The European Cake Cookbook: Discover a New World of Decadence from the Celebrated Traditions of European Baking

I really wanted to love this book as I have been a long-time follower of Tatyana’s YouTube channel and have made multiple recipes featured there. However my very first experience with a recipe from her book was a sad one... 2+ hours and more than $25 dollars worth in ingredients wasted... I attempted to make her Chocolate Hazelnut Crepe Cake and followed the recipe to the T. All seemed to be going well until the frosting completely curdled at the end and became runny. I did question the instructions to beat the frosting for a whole minute on high speed after combining cheese and whipped cream mixtures... but trusted the book and even used the stop watch to make sure everything was precise. I should have followed my first instinct and just folded the two parts together gently. Needless to say the frosting was a complete disaster and separated even more before I finished assembling the cake. Like another reviewer said... it seemed that the author may not have actually tested out the recipes herself. I have concerns about trying anymore recipes from this book... I wish I could get refund but it’s too late. First picture is from the book and second is my sad looking cake (all attempts were make to wipe up the runny icing...)

do recommend this cookbook with simple detailed recipes for classic European pastries- photos of every recipe- no exotic ingredients- includes both volumetric and mass for ingredients (cups of flour vs grams of flour) - both are provided- detailed simple-to-follow instructions- recipes are not very complicated - but may require time, such as preparing buttercream separately and slicing a cake into multiple thin layers- suited for novice bakers - but knowledge of stiffly beating egg whites and whipping cream are must-have skillsThe reason for the 4-star rating is that the recipes are so GREAT, you wish you had more recipes of other European classic pastries. Hence, deducted one star.HINT to author / publisher - continue with the series and publish recipes for other classic European café pastries - maybe books dedicated by region:- Eastern European,- German / Austrian / Hungarian,- French / British,- Scandinavian / Nordic, etc.

When I first opened this cookbook I skimmed through it and I loved seeing that each recipe had a colorful photo and a little introduction about that specific cake. It was very hard to choose which cake to bake first, but since it was late in the evening and didn't want to make a run to the grocery store I settled for a simple Poppy Seed Smetanik. I brought the cake to work and it devoured immediately! I was impressed how easy it was to follow the recipe and I felt confidant in my baking. Also, I appreciated having the "inactive prep time" listed - HUGE plus!

I have been following Tatyana on Youtube for quite a while so when I found out she has a cookbook, I knew I had to get it. She makes the most beautiful cakes but they are doable. So far I have tried the Austrian Pound Cake, Blueberry Lemon Ricotta Tea Cake and Kladkkaka. I didn’t care for the Austrian Pound Cake only because I am not a fan of apricots. The cake has good texture though and good flavor if you like apricots. Now the blueberry cake is a different story. It is so delicious! It is the best blueberry lemon cake I’ve ever had. So yummy with my morning coffee. This is the author’s favorite cake and I could tell why. The Kladkkaka is excellent as well.I have yet to try the more complicated cakes in the book but I am just dying to bake and bake ‘til I get into a sugar coma lol. This is my very first cookbook and I am so happy I bought it. You definitely need this if you are tired of the usual American cakes. Most of the cakes look stunning and delicious. If you are looking for something different (cake wise), this cookbook is definitely a must-have.

I wonder if the author followed her own recipes: I just finished making Raspberry Lemon Macaron Cake for my daughter’s 21 BDay, I bake a cake for her every year and never so many things go wrong. I admit this was my second attempt to make Macarons and I couldn’t find gel coloring but I’ve read somewhere that I can use powder -it was bright pink at first but turned cream at the end of baking so my fault, but curd was too watery, even after I tripled the amount of starch, I had to add a few table spoons of flour to thicken it. Cream frosting separated as soon as I added cheese mixture to the whipped cream, it became like cottage cheese. I had to strain it and whip again. It was too soft to hold the weight of top layers. With the exception of food coloring I followed the recipe to a T, even bought a food scale specifically for this. At the end it took me 6 hours, it doesn’t look like a picture and I am afraid to try another recipe from the book.

I’ve been always on a hunt for a good European cake book, and finally found one that I love. I baked bunch of the cakes from Tatyana’s website and now really excited to finally get this book, can’t wait to bake more from this book, I’m just in a WOW🙌 From all the cakes

I have many of the recipes marked for future baking projects. Made the Bird's Milk Cake yesterday and am getting ready to put the final layer on this morning. Tatyana uses some products that I have not used in the past: sweetened condensed milk, agar gelatin but, I like learning new ways to do things. I live alone so it is always a major deal to make a cake using whip cream that has a short life. So if any turn out to be great, my neighbors will have to suffer through being "testers" for me and the cakes! It can get a little expensive to buy the ingredients called for that go above and beyond what I would normally have in my pantry and fridge, ie. lots of whip cream, the cans of condensed milk etc. But it is so much fun to learn something new.....I will be a baker to the end. Wish she could do a class on Craftsy website. I have taken many of their classes and it is such a great way to learn some new techniques.

So excited to try these recipes!!! Presentation of this book is outstanding❤️ I’m a very visual person and I absolutely Love the full page pictures of each recipe! 😍😍

Great pictures but the recipes and ingredients are all American. I tried one recipe to the letter and it didn’t turn out quite right. I’m going to try another but it’s a shame there isn’t a European version. With European weights and measures.

Great book with lovely recipes. Some quite time consuming but worth the effort

What a fantastic book! I’ve made one cake - a real ‘labour of love’ but so worth it!!Recipes are easy to follow. Can’t wait to make more!

Excellent

excellent book.