Southern Cakes: Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations Paperback – June 7, 2007

I purchased this for my Kindle because I have Nancie McDermott's "Southern Pies" on my Kindle, and so far, I have loved the pie recipes that I've tried. I read a number of reviews, especially the negative ones, and I do think these people either are not bakers or didn't follow the instructions. Pie Grrrl and the others are exactly right regarding the lemon curd-it never, ever has cornstarch but is thickened with patience and egg yolks. I've made lemon curd many times, generally not in a double boiler and have never had any problems with it thickening and have never used cornstarch.I have several recipes picked out to try and I almost always cut a recipe down since I'm cooking for myself most of the time, and don't always have freezer space. The "Sister Sadie's Rosh Hashanah Honey Cake" is divine. It tastes like gingerbread almost and there's no ginger or molasses in it at all. It was very easy to cut the recipe in half, and I used the Coca-Cola rather than the coffee. She is right, it does improve with age. It becomes more flavorful and more moist as it ages in the tinfoil. I'll bet you that it would make very good bread pudding as well. I could try it with coffee next time, but then why would I? "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." And it most definitely is not broken.I can't have chocolate, nuts, raspberries, citrus zest and numerous other things, so I have to pick and choose recipes, omit items or swap them out, so I pick my cookbooks carefully and try to buy only those with more recipes that I can have, or that I can adapt, but in this case, I didn't care, because I loved her "Southern Pies" so much. I have not been at all disappointed with either book, and I do like her writing style very much.I am going to try the buttermilk cake today, and I know that I will not be disappointed as one reviewer was with a dry and tasteless cake. Even though I've only tried one recipe from "Southern Cakes" I'm giving her 5 stars because the two recipes I tried from "Southern Pies" were 5-star as well, and I do like her writing style very much.Follow-up: I made the buttermilk cake, (Sybil Pressly's Buttermilk Cake with Old-Time Fudge Icing), today, and cut the recipe in half to make a square 8x8. It worked very well, and the cake is high-rising, moist, light, and has a good crumb and good flavor. 1/2 of the recipe fits in a square 8x8 pan. I can't have chocolate, so I can't comment upon the fudge icing, but I'll bet that it's good and that it goes well with the cake. It doesn't specifically taste like buttermilk, but it's somewhere in between a white cake and a yellow cake.

Not only are the recipes yummy to think about making, but the book is really really interesting to read. I read the whole thing cover to cover when I got it the first day. It has a lot of great information about cakes, how to make them, tips for making them better, etcetera.I have to admit that the main reason why I bought this book was the coconut cake on the front cover because I am a die-hard coconut fan and the reviewer that said that coconut cakes get their own chapter in this book. They do and rightfully so...they are really in their own genre. The classic coconut cake was the first and only thing that I have made from this book so far. I was QUITE impressed and it looked just like the picture. The cake came out fantastic and was not hard to make at all. The only thing I would recommend for that recipe is to double the frosting quantity as the amount recommended was not enough and the cake didn't stay together because the icing layer was too thin. But it came out great and the cake was such a hit at my dinner party on Christmas Eve. I can't wait to try the other recipes.I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking for a great cake cookbook...I can tell just from reading the recipes that they are really good ones.

Really nice cook book with some great “down home” cake recipes - I like that some of them are named after the person the author got them from, however I would love to see more photos of the recipes as I’m unlikely to bake a cake when I don’t know what it looks like. Recipes are laid out well and easy to follow with a list of resources for ingredients at the end of the book.

WHat's not to like about a cookbook filled with interesting recipes. Most a pretty easy to do.....sugar, butter, flour and a few more ingredients and you can have a decadent cake or a simple pound cake. The recipes are accurate in terms of the measures and cook times but you still always need to test and of course understand if your oven runs hot or cooler.

Well written. A treasure trove. Lady Baltimore cake. Mississippi Mud Cake, Hummingbird Cake! Many others, with some history for each one.

I use a lot of recipes from this book. I usually will put my own spin on recipes I find interesting but you don’t have to do that if you don’t want to with these recipes. I misplaced my last copy with all my notes in it so I immediately got a new one.

every cake has been a delight

The recipes included in this book are absolutely wonderful! Extraordinarily easy to follow and the results will simply amaze anyone lucky enough to get a bite before the cake vanishes. So far, each cake that I've tried from this wonderful book, well, I've had to fight off hungry folks to get even a small piece!The fact she includes a small history of each cake included (along with credit to the cook for each and every recipe) makes this cookbook all the more personable.If old fashioned, truly southern and mind blowingly delicious is what you're after, this is the cookbook you've been searching for!