Surprise-Inside Cakes

I have been following Amanda on iambaker.net for a long time now. She has a great collection of topic-specific blogs and even prettier posts about sweet and savory confections. I couldn't wait for her book, Surprise-Inside Cakes, to release! If you were particularly fond of the tutorials she's shared on her blog like I was - Ghost Cake, BOO Cake, and the Countdown Cake, you'll enjoy this book. You can feel the patience she's giving with her clear cut instructions. I was also lucky enough to be able to connect with Amanda and ask her a few questions about the process!

Sylvia: Did anyone take a look under the dust jacket? I love that there's something special stamped on the case. How do you read the symbols stamped on the case? It is still "Surprise-Inside Cake" or "You never know what you'll get inside a cake"?

Amanda: That just depends on who is reading it! ;)

Sylvia: Okay, how many cakes did you go through to make this book? You mention baking over 50 cakes in 30 days in the acknowledgments, do you have an exact number? I am just trying to imagine all the ingredients you would have had to stock up on! How many carton of eggs, milk, and sticks of butter? How many bags of sugar? I'm not even a "number" person, but I find this fascinating!

Amanda: I made about 60 cakes all together. It was an insane amount of ingredients! I was buying flour and sugar in 25 lg. bags and running out frequently! I didn't keep track of specific numbers, but I definitely got strange looks at the grocery store! :)

Sylvia: How many attempts are required for you to be satisfied with the surprise inside? Do you do a lot of trial-and-error or at the level you are now, are you able to hit it bang on during your first attempt? Was there a cake design in the book that required more than a few tries before you were happy with it?

Amanda: Since I had a short timeline for the book, I would often think of a cake and then make it. If the design was awful and unrecognizable, it didn't make it in the book! Some of the cakes we left in are rough-around-the-edges, but I left them in for sentimental reasons or for inspiration.

Sylvia: You take beautiful photos for you blog, I was a bit surprised to see that you didn't take them for the book. How was it working with Susan Powers?

Amanda: Susan is so talented and added a level of sophistication for the book that I greatly lacked.

Sylvia: I have to say, I loved reading each cake introduction, you have a great personality that shines through and you're thoughtful in each of your cake dedications. In response to your Kiss Cake and also being from Canada, I would love to see a maple leaf inside a cake! I do hope you'll try it soon! The one about Beth Moore made me laugh, so often we think BFFs are made through cake!

Amanda: Thank you! I am now starting to work with twice-baked cakes and could easily do a leaf now! Will hopefully blog that soon! :)

Sylvia: Is there a second book in the works?

Amanda: Nope! No second book right now.

Sylvia: Okay, last one! Favorite dessert in the whole wide world?

Amanda: Mr. Donut donuts with frosting inside and powdered sugar outside. I haven't seen a Mr. Donut in 15 years… how I long for those delectable treats!

My favourite design in the book is the Herringbone Cake. To my dismay, it's the most difficult one by Amanda's standard. So I'm just going to bookmark this until I reach the expert level to attempt it!

Rudolph!

Bunny! I seem to be drawn to all the animal cakes.

Now for the fun part, if you want this cook to bee yours (see what I did there?), enter by leaving a comment below telling me what design you'd like to find in a surprise-inside cake. North American mailing address only and giveaway ends on April 8, 2014 at midnight EST. Please leave me a way of contacting you (e-mail address, twitter handle, etc.), otherwise, check back when the winners are announced!

Disclaimer: A copy of Surprise-Inside Cakes by Amanda Rettke was sent to us for review. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this book. All opinions are our own.