My Review of Rose's Heavenly Cakes: as seen in WC

To read a review of another of Rose's cakes,  click Here
To read what cookbook author Rose Beranbaum had to say click Here!
 
Looking to impress the family with the culinary skills you picked up “at school”? Rose Beranbaum certainly knows her cakes and makes it her mission to help you look like a pro in the kitchen. 
Rose’s Heavenly Cakes’ interior is riddled with photos of spectacular cakes that will make you wish you could eat the book itself! The contents cover everything from “baby cakes” to wedding cakes. Though most of us may not have the need to make a wedding cake over Christmas, we can definitely benefit from recipes like “Holiday Pinecone Cake” and “English Gingerbread Cake.”

Doesn’t this already just sound like we’re holiday baking experts? How many of our parents wouldn’t be dazzled by homemade gingerbread? While the ingredients for this particular recipe may be a little outside of the standards for a college student (dark brown sugar and orange marmalade are both available at Meijer), raid your parents pantry or ask if you can pick a few things up on their tab.
Rose also provides plenty of tips and tricks on how to make your cake taste and look great (for a few more check out our interview with her!) so don’t worry, you won’t be left entirely alone in the kitchen. The ingredients for each cake are presented up front in cups, ounces and grams and a baking time is listed for each as well as a list of any special equipment you may need.

Since this book is also an excellent recipe source for birthdays and other special occasions, I decided to make my father something special from Rose’s book for his birthday. Knowing his love of cheesecake and my personal obsession with all things mini I made baby lemon cheesecakes for the whole family. Though I had never in my life made cheesecake before in my life the recipe was laid out clearly enough for even a first-timer like me. It also helped that the picture was just too good to pass up.

So I set out to make my first cheesecake petite style. I learned very quickly that every word counts in Rose’s cookbook, including the notes at the beginning and the end. Read carefully or you just might miss that your cheesecake needed to be refrigerated 4 hours before serving, perhaps my only negative thought about this delectable cookbook is that prep time is not included in time count for each recipe, so though it may take 4 hours overall or overnight, you only see the 45 minutes baking time. 

I did run into one last hiccup, the oven temperature for this recipe was not listed in the recipe. I checked, and double and triple checked (I am a notorious at a glance reader) but the oven temp was nowhere in sight. Cook time and internal cheesecake temp were both present but I had to go back to another full-size cheesecake recipe to get a temperature and keep a close eye on the little cheesecakes to be sure that I didn’t over cook them. The end texture and appearance were well described in the recipe though so I managed just fine. (I used 350 degrees Fahrenheit by the way.)

The rest of the recipe was incredibly detailed and if I may say so myself allowed me to create absolutely adorable flower shaped lemon cheesecakes with lemon curd topping that my whole family devoured and left us some for later! 

I definitely succeeded in my mission to test the impress factor of this cookbook and the result? 6 out of 6 people ooh’d and ahh’d  over the appearance of my cake (nevermind that I made a cheesecake, that much alone stunned my whole family and extended family) and 5 out of 6 ate every last crumb, and finished off the remains of the sixth cake! 

My conclusion is yes, this cookbook will impress the whole family. If I can make something as intimidating as a cheesecake without any experience and have it be creamy, delicious and stunning to boot then I’d say anyone can. So on your way back home for the holidays stop in at your local bookseller and pick up a copy. It certainly won’t hurt, not to mention the cook often gets to skip dish duty!