All Cakes Considered | Easy Cake Recipes

The easiest cake recipes ever!

All Cakes Considered

June 18th, 2010 by admin

ISBN13: 9780811867818
Condition: NEW
Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.

Product Description
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 Butte... More >>

All Cakes Considered

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5 Responses

Madelyn Pryor writes:
June 18th, 20103:54 amat

All Cakes Considered is a wonderful book by Melissa Gray, who works behind the scenes at NPR’s All Things Considered. One day, she baked a cake based on Martha Washington’s Great Cake and brought it in on a Monday, because, as Gray mentions, no one likes to work on Monday. She started a tradition that has now lasted over a year, of bringing in a different cake every Monday. No repeats and nothing dull. This tradition made her office into a community and has helped her connect with her coworkers.

The cakes in this book are to die for, and they are not boring or ordinary. Spanish Meringue Cake, Peach Cake with Cream Cheese and Peppermint and Chocolate Marble Frosting are just a few that made me want to run in the kitchen. There are many more cakes (49 more) and even cookies for when you get sick of cake (Gray cautions that this will happen eventually).

But this book is not just wonderful recipes. The photography is lovely, with pictures of every recipe. There are also historical tidbits as applicable, personal stories, gossip about co-workers, and a playful sensibility that will leave everyone feeling that they have just been talking to a close friend.

This is a lovely book, and a worthy present for anyone who is a baker or wants to be. I am a baker of 16 years, and now I am a professional chef. I found cakes in here I have not heard of that I can’t wait to make, and if someone had given me this book, I would have been thrilled.

Highest recommendations.

Rating: 5 / 5
Penetralia writes:
June 18th, 20104:48 amat

All Cakes Considered is a dainty guide filled with useful tips for neophytes.

There are tasteful illustrations sprinkled throughout the easy-to-follow recipes.

The cakes enjoyed by the author’s colleagues, such as pound cake, are not complicated, but are relatively easy to follow. Intermediate to advance bakers may find all-inclusive books, such as The Cake Bible more in-depth for progressing their craft.

We also recommend beginners consider using a Mixer machine for the cake-making process because ingredients (i.e. eggs or batter) require a great deal of stirring to achieve the desired volume or proportionate blending.
Rating: 5 / 5
M. E. Johansen writes:
June 18th, 20106:34 amat

I love baking. Used to be that I did not have to worry about my cake love showing up on my hips – but that’s another subject entirely!! This is one great little cookbook for those of us with cake lust! There is just enough basic “know-how” thrown in along with the first chapter that the book holds appeal for the beginning cake connoisseur as well as to more well seasoned (teehee) bakers. I hesitated about trying this book because I thought I didn’t need another cook book – I was in a bit of a cook’s slump at that point. The great thing is that I did try this book and I am no longer in a cooking slump …. calories are good! Cakes are life!

I have a self confessed sweet tooth that is most partial to cakes – rather than just sweets -candy or cookies do not hold as much appeal for me as does an ohlalala cake! Maybe I shared some cake with Marie Antoinette in a past life?! Well at any rate this is one of those cake cookbooks that you absolutley must not miss out on owning. Hurry to you local book store – or if you are isolated as I am – to your favorite on line book purveyor – and order this one up! you will not be disappointed.

This book came about as producer Melissa Gray wends her way through a year full of cakes that pleased her fellow NPR work mates. I think that this book is notable in it’s appeal not just to the seasoned cake baker but to the budding cake aesthete as Ms. Gray shares cake secrets that she has learned along the way. Interesting anecdotes, recipes culled from lots of places & many people. This book is exceptional and won’t fail to please those of us that adore cake in all of it’s sublime shapes & sizes (and who may try to hide that extra ‘sliver’ we ferret out the door without anyone noticing!)

Update: I am still enjoying using this book and a review of “Tunnel of Fudge” cake on my blog 1/28/10:

[...]

Rating: 5 / 5
John Chancellor writes:
June 18th, 20108:30 amat

The author, Melissa Gray, is a producer on National Public Radio’s afternoon show, All Things Considered. She is affectionately known as the NPR Cake Lady because of her habit of bringing a new, exciting and different cake to share with the staff each Monday.

This is a very beautiful book – it is really so well done that you will want to display in on the coffee table. The book is printed on high quality, glossy paper and there are plenty of high quality photographs of the finished products. So it really is a work of art. But the recipes are so interesting that you will have trouble keeping the book on the coffee table.

It is all about cakes. No pies or frozen desserts. There are a couple of cookie recipes but for the most part it is just cakes. But the selection is truly amazing.

And there is lots of interesting commentary scattered throughout the book.

The book starts off a discussion about baking pans, baking tips and all the other information you need to know in order to bake like a professional baker.

Then there are all the recipes. Some are rather straight forward, others look positively divine. The Heaven and Hell Cake – I would not care to know how many calories it contains but “make this cake one time and they will talk about you for years.” This is the type of cake which would win you honors at any party. You will find the right cake for any occasion.

With each recipe, there are very detailed instructions. For example when it comes to divinity frosting, she starts by telling you to turn off the phone, no text messaging, no distractions. If you have ever tried your hand at divinity, you know how valuable this information is. In addition to no distractions, she explains exactly how to make it and make sure it is right. This is typical of all the recipes – not just the ingredients, but enough instructions to make sure your cakes turn out as masterpieces.

Melissa tells you how many people each cake will serve and gives you serving instructions for each cake. The book is really well thought out.

If you enjoy baking and want to take it to a higher level, I suggest you add this to your cookbook collection. If you are looking for a wonderful gift for any baker, look no further. All Things Considered, this is a great book.

Rating: 5 / 5
rodboomboom writes:
June 18th, 20109:19 amat

Enjoyable offering of mostly cake recipes which Gray brings to her job as a producer of radio’s All Things Considered. What makes this special and enjoyable is the description of how she got going on this and produced a year’s worth of offerings for her work colleagues. This includes not only cakes but fried pies and cookies.

Most of these are basic recipes which she found from numerous sources (fundraising cookbooks, famous cooks e.g. Paula Deen, etc.) and relatives and friends recipes. She starts out from simplistic level and explains terms and techniques and equipment options, etc. which is outstanding for those just getting into it. There is also a more sophisticated offering of recipes at the end, especially Stephen Pyles “Heaven and Hell Cake” which I have made and is outstanding.

As I’m not one who is really into cakes that much, much of these are not that tempting for me to make, as I lean to the moist, nut filled ones. There are several here which did and do catch my baking attention: I made the Missy G’s Sweet Potato Pound Cake and loved it as well as Banana Cake with Chocolate Frosting was outstanding as well. Will try my hand at somemore, but know that for those who do love cake (and you know who you are) this collection offers variety and easiness to produce great desserts or snacks or gifts or office sharing treats.

Well-done style with sharp color photos and writeup and stories behind each recipe are interesting.
Rating: 5 / 5