Rose Levy Beranbaum's Heavenly Cakes: My new favorite cookbook

Ever since I had seen this book in a bookstore (in November), I wanted to have it. But, since it was much cheaper to order it from Better World Books than to buy it in Slovenia (it's sad, but true), I ordered it and had to wait for more than three weeks. It was supposed to be a Christmas present, but it arrived a bit late, in January. I didn't have any time back then anyway, so it remained unopened until last week. Well, actually it wasn't exactly like that; I read it on the train for two hours, but when I got home, I put it on my shelf because the recipes seemed very complicated and I knew I would need many hours to bake a cake from it.



You can read this book almost like a novel; every cake has a story behind the recipe and all the recipes are very detailed. It's divided into five sections: butter and oil cakes, sponge cakes, mostly flourless cakes and cheesecakes, baby cakes and wedding cakes. There are detailed instructions and tips for perfect results in every section, for every type of cake. It's by far the most detailed cook book I have ever seen, some of the recipes are covered and explained in four or even five pages!



The thing that I don't like about this book is that the recipes are written for (very) specific pans and ingredients, and that's why you can never substitute any ingredients or bake it in a more ordinary pan. There are some ingredients in the book (like Wondra flour), that I can't buy here because it doesn't even exist in Europe, so I'll probably have to substitute them and see what happens.



As usual, I made a list of all the cakes from the book that I want to bake, because this makes choosing one so much easier (and because I love making lists!). It's also great to cross items off the list; I learned that with my Martha Stewart's Cupcake list. So, here it is:



Butter and Oil cakes

Apple Upside-Down Cake
She Loves Me Cake
White Velvet Cake with Milk Chocolate Ganache
Heavenly Coconut Seduction Cake
Southern (Manhattan) Coconut Cake with Silk Meringue Buttercream
Whipped Cream Cake
Karmel Cake
Spice Cake with Peanut Buttercream
Golden Lemon Almond Cake
Lemon Poppy Seed-Sour Cream Cake
Woody's Lemon Luxury Layer Cake
Apple-Cinnamon Crumb Coffee Cake
Marble Velvet Cake
Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake
Cradle Cake
Sicilian Pistachio Cake
Gateau Breton
Fruitcake Wreath
Rose Red Velvet Cake
Chocolate Tomato Cake with Mystery Ganache (!)
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake
Devil's Food Cake with Midnight Ganache
Chocolate Layer Cake with Caramel Ganache
Bernachon Palet d'Or Gateau
Double Chocolate Valentine
Chocolate Velvet Fudge Cake
Black Chocolate Party Cake
Chocolate Ice Cream Cake or Sandwich
Miette's Tomboy