A sheet cake with white frosting and balloons made out of icing doesn't cut it anymore.
At birthday parties, baby showers and on brides' big days, the cakes themselves have become cause for celebration.
That's thanks in part to cable food network shows like "Amazing Wedding Cakes," "Cake Boss" and "Ace of Cakes," which have upped the ante on what a cake should be....
Most home bakers, though, don't have kitchens equipped with welding torches or buckets of modeling chocolate, a pliable chocolate paste with the texture of a soft Tootsie Roll.
Goldman, a handful of food writers and some local bakers offer advice on how to create extravagant homemade cakes – that taste good.
First, Goldman advised, think about the cake before turning on the oven....
"There's a huge shift toward the handmade in our culture right now, and people are getting crafty and realizing that a lot of these things you see in stores, you can make at home," Brown said. "You can make it with love and it's about the experience as well as the final product."
The book...(includes links to Amazon video demonstrations)
"What's New, Cupcake?: Ingeniously Simple Designs for Every Occasion,"
http://www.amazon.com/dp/054724181X?tag=.twg-20
Other websites mentioned in the article and in the comments section...
