What is the BEST of the BEST cake recipe book out there???

Great question. I've spent tons of money on books that weren't worth it and my library doesn't have a great selection.

Everyone can have different results with the same recipe. that said, there are several books that are generally well reviewed.

The Cake Bible - Rose Levy Beranbaum
Confetti Cakes - Elisa Strauss
The Well Decorated Cake - Toba Garret
the Whimsical Bake House (sorry can't recall)

The Cake Bible for sure.

Also: Nick Malgieri's Perfect Cakes and Roland Mesnier's Basic to Beautiful Cakes.

Baking by Dorie Greenspan is really high up there, but is assorted baked goods rather than just cakes. I just made her walnut mocha swirl bundt cake 2 days ago, and it was amazing (it's also gone LOL).

Another general baking book I use all the time is Baking At Home by the Culinary Institute of America.

I just got Whimsical Bakehouse and CakeLove - will have to see how much I like the recipes in there

::Grumble:: goofy double post

If you're only buying 1, then The Cake Bible.

The internet is FULL of wonderful recipes, some little known....I've had GREAT success just finding good rated recipes online. I like it better than a book because its relatively "free" and I can look up what I need, when I need it.

The internet is FULL of wonderful recipes, some little known....I've had GREAT success just finding good rated recipes online. I like it better than a book because its relatively "free" and I can look up what I need, when I need it.

Hands down, the best book for no-fail, great-tasting cake is The Cake Bible.

I'm glad to see someone ask this! I'm always trying new recipes, and so many of my books will have one or two great things and everything else is really unremarkable! Thanks!

I don't have The Cake Bible, but I do have The Whimsical Bakehouse books (the original and Little Cakes) and Toba Garrett's -- I'd be lost without them!

I think Nick Maglieri's Perfect Cakes has a great collection of cakes.

Three reasons I do not vote for the Cake Bible.

One is that the formulas in general are fragile. There is no other book I know that has as many reports of poor results. Of course many highly endorse it as well. But they are not easy to make with consistency. High maintenance recipes in general.

Two is that the recipes are written in a complicated way--not straightforward. People who are familiar with her style will not get this till they think about it, but there are several places to have to search out for the flow of the recipe. The ingredients list, the written instructions plus pertinent information is just stuck in the margins randomly like pan sizes and how hot the oven should be stuff you gotta go looking for. I feel you have to rewrite the recipe in order to make it efficiently. Can be frustrating.

Three is that way back when I got her book I fell fast in love with it. When I got to the part about her brother's replacement wedding cake due to the one she made getting stuck in a snowstorm during delivery and she then dissed the cake and the people who bought it last minute and the person who made it. Her attitude totally turned me off to the book.

I think a book called a bible should have a lot less attitude and heartier recipes. If you don't get them out of the oven on the nose it's dry. In general in my opinion there's better stuff out there. Like Nick's.

Also fifty year old cookbooks often have killer scratch cake recipes in amongst the fried chicken & stuff. Like the New Doubleday Cookbook and the old Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook --the red one. Although there are many cake recipes in each, the ones that come to mind are...

The first has a killer yellow cake called wedding cake. Comes out perfect no matter how you increase or decrease it. Versatile hearty tweakable.

The Betty one has a burnt sugar cake that is flat amazing.

Books about 50 years old is where you are totally mining the gold.

Amen to that! I wouldn't trade my mom's and grandmother's recipes, nor their books, for anything! Not even a tank of gas for my truck... LOL