While I was writing my dissertation, I desperately needed a hobby that would get my mind off of dead American writers. As a lark, I sat down to bake a pie. It was edible, but that's the nicest thing I can say about it. A decade later, I have read over fifty books on piemaking, many of them published thirty or more years ago. To date, this small, readable book remains my favorite. The quest for the perfect pie crust is as varied as there are bakers, but my search ended with this book's "Rich and Tender Dough," which truly is perfect. I've tried most of the pie recipes in this book, and they've all turned out as delicious as described. The Applesauce Pumpkin Pie, Pear-Apple Crumb Pie, Peach Raspberry Pie, and especially the Key Lime Pie are favorites. If you can find this essential book, buy it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the explanations of where each recipe originated.

Their Key Lime Pie, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie, and Apple Pie are some of my family's best loved pies.

This book is a must have for novice pie makers.

Very light pineapple upside-down cake, plus apple and triple-berry pies

I love this book! Consider this a tea party idea book delivered in narrative form. In the beginning we meet Sandy, who invites a few of her closest friends to join her Tea Society and host a tea of their own. They each have very different personalities, which provides inspiration for their party themes. Each chapter is dedicated to a character's tea party and is chock filled with recipes, decorating and hostessing ideas, as well as insights into their personal lives. This is a book I will surely treasure and pass on as gifts for the holidays. It is beautifully written and illustrated, and oh so clever!

Enjoy.

This book is a treasure trove for people who don't get "the tea thing". Beautiful artwork accompanies recipes and ideas for creating truly memorable teas. I gave a friend the book, which she read in a day, and called me to say "I want friends like this -- let's be friends like this!"

As an avid tea party lover, I can't say enough about this book. What a treasure indeed. I love the way she tells the story of each character and how she incorporates their personalities into themes for each tea party. The ideas are lovely and I have already used some of the ideas not only for teas, but to give as special gifts to friends. I could not put this book down until I finished it. I will re-read it several times. It is lovely to look at and the story is so charming. Wonderful recipes are a bonus. If you love tea and sharing special moments with friends, this book is for you! I am buying this book for all of my special tea friends!

I being a teenager and knowing practically nothing about baking, this book sure came in handy. I seem to always need to bake a cake for some occasion. I would recommend this book to all people who need a little boost in their baking knowledge.

A truely excellent resource for all bakers. This small book has photos and descriptions of what the consistency of your batter should be at different mixing points. The book doesn't spend pages on descriptive text or childhood culinary memories and none of the ingredients listed are exotic. I even had all the ingredients and already owned all the utensils I needed to start cooking immediately. Trust me - just buy this book!

This book, though small in size, offers a wealth of information on many varieties of cake -- cheesecakes, meringue cakes, whisked cakes, etc. Included are recipes, decorating methods, and useful tips.

I started a bakery/deli in 1993 using a professional baker and this book as my foundation. In time I also learned to use advice from my customers and from other pros. Still, the whole lot of the experts, save one, gave less useful information than did this classic by Joseph Amendola.

Theories of dough fermentation and the like are of especial importance for any new baker. When something goes wrong, too, this book has a good trouble-shooting section.

I heartily recommend this book to any baker, commercial or men and women trying to please their loved ones.

Other books you should add to the shelf are Professional Baking and Quantity Cooking.

This book truly makes bread and the hows and whys of baking exciting. It offers information covering the scope of baking: from simple to complex. It provides formulas and oh so many recipes. Definitely a keeper.

The Baker's Manual is a book that anyone who is serious about baking should have! It has all the foundational information that you could need and then some. If I could only have one book about baking, this would be my choice!!!

Have used this book as well as another by the same authors "BEST OF COOKING" wish it was still in production. The pictures alone are worth the price of the book. The receipes are easy to follow with great hints to achieve the best results. This book sits on a shelf near the door. If my house catches on fire, this book goes out with me. Have received many compliments using this book.

I'm using this book since 1987 and in all this years I allways got the best results out of it. My family and friends are allways enthusiastic about all my baking performanc as they come all from only one book The Best Of Baking of course. The best gift for a young bride or old one as well.

The recipes in this beautifully illustrated book are excellent examples of European (primarily German) baking. The recipes are clear and easy to follow, though the methods used are a little labor intensive compared to U.S. baking. But then again, you don't get such beautiful results by cutting corners. The results are consistent, authentic and usually delicious. My favorite baking book by far. A must have for serious bakers with a taste for fancy European treats.

This book has the most outstanding photos and directions for making amazing cakes- all created by this talented woman. From the most basic of instructions to the finest detail of a work of art!! This is the first book I bought on wedding cakes when I opened my own cake business and made my first sugarpaste flowers following her instructions. Very contemporary in style, whilst still capturing the wonder of a romantic and unique wedding day. Definitely a must-have!!

I have always enjoyed cake decorating but most of the books I looked at seem to lack interests and seem to repeat much of the same (Pretty) cakes. But Anna Von Marbug's Cakes in Bloom is in a class by itself. It is pure art. These cakes should be in galleries. The color photos are very well taken showing these lovely and quite unique decorated cakes. Also this book offers guidance on what equipments is used to decorate, including step by step illustration in B/W photographs, cakes and frosting recipes, plus advice on which cakes works well with what style of frosting for decorating. The only problem I have with this book is that I wanted to see more. I hope she comes out with a nice chunky cake decorating book with new design soon.

If you have to have a book in your personal library that can be used as both a reference and a motivator, then search no more. Anna's talent is phenomenal! The visual beauty, the fluid structure of her creations need to be seen in order to be appreciated. She is truly a talented and gifted artist. If for no other reason, the photography is fabulous (even a hesitant baker would be inspired to make her creations!) This is one of my most prized cake decorating books and I refer to it constantly. To achieve her level of talent may seem overwhelming at first but with patience and practice, you will be able to create the fantasies in the book. Another great piece of news is that she will be coming out with a new book entitled "Birthday Cakes" some time this year. This will definitely need to be another addition into your reference library!

