Cakewalk: Adventures In Sugar With Margaret Braun

This book is amazing, I love this woman. However, this book is NOT for the beginner in cake design. Had I bought it during my novice days, I would have been dissapointed. Now that I know what's going on in cake decorating and design, I understood every single instruction given on this book. I used to beat myself over the head to try to design the most beautiful cake ever. With a few tricks of the trade given by this author, now I can. I am no expert like Margaret is, but my ideas are now flowing. The way she crafts the chalices as cake toppers, it's the most simple way possible. The technique is there, the rest is up to your imagination. I AM VERY PLEASED WITH THIS BOOK. I love it, and I browse it every day to get more inspirations and ideas.

I believe this book is spot on for 🎂 desighn. A cake that tastes as good as it looks is important otherwise you might as well use plaster on cornbread. Up your game; buy the book. 🙀🤯🥰

Book arrived better than described and sooner than expected! I love cake decorating and learned new techniques from a great master. Templates are included to make some gum paste curliques and other shapes like paisley.

Oh my gosh!! What can I say about this book other than it is the best book I have ever seen. I have already duplicated two (easy ones) from here and have been practicing of making curliques etc. Just looking at the pictures floods your mind with creations of your own and the practice cakes gave me tons of ideas while working on them--I wanted to expand but didn't have time but sure plan to work on more cakes soon.

I'm a pastry chef and I am so blown away by her work! A beautiful & inspiring book!

Not what I was expecting, I thought there would be more recipes.

Wonderful gift for a dear friend!

The cakes are amazing, the photography incredible, and I'm looking forward to trying the cake recipes. This has quickly become one of my favorite cake decorating books.

As the other reviewers have stated, this really should be out on the coffee table as it's just lovely to look through - I have honestly never seen such a superb looking cook book!However, I'm afraid I actually use mine for (horrors!!) cooking, and it is just as good to use as look at. The chocolate blackout cake alone is worth the money... I've lost count of the amount of times I've made it now, and it is by far the most requested one I have.The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 is due to the slightly patronising tone the book is written in with regards to the decoration of cakes. Basically, throughout the book you are told (and obviously these are my words not hers) 'I do it this way, but I'll dumb it down for you as you won't be capable'. Seeing as you're only really likely to buy this if you know what you're doing, this began to grate on me a bit after a while.I can't however fault the book for anything else. The designs are pretty off the wall for the most part, but there is always a market for the different, and there are some truly beautiful designs too.You do need to be competent to gain the results shown, but even if you're a beginner you shouldn't let that put you off. You can certainly take elements of the designs for yourself, or even make a single tier rather than the multi ones shown to start off with. Plus, as I said before, it is worth buying for the recipes alone, and although a couple of them have a huge list of ingredients they are for the most part simple to follow.As with all American cookbooks, do remember you're going to need cup measures to make the recipes. Oh, and just in case you're not familiar with sticks of butter (which crop up in all USA books it seems), one stick is 4oz/approx 113g. I seem to remember tablespoons of butter being used too, and these are 1/2oz/approx 14g.

I could get carried away and rate this with 5 stars! It is an absolutely gorgeous book, edged in gold. It is a book I sit down in the sofa to indulge in, definitely not a book for the kitchen bench. For inspiration and a refreshing approach to cake decorating it is invaluable. I will use plenty of ideas from this book for my next wedding cake project. It is rich in inspiring text and the photos are marvellous. But I deducted one star because I thought it lacked some vital instructions, I wanted more pictures of when the author is shaping the cakes, for example. It has very basic, beginner's instructions in it, although I feel that this book is very much for the already experienced cake decorator who wants to take things a step further. These cakes! I have never seen anything like it, and I love them!

Excellent book, motivational and inspirational. Some very complex designs and techniques shown here.

Absolutely superb and beautiful book!

Such a work of art book! And it arrived in time for me to have it signed by Margaret herself at a class I took. Thanks!