The Cake Bible: a Classic for a Reason

There are cookbooks that endure, and cookbooks that fade with the latest fad (how many quiche cookbooks do you have?)

The Cake Bible is in for the long run. The hefty tome, in its 50^th printing and celebrating its 25^th anniversary, deserves its own cake.

And what a cake it could be. Author Rose Levy Beranbaum divides the first half of the book into “simply delicious foolproof cakes” and “showcase cakes,” in case you want to make your own wedding cake, or outshine everyone at a casual potluck.

Then there is a whole section on decorating, with piping techniques, cutout molds and flowers, borders and more. This is where the neophyte baker might throw her hands up and head back to the beginning.

I love the secondary way the book is categorized: there are recipes for using up egg yolks, and others with just egg whites; low or no cholesterol cakes and cakes without flour, for Passover or the newly gluten free member of the family.

Most importantly, it is a book to savor and pass down, to your son or daughter, recently married cousin or next-door neighbor. It is a book that couples can tackle together, and triumphantly replicate the color photos stacked at the beginning.

First Birthday: smash a cake in style

Along with push presents, smash cakes didn’t exist when my kids were babies. These are the cakes you give your precious darling when she turns one, and let her smush, crush and mash into her face and hair.

I just baked my girls regular cakes.

But I love the idea of making the first birthday party extra special by giving your child her own cake and letting her go to town. I still remember giving my oldest (she’s now 22) a piece of her first birthday cake. It was her first experience of real sugar and she was ecstatic.

Of course, by my the 2^nd and 3^rd children, cakes were nothing new. Once one kid goes down that rabbit hole, strictures against white sugar and white flour often go by the wayside.

Betty Crocker has a bunch of recipes for interesting, easy to make cakes, using their mixes as a base. My fave is the Peas & Carrot cake, which adds bananas to the cake mix.

The frosting is cram cheese, yogurt and carrot baby food and the decorations – frozen peas! No, it's not health food, but some fruit and veggies in a cake are a cool addition.

Of course, I think one year olds would love any cake.

Here’s  pic of my niece with her over-the-top bat mitzvah cake.

Check out all the cakes on Betty Crocker’s Pinterest page.

Note: this is a sponsored post and I received a gift card in exchange for my review. All opinions are my own