Rating: 
Summary: The Absolute BEST, Without A Doubt, Dessert Cookbook!!
Review: Thia review's title couldn't be truer - "The Cake Doctor" is the absolute BEST, without a doubt, cake and dessert cookbook I have ever seen. I love to cook and am usually a "purest," that is, I pride myself on using only the best and freshest ingredients and do not usually use prepackaged food products. Last year a friend served the best carrot cake I have ever eaten. I asked for the recipe and she brought out this cookbook. The carrot cake I so admired had been made from a mix. Many fresh ingredients were also called for, including 3 cups of fresh grated carrots - but the preparation looked ten times easier and faster than from scratch...and tasted as good or better. There's also an extraordinary recipe for orange cream cheese frosting included.
The same friend bought me this book for my birthday and I have been using it ever since. I frequently turn to it, especially when entertaining and during holidays. I have baked the Deeply Chocolate Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting (outrageous - but if you don't like the taste of almonds, or prefer your chocolate without - there are many other wonderful chocolate cake recipes), the Orange Dreamsicle Cake, Pecan Pie Cake, the Banana Cake with Quick Caramel Frosting and, of course, the carrot cake.
The book contains more than 175 recipes for cakes, dessert bars, crisps, cobblers, tira misu, frostings, etc. There are beautiful color photographs of each dessert and chapters on how to prepare and "doctor" the recipes for the best results. After tasting the results, you will not believe that all these creations begin with a boxed cake mix - and neither will your guests!
This is THE book for anyone who loves to cook and does not have lots of time. It's for cooks who enjoy preparing great desserts and for those who entertain frequently and prefer serving homemade food. Everyone out there who is not a good cook but enjoys good food, these recipes are easy and fun to prepare. And moms, dads and kids will be able to whip up a delicious fresh baked cake or dessert without a big to-do. Highly recommended; lots of fun; wonderful tasting results!
JANA
Rating:
Summary: Cake Mix Made Easy
Review: This is a great book. There are many good, simple recipes. There is also a picture index in front for easy access. This book (Deluxe Edition) includes 20 reader recipes. I would reccomend this to anyone who likes deserts.
Rating:
Summary: Best Cakes Ever!
Review: This book is fantastic! The first recipe I tried was the absolute best cake I've ever had in my life! (Turtle cake, pg. 48) The book will make a gourmet baker out of anyone that can read and follow simple directions. I highly recommend the book. It even has recipes for Biscotti!
Rating: 
Summary: terrible
Review: I was very excited when I first looked at the book - how yummy everything looked and easy to bake! After trying two cakes (most recently chocolate devil's food cake with white chocolate icing.) I am giving the book away in my next shipment of clothes & books for the poor. Both cakes I tried were terrible. Maybe people who are not used to baking from scratch, or who don't know good food will buy into this gimmick. But wait, I can save you some time - add sour cream or yogurt and real eggs or butter to any cake mix, toss in some real coco powder to chocolate cakes or vanilla to other cakes & make your icing from scratch. That wraps up about every variation in the book. In they end they still taste like cake mix cakes & are all very very heavy.
Rating: 
Summary: An Excellent Book, But Would Have Like Even More
Review: This is a very good book with lots of receipes based on boxed cake mixes.You have to really do some stretching to critize this book, but I would have like to see a little something on general cake baking theory. How do you make a cake extra dense? How do you make it extra light? What effect do you get if you put in an extra egg or if you put in one less egg, or just the whites, etc? Answers to these kind of questions would have been "icing on the cake" for this excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Cake Mix Doctor is inspiring!
Review: This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever seen. The opening pages show you names, colored pictures, and page numbers of the cakes presented in the book. Rx tips are plentifully scattered in the book. I just got the book, so I haven't tried any of the recipes yet, but even so I have spent hours just enjoying reading the recipes, etc. The author has given a lot of important information, and the "difficult" recipes are explained so they are no longer scary. It truly is inspiring! Even my husband was greatly impressed with the way the book is laid out. Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: Not your plain old cake's anymore!!
Review: I was so tired of making the same old cakes. A yellow or chocolate cake mix and icing it with chocolate icing, I thought I would scream. But, my kids like cakes and I didn't have time to make anything fancy! This is the best cookbook I have. The recipes are easy to follow and to make. You can make delicious cakes with items you already have in your kitchen. People won't know you made your cake from a boxed cake mix. They've think you spent hours fussing with it!
Rating:
Summary: This Book Changed My (Baking) Life
Review: I was a total bake-from-scratch snob until my Aunt Geri gave me this book for my birthday. After considering re-gifting, I decided to give it a shot. Since then, I have made about half the recipes, many more than once. With only one exception (melted ice cream cake), they have elicited raves. The first one I tried led my husband to this "compliment": "This is the first cake you've ever made that wasn't dry!" So thanks, Aunt Geri.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful - easy, fun, and creative!!
Review: I love to cook, but two kids under four have really cut into my time for elaborate desserts. This book is the first one I reach for now (out of about 150) to look for cake options. Everything I've tried from this has been wonderful. The time savings involved in using the mix as a starting point doesn't mean a compromise on the results. My only problem is trying new recipes because we've enjoyed the ones I've already done so much we just want to have them again! I'm not quite sure why there was a problem for the reviewer entitled "Boring and Bland," but my copy of this has a gorgeous color gallery at the beginning that shows every cake and has page numbers listed. Also, Byrn has a fairly comprehensive pantry list at the beginning. If there is something you don't have in stock, there's always another tempting recipe to try.
Rating:
Summary: AWESOME
Review: the only thing wrong with this book is that it doesnt comewith someone to make the cakes for me :)
it truly is a great book, the recipes are easy and fast and really good!
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