The Confetti Cakes Cookbook, Spectacular Cookies, Cakes and Cupcakes

This is an extraordinary book for any baker who aspires to create beautiful, whimsical cakes. And for those unwilling to put in the time to actually make one of these designs, it's still a wonderful collection of eye candy.

Unless you're lucky enough to live near a baker who can turn out creations like Elisa Strauss, founder and head designer of Confetti Cakes in New York City, access to the type of cake showcased in this book was out of your reach. You were forced to serve mere sheet cakes or layer cakes at your parties. Artistic cakes were reserved for the elite. However, with this book in hand and access to plenty of time, you can create incredible cakes in your own kitchen that will be focus of conversations at your next party.

The instructions are easy to follow, and provide a terrific tutorial in the art of using fondant and gum paste. There's a directory of required tools in the front of the book, and basic recipes for the cake and frosting portions of these creations. Finally, there's plenty of advice on how to stage your preparations when attempting one of these designs, along with suggestions for ways you can spread out the work during the weeks leading up to your party.

One of the best things about this book is that you can learn the techniques in stages. Start with cookies, move on to the cupcakes, and when you think you have a handle on the fondant and gum paste techniques, then you can tackle the architecture of one of the amazing cakes such as the Baby Blocks Cake, or the cake with the hydrangea floral relief. Once these are mastered, you may be ready to move on to the wine bottle in the crate, the Chinese takeout box or the sushi on the cutting board. Strauss even reveals the secret to her popular Sugar Stiletto and Shoebox Cake. Then again, you may be happy enough to be able to turn out handbag and stiletto cookies instead of attempting their cake counterparts. And that would be impressive enough from a home kitchen. Even if you have neither the time or patience to make any of these projects, it's still fun to see the possibilities if you did.