to read than CB.* Most HC recipes are for 9" x 2" round cake pans instead of 9" x 1 1/2" pans (Huzzah! No more sticky notes all over the book with conversions for 2/3 or 1 1/3 of the batter!). Other recipes are for equally easy to find pans (such as 10-cup tube pans).* She has omitted the pictures of the pans that go with the recipe (which for some reason I liked), and the picture of cake equipment (CB 446-447).* The organization is different. Cakes and adornments are listed together. It's nice because you don't have to have three different bookmarks when making a simple cake as in the CB. The organization can make it a little bit harder to find recipes, especially for adornments, though. The index is good, but instead of going to the frostings or fillings section of the CB, you would need to look up Buttercream, Cream cheese-frosting, Curd, Fillings, Frostings, Ganache, Glaze, Whipped Cream, etc... It's not hard, but not as easy to flip through and compare recipes.Content:* From reading the intros, many of the cakes have been updated, and there are new ones such as gingerbread, German chocolate, and molten chocolate cakes. Of course, as with all Rose's recipes, she makes them her own, and avoids getting things too cloyingly sweet.* Rose admits that she now "embraces less buttercream and less fancy décor." You can see that not only in the pictures, but also in the content. The piped decorations section is one page and includes only the star, shell, and bead, and Rose says, "the only time I pipe decorations on a cake these days is when I use a whipped cream topping." To surprise me even more, the Miette Rose cake even calls for a purchased royal icing rose!! I'm ambivalent about this change. On one hand, I love the simpler décor and I think it will be more accessible to others; I know I avoided buying CB for a long time because I thought it was just pretty, not yummy (which it's not, of course). With HC, however, no one will feel bad for making the Blueberry Swan Lake cake without the swans again! On the other hand, CB's 25 pages of piping decorations were clear and fun to play around with. HC does have some new decorations such as orange peel roses and the new lacquer technique used on the cake features on the cover.* The shift away from buttercreams also means that there isn't the endless supply of buttercream variations that are in CB.Overall, I am very pleased with this book and look to try more new recipes and techniques. I will probably start with HC instead of the CB when I want to make a new cake, but I'm still glad to have the CB around.

Este libro es fantástico. Tiene muchas ilustraciones que dan una idea de cómo debe verse la receta al final. Cada pastel tiene una tabla de ingredientes en gramos y en tazas para que midas como prefieras. Algunos pasteles tienen muchos pasos; otros son más sencillos. De cualquier forma, las instrucciones son siempre claras y escrupulosas. Lo recomiendo si ya tienes un poco de experiencia horneando en casa y si tienes buenos instrumentos en casa (moldes, tazas, báscula, batidora, entre muchos otros). Si no tienes estos instrumentos, la autora indica en un apartado al final cuáles son los básicos que hay que tener. Es un gran libro.

Amazing recipes with an easy understanding of them all. And the pictures are very yummy.

Rose's books are always of high quality, her research is so thorough, you will not be disappointed with this book, so many great recipes to try.

Estas tartas son realmente manjar de dioses. No he hecho todas las recetas, pero las que he hecho han sido para ocasiones especiales y he quedado muy bien con ellas.Lo volvería a comprar, y tiene un lugar muy especial en mi estantería.

I love this baking book. I have about 20+ and have started baking from this book. There are lots of photographs (as more of a novice baker, I find it helpful to see what something looks like and also to determine if I want to bake it). I like all of the tips and the detail. Ultimately, this has helped improve my baking. So far I've baked three recipes and all turned out really well. At least two so far will be repeated favorites. I like it that the weights are included as it increases accuracy and makes measuring easier. There is excellent advice and I'd definitely recommend this book (it would make an excellent present). I keep it at my bedside for night-time reading.