Smith - Cakes to Inspire and Desire

The book is divided into three sections for the three types of cake round, square and creative and within those sections you will find a diverse selection of inspirational designs.

Most of the cakes in this book are made from several cakes, either stacked to create a large cake, such as Connoisseurs Delight, or to appear as a tiered cake such as Luxurious Orchid Wedding. The variations are endless and exciting, as you will see. There are also several versions of the much awaited and highly popular wonky cakes with detailed instructions on how to achieve this free style. Full carving descriptions and templates for decorations mean that even those designs that seem the most complex are broken down into clearly explained stages.

Delicate jewellery decorates several cakes as crowns, bands or fountain-like toppers, and the book also describes how to develop the style even further for your own creations. Various decorative techniques are included, as well as a miscellany of effects you can achieve with cut-out shapes and textures. You can also create musical notes, champagne bubbles, realistic flowers and delicate mosaic.

If you like the idea of a large cake and want to transform it into a gift, each main cake is accompanied by equally as inspirational mini-cakes may of them are like exquisite ornamented miniature boxes. You will also find suggestions for using some of the decorative elements from each cake to transform a shop-bought or plainly iced cake, as well as shortcuts for all the main cakes, giving you the opportunity to create something fantastic even if you are short of time or quite new to cake making and decorating.

Sparkling fish is a wonky cake with a mosaic tier and wired topper.

Please read the reference section at the front of the book thoroughly. It explains how to begin tackling the cakes as well as some basic techniques. The projects use a variety of implements, and the most frequently used are listed in the Equipment List on pages 67. Where particular makes of cutters or decorations are specified in the projects you will find an abbreviation for the name of the supplier in brackets. Please refer to the abbreviations list with Suppliers on page 136.

Recipes for the cakes, including baking times and quantities for various shapes, as well as all the different types of icing and sugar glue used in the book, are provided. To help you create the cakes, sketches and templates are provided at the back of the book.

For a professional look you will need to use paste colours and dusts. These can be obtained from cake-decorating stores or by mail order. Suppliers of equipment and ingredients can be found at the back of the book.

Decorated with scrolls and piped decorations, the mini-cakes for Eastern Ornament make delightful gifts.

This square stacked cake, Op Art Boxes, is stylish and sophisticated.