Review: All Cakes Considered: A Year's Worth of Weekly Recipes Tested, and Approved by the Staff of NPR's All Things Considered by Melissa Gray

This is a great cake-baking cookbook for anyone. Already an experienced baker? No problem - use the recipes and skip the author's detailed tips and instructions... No experience baking cakes? Not a problem either - start at the beginning of the book and follow the detailed instructions and tips.

The recipes and techniques do seem to get more advanced as you work through the book, but even as an occasional baker, I didn't have any problems following the instructions when making the "Heaven and Hell" cake for a relative's birthday. (This cake is wonderful! It is a combination of angel food and devil's food cakes, with a peanut butter mouse filling and chocolate ganache frosting... simply mouth-watering!)

I will admit that I wanted my Heaven and Hell cake to look just like the authors, and it was pretty close... but I should have believed her when she said that you didn't need to make the full cake and that you might want to make a smaller version. Even with a dinner table full of guests, the cake was so rich and yummy that a small piece was enough - and we had plenty of left over cake! So... lesson learned... pay a little more attention to the author's notes. :)


Overall, I am really enjoying this cookbook, both the authors coversational tone when talking about each cake, as well as the detailed instructions that accompany each recipe. Possibly the best part of the book are the pictures! They give you a wonderful look at the actual cakes and show you just how wonderful they turn out - I just wish there were more!

I love this book and plan to make many, MANY more cakes!















All Cakes Considered: A Year's Worth of Weekly Recipes Tested, Tasted, and Approved by the Staff of NPR's All Things Considered
by Melissa Gray
Chronicle Books (October 14, 2009) ~ 224 pages
Non-Fiction / Cooking / Baking

Edition Reviewed: Hardback - Review copy received courtesy of the publisher, many thanks to both the author and the publisher for sending me a copy to review!

About the Book:

Melissa Gray is National Public Radio's Cake Lady. Every Monday she brings a cake to the office for her colleagues at NPR to enjoy. Hundreds of Mondays (and cakes) later, Melissa has lots of cake-making tips to share. With more than 50 recipes for the cakes that have been dreamed of and drooled over for a lifetime—including Brown Sugar Pound Cake, Peppermint and Chocolate Rum Marble Cake, Lord and Lady Baltimore Cakes, Dark-Chocolate Red Velvet Cake, and Honey Buttercream and Apricot Jam Cake—All Cakes Considered is an essential addition to every baker's library.

Excerpt:
All Cakes Considered

About the Author:

Melissa Gray is a producer for National Public Radio's All Things Considered.

*Disclosure: I am an Amazon Associate