The Cake Bible

Customer Reviews

Throw your other cake cookbooks away

This book was recommended by the instructor of a cake baking class I took at a local culinary academy. If the instructor, a professional baker for more than 35 years, could learn from this book, I figured I could too. And I have learned from the exacting directions, thorough explanations, and personal anecdotes provided with each recipe. She provides instructions to make basic cakes in any size from 6" layers to 18" layers by multiplying a base recipe to produce any size cake you need. I've never seen this in any other cookbook, and is by itself worth the price of the book. I have had perfect results from the butter cake recipes (even chocolate cakes which I had never had much success with before), and the method of mixing is so much easier than the standard way that most cookbooks describe. Weights are provided for all recipes, adding convenience and much easier clean-up. Since I bought this book, I haven't even looked at any of the other cake books I have. There just isn't any need for them.

A delicious source of recipes and baking know-how

Rose Levy Beranbaum has done an enviable job of creating a cookbook that offers the experienced baker dozens of wonderful ideas, tips and tricks, while offering clear, well-written instructions that allow even a novice baker to produce some really spectacular cakes.

I received my copy several years ago as a gift. The pages are stained with vanilla and butter slicks, a sure sign a cookbook is a good source of recipes as well as a good read. If you love to bake, do yourself a favor: buy this book and make the triple chocolate cake. It's easy (well, easier than it looks), delicious and a showstopper.

Mixed Results

I have had mixed results with this book. The cakes that turned out well (downy yellow butter and golden almond, for example) were among the best cakes I've ever tasted. The ones that didn't, however (including the white spice pound cake and chocolate genoise) were dry and tasteless. I recommend this book for the intrepid experimenter: you will probably not like all the recipes in this book, but the ones that you like, you will love. The directions are extremely clear and detailed; I am an intermediate baker and I learned a lot from this book. Two words of advice: 1. Start checking your cakes a good 5-10 minutes before the suggested baking time; many of these cakes dry out in a heartbeat and are best just a touch underdone (and my oven temperature is perfect). 2. Berenbaum's buttercream is not for the faint of heart (4 sticks to frost one cake)! You might want to look elsewhere for buttercream recipes.