Kids’ Party Cakes is a one-stop-shop for children’s birthday cakes from birth upwards. If I were to sum up the book in one word, I would use ‘uncomplicated’. This is a book where you will genuinely be able to produce a result that looks like the picture, and your child will be suitably impressed. You may not have to hone your cake decorating prowess using ‘Kids’ Party Cakes’, but everything you use will be readily available, relatively easy to put together and consequently, the cake will not add undue stress to your birthday party preparations.
All of the cakes in the book are built from packets of buttercake mix, the cupcakes have recipes – and a few icing recipes are provided. The emphasis is on quick and simple.
I’m liking
The non-pretentiousness of it all. These are cakes photographed exactly as you would expect them to come out when following the very simple, thorough, step-by-step instructions.
Many of the cakes incorporate lollies like licorice for borders, so you can make it through 90% of these cakes without even owning a piping bag.
For the slightly more complex cakes, templates are provided at the back of the book. Guesswork is essentially eliminated.
Things that made me go hmmmm
Some of the cakes are slightly odd (a volcano spouting masses of cochineal, anyone?) and some are marginally bizarre (an extremely realistic looking pizza would be an interesting cake to eat). However, for the most part the cake designs are fine – just simple. That’s not a negative!
The conclusion
A busy house with lots of young children could really benefit from this book, which is very reasonably priced at under $30. You’re going to be able to give the kids something special that they can choose themselves, without becoming wound up at the thought of whipping endless peaks of buttercream and fiddling with complex cake decorating tools.
