Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake [A Baking Book] Hardcover – March 12, 2019

Oddette makes a strong case for just making cake whenever and often. Nothing fancy, no fuss. Just have cake! We’ve made most of the basic cakes in the book and keep coming back again and again. These are great little cakes. I’d say this is my top go-to cake book these days and one of my top 10 cookbooks period.She’s also right about taking the extra steps to prep the pan. Easy and effective. I love using the big 13” round and also the 6” little rounds. Different sizes for different occasions.Thanks for adding cake to our family life, Oddette!

I bought this book a little over a week ago and couldn't wait to get baking. This weekend I made the lemon yogurt cake and added poppy seeds and cream cheese frosting, as well as the chocolate coconut cake. They were well balanced and not overly sweet (but not under, I do like my sweets). The recipes are easy to follow and don't call for too fussy of ingredients. On top of that the book is beautifully written, designed, and photographed. I bought this on a whim and have zero regrets. :DUpdate:After having this book for a little over a year I still love it. In quarantine I've gotten into the habit of baking something sweet every week and I am consistently reaching for this book. I read a review before saying that the recipes aren't complicated and you could find something similar online. That might be perfectly true (the book is called Simple Cake after all), but for everyday cakes and a beginner/intermediate baker I find that they are just unique enough. If there was one downside to the book I would say that she provides alternative pan sizes for all of the cakes, but they feel random to me and I only have 3 pans myself (a cake, bundt, and cupcake pan. I would prefer if she added a chart that showed pan size and bake time for all of the cake recipes. Even with that gripe, I plan to cherish this book for many years and will be buying it as a gift for others.

I am not much of a book reviewer, neither am I much of a baker. Luckily this book helps me fix one of those two things. Odette Williams’ book “Simple Cake: All You Need to Keep Your Friends and Family in Cake” helped me impress my loved ones with delicious cakes, from simple to elaborate.Odette writing style is very personal and sweet, which makes it fun to read and engage with.She includes recipes for favorites such as Chocolatey Chocolate Cake, Olive Oil Cake, Madeleines and Meringue. For every cake she provides additional variations for baking as well as toppings to choose from, with accompanying recipes.I love her Cake-Worthy Moments chapter, which provides great ideas for cakes for any special occasion you can think of.My first Williams cake I baked was the Chocolatey Chocolate Cake with a German chocolate Ganache. Both, cake and topic recipe are well-written and easy to follow with the ingredients listed on the left and baking instructions on the right. Measurements are listed in decimal and metric.The colour photography throughout the book is stunning.

This is a pared down or modernized rendition of a book that's been done before - Cake Magic by Caroline Wright, which I also own. The differences are Cake Magic is brimming with special dietary needs or ideas to adapt them while this one has 10 cakes, 15 toppings, and make with it what you will attitude with a few additional suggestions. It's a choose your own cake adventure of sorts in both books. Simple Cake also has far more personal stories and memories woven through for a sentimental heart string tugging approach. The recipes are very basic. Still, I was obviously curious enough to purchase this one.On a scale of box mixes, box mix with add-ins, made from scratch, advanced, and pastry chef style cakes, this falls in the beginner / easy make from scratch and if you frequently bake it won't stretch your skills.There are a lot of things I love about this book - the matte pages, the interesting cake variations, the touches of Brooklyn, and the weight measures to name a few... it's a very concise book of cakes and definitely not the only book you'd ever need unless having baked a cake before. In fact, if you have many cookbooks you likely have very similar recipes already.The things I don't particularly love are the heavy Australian notes with Lamington and Meringues (not my favorite), but I get it, those are touches of "home" for the author. Despite the professional images there is a very made at home feeling to all of these cakes that are a touch rustic. The personal family celebrations and memories thread runs through this one in a big way. If you're looking for some new family traditions based around cakes this one might be great for you. If you're after an array of more versatile recipes without lots of stories and want to push your skill set you may feel a little disappointed.The title says it all. It's a simple and concise collection of recipes.

After checking the book out 7 times from the library, finally decided to buy it to avoid the continual late fees =)Love the simplicity, the mix-and-match approach to cakes + toppings, and everything is DELICIOUS

Very recipe is mouth watering I am trying to make every cake in the book! Thank you Odette WilliamsWelcome to Lamu Island, we make a lot of cakes and desserts here, Swahili food..

This book has some great looking recipes and easy and clear instructions. However the ink the book contents are printed with is very light colored, and hard to see, the font size itself is also extremely small. This would be a much better book if those two things were adjusted.