[.ca] Chocolate Cakes For Weddings And Celebrations (ISBN 1853918792)

From Amazon.co.uk:
Though professionals may get better results, there's no reason why the keen amateur baker couldn't cull a few wonderful cakes from John Slattery's Chocolate Cakes for Weddings and Celebrations. Featuring 20 luscious chocolate cakes and dessert creations ranging from classic and simple to trendy and spectacular, Slattery has a cake or centrepiece focused on chocolate for every occasion. The first part of the book is devoted to creating special dessert items with chocolate, such as wonderfully textural cigarette-curl covered cakes, sensuously moulded chocolate roses wrapped with a marbled chocolate swag, delicate centrepiece bowls and cloches of dark chocolate, and rich accents in truffles and wafers. Wedding cakes for all seasons follow, incorporating fresh flowers, moulded marzipan, and intricate textured lattices, domes and curls. To either adorn your cakes or stand on their own, a chapter of chocolate accessories features recipes for tempting truffles and colourful candies, plus unique accessories such as inscribed place cards in chocolate. But within all the spectacular presentation lie good basics: Slattery doesn't forget a chapter of essential cake and icing recipes, as well as recipes for ganache, chocolate sauces, chocolate paste and basic sugar paste. A few pages of templates are also included, useful for crafting many of the decorative shapes suggested. Basic techniques for working with chocolate and the structural intricacies of building celebration cakes are covered, but experience is clearly helpful--Slattery shows the steps for tempering chocolate, for example, but the more fiddly chocolate forming and moulding projects will likely be more comfortable for an experienced baker.--Marisa Lencioni

WOW, what a book!:
Beautiful cakes! Wonderful detailed instructions for recreating the cakes and recipes too.

Good, but not perfect:
Beautiful photos. Great Ideas. Lots of instructions. What's not to like? Well, there isn't a mention of portion size or number anywhere to be found. I figured out that the larger cakes serve 150 wedding portions by finding one that is made of 150 molds filled with chocolate mousse. If you don't really know how to work with cakes and their decorations this book is a bit advanced- I'm a pastry chef and had problems with the first one I tried. It was worth the effort- a tasty cake and wonderful to behold. I'm going to try another of the cakes in a few weeks-and now I know how much time it might really take. YOU MUST PLAN AHEAD when using this book-like a week in advance. Otherwise- go for it, you'll definitely learn a lot