Book Review: Gravity Cakes by Jakki Friedman and Francesca Librae

Gravity Cakes

By Jakki Friedman and Francesca Librae

Gravity Cakes by Jakki Friedman and Francesca Librae offers a ton of visual excitement. Imagine a huge cookie with what appears to be a cup of milk hovering in mid-air pouring down onto it?  That is one of many gravity-defying cakes shared with us in this amazing book.

Did you know that there is such a thing as an edible printer?  I didn’t. I always wondered how the bakeries got the cool images onto some of the cakes, but a printer with edible ink and frosting “paper” never entered my mind.

These ladies are very encouraging, to the point that I think even I could successfully make one of these cakes.  While there are clearly some rules that must be followed to pull off these designs, alternatives are also given in some cases.  For example, if you can’t find a prop exactly as shown in the book, you can use a prop that is available to you, in some cases even raiding the toybox!

Measuring accurately is stressed and we are told how to go about this.  Accurately measuring the ingredients is one way to insure a successful cake baking experience.

We are given a list of suggested pieces of equipment to make our cake baking and decorating experiences easier and what each piece is used for.  We are told about icings, candy coatings, fondant, edible paint, and all sorts of fun things to create beautifully decorated cakes.  We are shown how to level a cake, how to crumb-coat a cake, how to cover a cake with fondant, along with a few other techniques.

Then, the fun starts!  We are introduced to four cake and three icing recipes and even a jumbo chocolate chip cookie recipe.  The ingredients lists are well written and clear as are the instructions for preparing the recipes.  There are a multitude of tips in the sidebars throughout this recipe section.

Pages 51 through 267 are divided into three sections: Easy, Medium, and Advanced.  In this section, we are shown 45 versions of gravity cakes and shown, with text and images, how to create these masterpieces on our own.

If you love to bake cakes and have a sense of adventure in the kitchen, if you want to WOW! your friends and family with more daring creations, you really should check out Gravity Cakes. You won’t be sorry and your family’s sweet tooth will be glad that you did!

Here is an example of one of the many wonderful cakes presented in this book.

Courtesy of Gravity Cakes! Create 45 Amazing Cakes by Jakki Friedman & Francesca Librae © 2017 www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with publisher permission. Available where books are sold.

Image credit: Neil Langan

 

Courtesy of Gravity Cakes! Create 45 Amazing Cakes by Jakki Friedman & Francesca Librae © 2017 www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with publisher permission. Available where books are sold.

Image credit: Neil Langan

Courtesy of Gravity Cakes! Create 45 Amazing Cakes by Jakki Friedman & Francesca Librae © 2017 www.robertrose.ca Reprinted with publisher permission. Available where books are sold.

Image credit: Neil Langan

Author bios:

Jakki Friedman is a passionate and creative pastry chef who runs a baking business in Manchester, England. Over the last 2 years, Jakki has been specializing in gravity cakes for a huge number of clients along with regular demonstrations for people eager to learn her secrets.

Francesca Librae is an international reporter for Express Newspaper Group in New Orleans, Louisiana, where she covers a variety of international showbiz and reports on hard news stories.



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