Get it while you still can!

Denison University graduates -- this recipe comes closest to the cake served by The Evergreens in Granville, OH. It's moist, rich, and has the perfect combination of flavors. Great cookbook, too bad it's out of print.

This a wonderful collection of very easy-to-follow yet unique cake recipes. The format is simple to follow with the author supplying interesting tid- bits on how to serve certain cakes. Each, when baked, makes the recipients feel as if they have been seriously fussed over. And each recipe, though I have only made about four of them, is delicious. It is a delight to have a book just for special cakes. And it's beautifully designed as well.

This is, by far, the most treasured cookbook in my collection. I have tried nearly every recipe in the book, and they are all excellent. I bake regularly for my family and friends, and have a reputation as being a "fantastic" baker, and it's all because of Renny Darling's fabulous recipes. The instructions are clear, easy to read and follow, and the outcome is always perfect. There are wonderful recipes for banana breads, cranberry breads, pumpkin breads, as well as cakes, muffins, and scones. Renny also indicates how to change cooking time to adapt quick bread recipes to muffins, or cakes and vice versa. You will not be disappointed in this "Cake Bible."

I had never heard of Renny Darling before my husband brought this book home to me as a gift for our first wedding anniversary. That was over five years ago, and I continue to use this cookbook for sweet treats more than any other baking/dessert cookbook I own. Darling's philosophy is that baking is a labor of love, but in this book, as she says in her introduction, she has taken out the labor--these recipes really ARE easy to make, and use ingredients that are simple, not impossible to find. This cookbook has no photographs in it, but they aren't needed! Just casually perusing the book will get you inspired to start baking! Darling includes muffins, lots of quick breads and coffee cakes, and also some more sophisticated tortes which are still quite easy to prepare. If you like to bake at all, you must have this cookbook in your collection--you will not regret buying it!

This is the cookbook I use to prepare all of our family's birthday cakes, and I have also obtained my "signature" banana bread recipe from it: Sour Cream Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze. I have made it almost a dozen times, and love to give it away to friends and neighbors, who always rave about it and often request the recipe for themselves. The book includes lots of easy glazes, icings and other toppings which are so quick to prepare and make the products seem so extra-special. Among my other favorites are: Chocolate Pumpkin Pecan Cake, Fresh Apple Sour Cream Cake, Spiced Carrot and Orange Bread, and Danish Apple Strudel.

I love baking and have hundreds of cookbooks to prove it. I have all kinds of books that are supposed to "baking bibles" with intricate instructions on how to bake perfect cakes. But since I bought this book, I have barely opened the others. The methods in this book are so simple and the results are so moist and delicious that you almost feel as if you cheated. This is a must have for bakers of all skill levels.

Marie Rudisill is absolutely fabulous with this fruitcake book. This is by far the most wonderful cook book i have ever seen in my entire life. I was also able to read other of Rudisills books and she is one of the best writers there is and has ever been. Two thumbs up to Rudisill on the Jay Leno show. She was funny keeping Jay and Mel Gibson in line. I strongly recommend everyone to try this delightful fruitcake book. Check out The Southern Haunting of Truman Capote, it was inspiring learning about his childhood in the south.

MARIE RUDISILL HAS OUT DONE HERSELF WITH THIS FANTASTIC BOOK. IT NOT ONLY GIVES WONDERFUL RECEIPS IT ALSO SHARES MEMORIES OF TRUMAN CAPOTE AND SOOK FAULK..THIS IS WITHOUT A DOUBT THIS BEST COOKBOOK I HAVE EVER OWNED. I ALSO HAD THE PLEASURE OF SEEING MS. RUDISILL ON THE TONIGHT SHOW WITH JAY LENO AND MEL GIBSON, THIS WAS THE BEST EPSIODE I EVER SAW..SHE HAD NO TROUBLE KEEPING THESE TWO MEN IN LINE, AND IT SEEMED THEY ENJOYED EVERY BIT OF IT...

A wonderful reflection of a generation as much as a collection of effective recipes. It doesn't just seem appropriate that the subject of fruitcake stirs this focused book. The times were tough and the cake ingredients reflected that. Speaking of charmingly tough, Marie Rudisill's moments with Mel Gibson and Jay Leno should make the Late Night hall of fame. As a Capote aunt, you'd almost expect a wry scolding, but with both men up to their wrists in fruitcake batter, the pleadings to be careful with her prized recipe were loving and comfortable. So is this book.

This is a fantastic addition for cookbook/dessert fanatics. It contains a great collection of delectables that are EXTREMELY easy to prepare. Ingredients are mostly cupboard staples and the recipes are very simple. These recipes are impressive when served and will generate many rave reviews. A must have for those who love chocoalte, coffee and desserts. Includes several drink recipes.

What could be better than serving a scrumptious dessert with that perfect cup of coffee? This cookbook lists over 120 recipes that all perfectly compliment coffee! All sorts of recipes are included, from breakfast to desserts, quick snacks to fancy cakes. Everyone can find the perfect recipe, no matter what the occasion. This book is great for entertaining, especially informal gatherings. The recipes are easy to make and serving something delicious and homemade is much better than offering store bought goods at a coffee social.

The perfect gift for coffee and dessert lovers!

This book provides a unique flavor for coffee entrepreneurs and dessert specialists. I especially appreciate the distinct variety of sweets which abounds from specialty drinks to extravagant cakes to simple combinations of cookie and bar delights. An easy format to follow and devour.