Chocolate Cakes for Weddings and Celebrations

The first part of the book is devoted to creating special dessert items with chocolate, such as wonderfully textural cigarette-curl covered cakes, sensuously moulded chocolate roses wrapped with a marbled chocolate swag, delicate centrepiece bowls and cloches of dark chocolate, and rich accents in truffles and wafers. Wedding cakes for all seasons follow, incorporating fresh flowers, moulded marzipan, and intricate textured lattices, domes and curls. To either adorn your cakes or stand on their own, a chapter of chocolate accessories features recipes for tempting truffles and colourful candies, plus unique accessories such as inscribed place cards in chocolate. But within all the spectacular presentation lie good basics: Slattery doesn't forget a chapter of essential cake and icing recipes, as well as recipes for ganache, chocolate sauces, chocolate paste and basic sugar paste. A few pages of templates are also included, useful for crafting many of the decorative shapes suggested. Basic techniques for working with chocolate and the structural intricacies of building celebration cakes are covered, but experience is clearly helpful--Slattery shows the steps for tempering chocolate, for example, but the more fiddly chocolate forming and moulding projects will likely be more comfortable for an experienced baker.--Marisa Lencioni