Boutique Wedding Cakes {Book Review & Giveaway}

A beautiful cake is the quintessential sweet ending to any wedding celebration. Expert baker and sugar-crafter Victoria Glass demonstrates how to create custom wedding cakes at home in her new book Boutique Wedding Cakes. Victoria provides all the guidance needed to create a cake that offers a true reflection of a couple’s unique style and personality. I’m delighted to review this book and to give it away to one reader!

{Giveaway Details}

Simply leave a comment on this post before midnight CST on Sunday, March 31st for your chance to win. Enter as often as you like, and be sure to check back on Monday, April 1st to see if you were chosen! {Open to US shipping addresses only)

From practical advice for choosing a cake style, transporting the finished product, and troubleshooting potential mishaps, to essential recipes and techniques, Boutique Wedding Cakes has everything you need to be successful at making your own wedding cake. Detailed recipes for a variety of cakes, royal icing, marzipan, and modelling chocolate make sure that your confection will taste as delicious as it looks! A handy quantity chart in the back provides all the information needed to create each cake in a variety of sizes. Four sections filled with photos of 19 stunning cake designs make it easy to choose a cake for your theme.

The book is divided into four themes:

Chapter 1, Classic Elegance features romantic, traditional cakes inspired by icons of the past, whether it’s the understated elegance of Grace Kelly, or the graceful charm of Marie Antoinette.

Chapter 2, Chic and Sophisticated, focuses on glamorous cakes with contemporary style and a dash of drama.

The pretty pastels and lighthearted details of the cakes in chapter 3, A Splash of Color, bring to mind a casual garden wedding filled with charming motifs like love birds, gilded birdcages, and vibrant blossoms.

Chapter 4, Changing Seasons, celebrates the beauty of each time of year with cakes tailored for each of the four seasons.

Boutique Wedding Cakes will help you create an unforgettable cake regardless of your budget or ability as a baker. The book is available from Ryland Peters & Small for $24.95. Many thanks to author Victoria Glass, and to Ryland Peters & Small for sponsoring this post. Be sure to leave your comment for your chance to win a copy!

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

Have you read?