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Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and other Mini Treats by: Kaye Hansen & Liv Hansen (Photographs by Ben Fink)
Published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers (Random House, Inc.), 2008
Reviewed by Kristina Matevski
Little Cakes from the Whimsical Bakehouse: Cupcakes, Small Cakes, Muffins, and other Mini Treats is the third cookbook by baker Kaye Hansen and decorator Liv Hansen. The book is designed as an instructional guide on how to make an assortment of treats outlined in the book’s subtitle, and provides a number of baking and decorating tips to help us do so.
The book itself is quite cute and fun to look through. Before even attempting a recipe, I found I could spend hours flipping through the pages and being drawn in by the coloured images –cakes decorated to look like straw hats, “yummy yummy bumblebee cupcakes,” mini Twinkie-like desserts, shark cakes filled with chopped cherry whipped cream, and cupcakes decorated in the spitting image of hydrangeas and gerbera daisies! (are you hungry yet?)
For the purposes of this review, I did not attempt a recipe that called for any kind of decoration. Liv Hansen even recommends that her readers read through the “Getting Started” chapter in order to familiarize themselves with the tools of the cake decorating trade, icing recipes and techniques, and how to assemble little cakes. It’s a pretty extensive chapter (about 30 pages!), but a necessity for anyone attempting one of the designs in the book.
The recipes themselves are pretty easy to follow. I chose to make a batch of banana muffins (page 52) and lemon poppy cupcakes (page 121). The banana muffins turned out quite moist and delicious, particularly with the chopped walnut topping (an option in the recipe). The size of the muffins added to their appeal as no one felt over-stuffed from having one, unlike after eating one of those massive muffins you find in most cafés. I chose the lemon poppy cupcakes because they are the base for the “yummy yummy bumblebee cupcakes” which caught my eye as I was flipping through the book. I particularly liked the moistness of the cupcake countering with the crunch of the poppy seeds and the lemon flavour (a combination of lemon zest and juice) was not overpowering. I can’t wait to try the cupcake in full bumblebee form – chocolate glaze, yellow sprinkles, and edible chocolate wings (of which there is a template for at the back of the book).
There are a couple of difficulties that I believe some readers may have with this book:
(1) While there are images of the final decorated products, many decorating techniques, such as piping, are only explained with text. This may prove to be a problem to someone who isn’t skilled in these techniques.
(2) Many of the cake designs require a specific type of cake pan, for example, a scalloped mini heart pan, mini cheesecake pan, or ice-cream cone pan. Unless you are situated in an area where you can easily find these materials, you’ll kind of be out of luck with that particular recipe/design. The authors try to address this need by including a list of suppliers for stock baking and decorating tools; however, they are all located in the United States and may not offer shipping to Canada.
All in all, though, I really did like this book. It’s full of great recipes that anyone can try (even if the final presentation does not match the image in the book) and reflects Liv Hansen’s idea that “After all, we all need a bit, and a bite, of joy in our lives.” (page 7)
For more information on Little Cakes, please visit the publisher's website.
Did you read Hansen and Hansen's Little Cakes? |
