Layered: Baking Building and Styling Spectacular Cakes review ¸ eBook or Kindle ePUB

read Layered: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes

Layered: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes review ¸ eBook or Kindle ePUB » It’s time to venture beyond vanilla and chocolate and take your baking skills up a notch We’re talking layers—two three four or   Create sky high bakery uality treats at home with Tessa Huff’s 150 iRicks Layered covers every decorating techniue you’ll ever need with simple instructions and gorgeous step by step photos that speak to bakers of every skill level and to anyone who wants to transform dessert into layer upon layer of edible art. I received this book as an advanced reader copy from NetGalleyI am a competent cook but an incompetent baker The exactitude and fussiness of baking has always overwhelmed me However my surprising success with a fairly basic gluten free chocolate layer cake at a recent dinner party has emboldened me to delve deeply into the world of cakes Layered seemed like just the book to guide me on that journey Almost immediately the book endeared itself to me with its sentiment that although there is some science necessary for baking the perfect cake the baker should be able to play with flavors and experiment with textures It is exactly that sense of fun and freedom that draws me into the kitchen in the first placeThe book began with the basics a pantry a tool kit basic baking and pastry techniues and recipes for the “staples” Ingredients and tools were listed alphabetically The descriptions of the ingredients were very thorough and well balanced advocating splurges when necessary and economies when possible I was thrilled to see an exact time frame for bringing butter to room temperature – thirty to sixty minutes depending on the temperature of the kitchen Likewise the descriptions of the items in the tool kit were thorough enough to serve as a buyers’ guide I was a little dismayed that none of the cakes in the book were baked with nine inch cake pans because that is the size that I have I’m such a novice baker that I didn’t know they were nonstandard when I bought them The instructions in the baking and pastry techniues section were very clearly written and included not only the how but also the why which I really appreciate These techniues covered the gamut from creaming butter and sugar to cutting and storing the cake There was a lengthy series of separate instructions on how to properly frost a cake which included preparing the cake filling the cake applying the crumb coat and finishing the cake smooth Additional instructions were provided for a striped finish swirl finish rustic finish and a variety of piping bag finishes I was a little overwhelmed reading about the piping bag finishes because I’ve only handled a piping bag once in my life and that was a pre filled one under close supervision in a Sur La Table French pastry class Fortunately right after the section on properly frosting a cake came a section on piping techniues which essentially demystified everything from the different types of piping bag types to how to achieve different effects with each tip Final touches such as garnishes decorations and presentation were also discussed The section on the basics wound up with the recipes for the “staples” Ingredient measurements and cooking temperatures were given in English units as well as metric units I found it a little odd that the egg whites were measured in fractional cups rather than number of eggs but that just goes to show how fussy and precise bakers can be The recipe steps were clearly written and easy to follow The Tips and Troubleshooting box following the recipes seemed to cover the widest possible variety of problemsThe real fun began once the basics had been covered as there were entire sections devoted to classic cakes chocolate cakes casual cakes whimsical cakes adventurous cakes and holiday cakes Each individual cake recipe took up three to four pages within the section usually with at least one full page devoted to photographs or artwork Each individual cake recipe clearly indicated how many layers of what size cake and how many servings are yielded After a brief introduction each individual cake recipe listed the ingredients for each of the components of the cake Like the recipes for the “staples” the ingredient measurements and cooking temperatures for each component of each cake recipe were given in English units as well as metric units Egg yolks and egg whites were actually measured by number rather than by fluid volume except for the egg whites in one or two frosting recipes like the maple brown sugar buttercream Some of the ingredients were a little obscure like brown rice syrup hazelnut praline paste and rose extract Following the ingredient lists were the recipe steps for each component which were organized under bolded subheadings to make it easy to follow along Like the recipes for the “staples” the recipe steps were clearly written easy to follow and well seuenced For the cakes frostings and fillings the recipes steps were as standardized as possible That is for example when there was a sifting step for a cake component it read the same as the sifting step for every other cake component This made it very easy to get into a groove reading the recipes There was a wide variety of techniues employed to flavor the cakes frostings and fillings including infusion Some cakes used soaking syrups to enhance their flavors The only downside to the recipes was that most definitely reuired an electric stand mixer rather than a hand mixer something that was foreshadowed in the tool kit section “Assemble the Cake” was added in as its own bold subheading because sometimes there were one or components that needed to be prepared after assembly After the main recipe were a variety of different call out boxes The “Decorate It” call out box provided suggestions on how to decorate the cake The “Baker’s Notes” call out box provided tips and troubleshooting as well as storage times The “Got Leftovers” call out box recommended how to use any leftover components from the overall cake recipe like pouring leftover chocolate glaze over ice cream for a sundae or sprinkling leftover oat crumble over yogurt The “Shortcut” call out box highlighted substitutions that can be made like store bought lemon curd and honey roasted peanuts for homemadeThe bonus three tier wedding cake chapter explored using supports to turn stable layer cakes into a tiered cake The project was essentially stacking a six inch two layer cake on top of an eight inch two layer cake on top of a ten inch two layer cake In addition to the clear recipe and assembly steps there were easy to follow instructions on how to insert dowels into the eight inch and ten inch layer cakes for stability and advice on how much additional buttercream frosting was reuired to completely cover such a large cakeOf course the geek in me appreciated the Mix and Match chart at the end of the book that provided another fourteen combinations of cake filling and frosting The intent was to inspire confidence in the reader to experiment with his or her own combinations of the basic building blocks provided throughout the book The Index was well organized and easy to use which makes actually mixing and matching a real possibilityThe sheer variety of cake recipes frosting recipes filling recipes and other recipes in Layered was stunning This book definitely lived up to – and surpassed – the promise of the publisher’s blurb in its scope There must be at least a dozen different recipes for variations of the humble chocolate cake But I think my favorite part of the book was all the little extra special touches that the author added to the cakes I knew homemade marshmallows were within the realm of possibility but who would have thought that it was even possible to make homemade sprinkles Never mind do it with four ingredients in two steps And instructions on how to build a spun sugar bird’s nest Nothing short of awesomeHowever this book had two minor flaws First the recipes are not easily scaleable into different shapes and sizes With one or two exceptions there is no guidance whatsoever provided if you wanted to turn a four layer six inch cake into a two layer eight inch cake And you can forget about making cupcakes Second Layered is not for those with dietary restrictions Only the Chocolate Coconut Cake could be made vegan – the cake itself was eggless but the frosting recipe reuired vegan butter and vegan cream cheese to be substituted for the regular varieties called for in the ingredient list The Apricot Carrot Cake which could be made exclusively with spelt flour instead of white all purpose flour was the only gluten free cakeThe digital galley that I received lacked photographs and other artwork so I cannot comment on them There was a generous amount of space devoted to photographs and other artwork which made this book a very uick read It was actually pretty easy to get an overall feel for the book without the photographs and the artwork because the recipes stood on their own relying on their descriptions rather than on references to photographs or artworkI have yet to prepare any of the recipes from Layered but after reading the book from cover to cover I am confident that I could successfully attempt almost any recipe within its pages – once I acuire the correct size cake pans I’ve been asked to bring an “appetizer cake” to my goddaughter’s third birthday party mid month so I definitely have an occasion to test out at least a basic cake recipe if not compose the complete cakefillingfrosting objet d’art If I prepare one of the recipes I will update my review