The Celtic Cakers Tutorial Book with the tutorial artists from left to right – Gail Porter of Lizzie May’s, Karen Geraghty of Bake Cake Create, Tanya Ross of Novel-T Cakes, Corinna Maguire of Lovin from the Oven, Paul Redmond of Purple Feather Cake Design, Maria McDonald of Sugar Duckie Cake Design, Ellen Redmond of Splendor Cakes and More , Emma Stewart of Truly Scrumptious Cakes By Design Caryna Camerino of Camerino Bakery is missing from this image.
In So Many Words…
Want to learn a multitude of Cake decorating skills? If the answer to this question is yes then grab yourself a coffee and a slice of cake and get a copy of The Celtic Cakers.
The brain child of Corinna Maguire, this book is the work of a group of Irish cake designers who have come together under the banner of The Celtic Cakers to create a collaboration of cake decorating tutorials.
Filled with eleven step by step tutorials and a selection of recipes that are beautifully photographed the tutorials cover a range of skills ranging from cake carving, modelling, sharp edges and sugar flowers to cake structure and design. There is something for everyone as the book is aimed at all levels of cake decorator from beginner to advanced.
Top Tips
The tutorials are really easy to follow and are clearly numbered with the instruction steps placed directly underneath the associated picture. Throughout the book you will find lightbulb top tips that provide you with really useful additional information and help with creating the cakes such as how to paint eyebrows.
Particular favourite was the tutorial by Ellen Redmond (Splendor Cakes and more) as this gives tips about design and colour composition and how to add depth to your work.
I also liked the Orange tutorial by Maria McDonald (Sugar Duckie Cake Design) as this covered airbrushing and texturing – loved the idea of using a hair de-tangler as texture tool (now have one on order!). It was refreshing to see sugar flowers other than roses featured. There really is something for everyone as you will find everything from carved celebration cakes to elegant two tier cakes and perfectly formed models. The good thing is that the skills shown throughout the book are easily transferable to other designs.
Use of hair de-tangler tool by Maria McDonald
Celtic Feel
There is a lot of background information about each cake designer involved and there are some stunning photographs of Ireland which help give the book a real Celtic feel. That said, it would have been great if there was a picture of each cake designer with their creation.
Supporting recipes are also provided, including Ireland’s best kept secret The Chocolate Biscuit Cake. YUM. As it is used in one of the tutorials it would have been useful if a recipe for rice cereal treat (RCT) had been included.
Overall a book worth having on your cake decorating book shelf.
Information:
Complied by Corinna Maguire
Editor Jay Instvanffy
Published by Amazon Fulfillment
Available from Amazon £18.84
Review by Michelle Pattinson
