Customer Reviews
Looks like fun - By: L. Bryson, 26 Feb 2008 
These cakes look exceptionallly creative & interesting. They're fascinating to look at, possibly because they don't look real. However, some don't look tasty & in some cases they don't look edible. Lindy understands this is complicated & overwhelming for the reader on the first few pages when she introduces the equipment & ingredients needed. She also warns that it is time consuming (some take over 2 hours just to bake & can take up to a week to decorate). Although they look like something only a professional could achieve, when she teaches you how to create these cakes it seems reallly simple. For instance she tells you about the different types of sugar recipes - the way the professionals make icing, & you realise how easy it is to do. Because she teaches you how to bake the cakes & gives you good tips I think both budding & experienced cooks would be able to follow the steps & feel challlenged & enthused by her designs.
I love art & craft so I was attracted to this book because of the designs & the artwork. She approaches the colour & design like an artist. The thought of adorning a cake with beaded jewellery reallly appeals to me. She explains how to make the cut out designs separately, such as the flowers, so if you don't feel like doing the whole cakes you could just make those on their own & put them on top of an ordinary bun or one of her mini cakes.
A warning for vegetarians, some of the icings use gelatine, but there is a veggie alternative you can find in a specialist baking shop & in some supermarkets.
It might be a good idea to practise on the short cut cakes. My favourites are `perfect harmony' with the music notes, the Eastern cakes & the `wonky' cakes. I want to make the `Op Art' one out of cardboard & use it to store the other cakes. This book is ideal for keen & ambitious cooks or anyone that likes the idea of putting jewellery on an ordinary homemade cake.
Very beautiful - By: Irene Gabellone, 06 Dec 2007 As always you will find spectacular looking cakes on this last LS's book. Tons of instruction on beading work, extensive usage of speciality sugarcraft tools (so if you want to copy this cakes be prepared to spend for tools) & very detailed step by step photographs. For each design there are shown cup cake versions which are very beautiful too. I didn't give the last star because I found instructions on wonky cake not enough considering that I bougth the book to learn the ins & out of this particular technique & that this technique is the author speciality. Shame....
