Little Cakes: Classic Recipes for Any Occasion

White cakes, yellow cakes, genoise, petits fours, tea cakes, chocolate cakes, icebox cakes, cheesecakes, loaves, angel cups and trifles all get their due in this charming little book by cake lover Waggoner (Vintage Cocktails; Nightclub Nights). Despite the title, not all the cakes in this book are tiny. Instead, what Waggoner means by ""little"" is home-sized and homemade, ""the opposite of the towering confections that show off their icings like models strutting down a runway."" Most are made in eight- or nine-inch pans, the perfect size for a family dinner or small party. Waggoner's attitude toward cake-making harks back to an earlier era when fresh-baked cakes appeared regularly at family tables: she's precise about her measurements and temperatures, but spontaneous when it comes to fillings, frostings and decorating. Many of her recipes, such as the one for Silver Cake, are derived from vintage cookbooks, and she includes several variations for dressing up each of her batters. For example, Perfect White Cake can be turned into Coconut Cake, Lady Baltimore Cake or Strawberry Cream Cake, depending on what extra ingredients are added before the pan goes into oven and what toppings are used once the pan comes out. Novice bakers will particularly appreciate the 10-page introduction to cake-making, but everyone will drool over the final 20 pages of toppings and fillings, which includes such delicacies as apricot glaze, caramel icing, chocolate ganache and candied citrus curls. Though there are no photographs in this volume, the recipes are copiously illustrated by Sujean's stylish watercolors.