Professional Cake Decorating by
Toba M. Garrett
A Must Have!
Everything you need to create stunning cake decorations Cake
decorating is an art with specific skills that must be studied and practiced
before they can be mastered. Professional Cake Decorating is the first
guidebook, reference, and at-your-fingertips resource to the special
methods and techniques unique to cake decorating. Professional
Cake Decorating is: a comprehensive set of lessons designed to
teach the skills needed in cake decorating, including basic, intermediate,
and advanced piping skills; hand modeling; and gumpaste flowers a
powerful tool for making dramatic improvements in the overall look and
design of cakes a valuable training handbook and resource for bakers
and decorators a comprehensive reference of successful professional
skill sets Using more than 200 step-by-step and finished cake
color photographs, as well as over 125 illustrations, this highly visual book
covers a wealth of techniques for cake borders, piped flowers, cake writing
and piping, royal icing designs, marzipan fruits and figurines, rolled icing,

floral patterns, petit fours, gumpaste floral art and design, and much more.
Thorough coverage also includes such foundation skills as making shells,
rosettes, reverse shells, zigzags, fleur-de-lis, rope, garlands, scrolls,
rosebuds, and other confectionary designs. Complete with more than
three dozen tried-and-tested recipes, Professional Cake Decorating is the
only book that places the rewards of thirty years of training, traveling,
teaching, and private practice in your hands! It is a must-have for todays
bakers, cake decorators, specialty shop owners, and independent cake
designers.
Personal Review: Professional Cake Decorating by Toba M.
Garrett
Despite the title, this rather amazing educational tool is just as useful for
pastry chefs in a bakery, and the home baker producing wonderful baked
goods for that party or special occasion or just for fun.
This manual has many strengths. The ingredients are always in weight;
cups are not even listed (hallelujah!). The main lessons and sub-sections
listed ALL the mise-en-place, including those little, trivial, yet essential
items usually not listed by other books. The quality of the instructions are
every bit as good as the lessons I got in cooking school. The attitude of the
author is similar to those friendly, patient explanations I received while
struggling (with much frustration) with a particular decorating skill. The
appendix has many patterns that are ready to use for your practice; just
photocopy and start practicing. The recipe section has many important
recipes: chocolate plastique, pastillage, practice buttercream, rolled
fondant, gumpaste.
Some interesting notes. You will need to purchase, if you do not already
have, a rather extensive inventory of tools and ingredients you probably do
not have, even in a professional kitchen. So, resign yourself to a first step
where you gather the needed stuff. The author seems to have extensive
experience outside of the US. This is good, inasmuch as he presents much
more material on rolled fondant and stringwork than you will get in a
standard textbook or professional caliber class.
Using the lessons (of which there are 19) needs a little explanation, which
is not forthcoming from the author. They are not 1-hour chunks of
education. Some will require many repeats before you become proficient.
Some lessons must be spread amongst several sessions, even if you are
efficient and get it quickly. So, take each lesson with patience, and expect
to repeat many times before becoming proficient. Also, it is not necessary
to plow through all the lessons numerically. You can easily just skip to
whichever chapter/skill you are interested in.
It has these chapters: basic piping, floral piping, intermediate piping,
advanced borders, writing, royal icing flowers, royal icing skills, cake icing,
modeling skills, marzipan, advance royal piping, rolled icing, pastillage,
gumpaste flowers, petit fours, misc, cake gallery, recipes.

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