But WHY?
Written: Feb 06 '07 (Updated Feb 08 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Very easy to use, non-intimidating cookbook for the beginner.
Cons: I just don't get cake mixes.
The Bottom Line: Ideal gift for the beginning baker. If you already know how to bake, it's probably a bit elementary. They don't give me the rating scale I want, "Weird, but excellent."
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| hularider's Full Review: Geraldine Duncann - Cake Mix Classics: Sensational... |
WHY would anyone NEED a cookbook of recipes for cake mixes? Being a scratch baker, myself, I have a hard time with the concept of using a cake mix to begin with. Then, the fact that someone would actually go to the trouble of writing a cookbook for them is, frankly, so removed from my world of experience that it boggles my mind - don't they come with the recipe on the box? Then, the fact that this book was written by my MOTHER, the ABSOLUTE SUPREME GODDESS OF SCRATCH BAKING WHO HAS NEVER TOUCHED A PRE-MIX IN HER LIFE was sort of like finding out that the Pope is a Southern Baptist.
We are talking betrayal and pain.
Collectors Press, Inc, has created a book that is, artistically, a portal to the 1950s. The cover features a lemony-yellow background with a frosted cake, apparently baked by June Cleaver. In a fit of artfulness, Mrs. Cleaver has placed it on a lovely feaux-Fiesta Ware platter. Silly little pastel balls float on a pale yellow background or bounce across the white inside pages. It even has the oh-so-retro "handy hint" posted here and there in cute little pastel boxes surrounded by lines of tiny dots.
Where is my gutsy mother with her bar-flavored sense of humor romping gleefully through the pages of International Cuisine????
OK. I finally got past all that and actually read the book. Frankly, it's really not bad! (OK, if it WERE bad, you wouldn't see a review. I wouldn't write a bad review about one of my mother's books. I'd tell her I lost the book. But I wouldn't write a dishonest one.)
So, anyway, I finally sat down and did my job as a journalist of the hearth and reviewed the silly thing. As I said - "Not bad!"
My mother being who she is, the book starts with a brief history of cake baking. Did you know the 2nd century historian Agatharchides mentioned cakes in his writing? That early cakes were not leavened, but often made from ground nuts and bread crumbs mixed with honey and spices and pressed into molds? That leavened cakes did not appear until the European Renaissance? And that it wasn't until the 1830s that the precursors to today's modern baking powders were invented? All this and more are in the introduction.
Research for the book started with testing the major American cake mix brands: Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, and Duncan Hines. She found no significant differences. She did find that the "off" brands which use dessicated shortening and powdered eggs were of poorer quality.
After the history lesson and a little info on choosing the cake mix, you learn how to prepare the pans, test for doneness, mix the batter, cool the cake, split the layers, and those other tricks beginning bakers need to learn. You even learn how to slice a completed cake (there is a trick to getting perfect un-mooshed slices without glumping up the flosting!)
That's actually some pretty useful information.
Then, at last, you get to the recipes. Eggnog Cake and Maple Swirl, Zucchini Cake (an old farm favorite) and Hazelnusstorte. Brandied cakes and spiced cakes. Mississippi Red Velvet Cake, just in case you're feeling a bit antebellum today. And Madeleines.
Yes, my mother is still there. While I miss her anecdotes and adventures which normally are found scattered throughout her books, her love of the sensuality of food is thoroughly incorporated into each recipe. This is definately not collected recipes from the backs of the boxes. The mixes are simply an ingredient in the grand design.
There are cakes for every occasion, from confections which could be served at high tea or elevenses to cute items which would delight the attendees at a baby shower or child's birthday party.
Cookies and bars are also included in the book, as are some serving and decorating suggestions - including how to sugar edible flowers such as rose petals and violets so that they may be used as decorations.
I think a beginning baker would find this book very useful. Hard-bound, the book lays open to your page. The recipe layout is consistent and easy to read. Each step is numbered so you can easily keep track of where you are. I expect that by following the instructions, even a first-time baker could produce an edible cake.
A more experienced baker might not be interested, or might find it a handy memory-jogger. I often read cookbooks more for the sense of getting to know the people who created the food than for specific recipes themselves. I don't get that from this book. I miss it.
This is the kind of thing I would give as a gift to someone I felt could use it. Perhaps for a bridal shower or a housewarming for a youngster just away from home - A set of inexpensive baking dishes, nesting bowls and mixing spoons, a box of cake mix, and this book all tucked into one of those useful plastic storage boxes with a nice tablecloth for a wrapper.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
hularider
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Member: Leilehua Yuen
Location: Hilo, Hawaii, USA
Reviews written: 69
Trusted by: 8 members
About Me:
HulaRider is an author, artist, and educator who specializes in Hawaiian culture and arts.
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