The Bottom Line
Not sure what the theme should be for your child’s next birthday? Pick up a copy of Matthew Mead’s book Cakes for Kids, have your little one choose a cake he likes, then build the party theme around that. Mead's cake designs are so darling, cheerful and easy to execute, you’ll want to plan all your family’s parties around them.
Pros
- Beautiful photography
- Clear instructions
- Diagrams for how to cut sheet cakes to form the cake shapes seen in the book
- A wide variety of themes
- Cute, cute, cute cakes
Cons
- Most of the cakes are geared for younger kids, so don't buy this expecting tons of ideas for teens
Description
- Cakes for Kids
- Author and photographer: Matthew Mead
- Chronicle Books, 2008
- 35 different cake projects
- 130 pages
- ISBN: 978-0-8118-6190-8
Guide Review - Book Review: Cakes for Kids, by Matthew Mead
In Cakes for Kids, Mead (an author, photographer and stylist) provides detailed instructions and diagrams so you can make cakes at home that look as good as his. I especially like the simplicity of the themes he chooses. Rather than telling you how to build a 3-D zoo out of batter and frosting, for instance, he keeps things within reach with instructions for an elephant cake and a giraffe cake instead.
The cakes are for kids, after all. Save the Taj Mahal-scale ideas for their wedding days.
Some of my favorite of Mead’s cakes are the ice skate, robot, goldfish and the rainbow that’s featured on the cover of the book. He often uses common candies, such as M&Ms, gumdrops or Skittles, to achieve a look.
Mead also offers a few cupcake projects in the book, including a mosaic of brown cupcakes that come together to form a moose face (if you can spread frosting on a cupcake with a knife, you can make that moose) and a family of ladybugs that would be perfect for a garden-themed party.
Most of the cakes in the book would especially appeal to young children, but there are some projects older kids would like, too, such as a guitar, a bucket of popcorn and a soccer ball.
