From The Critics
Wow—you'll want to eat up this book. Mothers will like these easy-to-execute ideas for birthday treats or for special family occasions. If you are an experienced cake decorator you'll love these unique ideas, and if you've never decorated a cake, these ideas will inspire you. There is a picture of each of the twenty cakes. This book is going to my kitchen shelf for sure! 2001, Kids Can Press, $12.95. Ages Adult. Reviewer: A. Braga SOURCE: Parent Council, September 2001 (Vol. 9, No. 1)
Children's Literature
Need a haunted castle or a dinosaur for a special occasion? Now children can whip one up in the kitchen. Made with a dozen cupcakes, the creeping caterpillar cake is easy enough for small ones to tackle, while the scary dinosaur requires some engineering and good cake-handling skills. Pictures of the chocolate cakes baked in coffee mugs with a dollop of icing on top look like they'd really hit the spot on a chilly winter's day. Wouldn't a bright yellow school bus be a great first-day-of-school cake? Directions for baking, constructing and decorating unusual cakes are clearly laid out and accompanied by easy-to-follow illustrations. Safety considerations are stressed when it comes to activities like using knives or removing something from the oven. Cake decorating materials include jelly beans, cookies, gumdrops, shoestring licorice, marshmallows and even uncooked spaghetti. Three icing flavors, four cake recipes and nineteen different cake configurations provide lots of choices for children. Macleod presents some fun activities to both encourage creativity and reinforce baking skills. 2001, Kids Can Press, $12.95 and $5.95. Ages 8 to 12. Reviewer: Chris Gill
School Library Journal
Gr 4-6-Here is just the book for playful bakers: there are four cake recipes; three icing recipes; and 19 different creations, including cakes in the shape of a mouse, a house, a butterfly, and a bus. Each recipe makes one large oblong layer, two round or square layers, or 24 cupcakes. All of the "amazing cakes," shown in colored photographs and how-to drawings, can be made from the basic shapes. Be aware, however, that the actual completed projects may not look as professional as the ones in the pictures; the dinosaur and haunted castle cakes are more complicated than the others; and applying lines of icing by way of a punctured plastic bag is difficult. Otherwise, as the series title states, "Kids Can Do It." The directions are clear and the format is clean.-Carolyn Jenks, First Parish Unitarian Church, Portland, ME Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information.
