Rating: 
Summary: Levy's Buttercream= "Egg Jelly"
Review: The cake recipes are OKAY, nothing to brag about. I think a couple of the white cakes are decent, a little dry though. I've been cooking for several years, and have been using a scale to reduce mistakes in measurement. It was nice to finally have a cookbook with weight measurements, however, she needs to come up with some new ideas and recipes. Her plain buttercream turned out to what I and friends called the famous "Egg Jelly", the smell still haunts me to this day. I think it called for 6 egg yolks, 1 cup Corn Syrup, 2 lbs butter- something to that effect, IT WAS HORRIBLE. Needless to say, I made my own frosting which was much more pleasant to taste not to mention look at or SMELL! Buy the book if you are in need of some paper for your fireplace, or your trashcan, cause it's pure garbage.
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Summary: The first cake I ever baked came from this book.
Review: This review is for the amateur cook. This book is a treasure! Every single recipe I have tried came out exquisite, and people remember, years later, the cakes I have served them. I am not a professional chef, nor am I a housewife with lots of time to spend in the kitchen. However, I love cooking, and books like the Cake Bible are partly responsible.The first cake I ever baked came from this book, and it earned me a huge grin with laughing eyes from my dad. It was his 70th birthday. I can name lots of recipes which are not difficult to follow: Chocolate Bread, Perfect Pound Cake (no, it's not like Sara Lee!), Checkerboard Cake, All-American Chocolate Butter Cake, Chocolate Oblivion Truffle Torte (I make this with creme anglaise on top, which is a little difficult to make, but the cake itself is really easy, and it has spoiled me for all other versions I have tried, even in one of the meccas of American cuisines: the San Francisco Bay area.) The neoclassic buttercream, with all its variants, is wonderful, and it allows me to make old fashioned delicious cakes for my daughter's birthday parties. Nor do all the cakes require ingredients which are difficult to find. I spent several years living in a part of the US where the concept of culinary accomplishment was synonymous to grilling a slab of beef and (over)boiling a few ears of corn; still I was able to find the correct ingredients for many of these recipes. However, if you do skimp on the ingredients, or do not take the trouble to follow the recipes with care, then it is true: you might as well go with Betty Crocker, or Sara Lee, or whoever else is out there. The only explanation I can find for some of the criticism I have read in these reviews is this: unless you decide to read the entire book, which I have not, you will have trouble locating the cakes which match your ability, the occasion, your mood etc... I worked hard making the Classic Buttercream, and did not notice the much easier and equally delicious Neoclassic version until later. The problem, I think, is that this book has value for a wide range of cooks, from the amateur who simply wants to see that big grin on the faces of family and friends, to the professional chef. I know that attempting to reach such a wide audience in my own professional field would be heresy. That Ms. Beranbaum succeeds at all is wonderful, and in the final analysis, I do like understanding the reason for substituting corn syrup for some of the sugar in buttercream. My only complaint is that Ms Beranbaum has not yet written a book about muffins. She's done the cookies, the cakes and the pies. I hope that some day she will teach me about muffins.
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Summary: Answers all your questions about cakes
Review: This book is an essential if you are the kind of baker who wants to know "why?" Covers all the used-to-be essential areas such as altitude as well as useful tips, why mistakes happen and adapting recipes to your personal taste. The back-to-basics contents, such as real buttercreams are without rival. The sections on stabilized whipped cream make the book worth having if for nothing more than that simple recipe and problem solver.
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Summary: This is the book for serious baking!
Review: I bought a second Cake Bible after I realized that the first one would become dog-earred from use. I have tried several of the recipes in this book and the results have been spectacular. If you follow her methods for mixing, you will see the difference from the "cream the butter first" way. Her recipes are exquisite and the results will make you feel you are ready to appear on Great Chefs. Like the author, I prefer the taste of butter in cakes rather than the overpowering sweetness of sugar. In addition, the photographs are wonderful and any baker will be able to produce the same results. All the previous raves about the cheesecake are true and the difficulty level for making it is around 1 wheelbarrow. (HGTV fans will appreciate the rating. :)
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Summary: Worth it for the cheesecake recipe alone !
Review: While it is true that the information in this book is quite dense, and can be a little overwhelming, it truly contains everything you could possibly need to know about making the absolute best cakes. I have found that by following her recipes carefully, and paying attention to the details, every single one of the recipes comes out exactly as expected. I have not been dissapointed by a single recipe. The Cordon Rose Cheesecake is outstanding, and the White Chocolate variation on that cake is about the best cake I've ever tasted. I am no longer allowed to attend a family function without a white chocolate cheesecake in my hand! Everyone loves this cake! Try the Fruit Cloud Cream icings. The Raspberry Fruit Cloud Cream is especially great, particularly on the All-Occassion Downy Yellow Butter Cake. The very fancy specialty cakes are beautiful as well as delicious, and quite simple to do when following the instructions given.
Rating: 
Summary: extremely buttery
Review: I bought this book hoping it would give me definitive recipes on cakes. Unfortunately, while my tastes do run to homemade cakes, the recipes in this book were simply way too buttery for me. The All-American Yellow cake tasted like a very light version of Sara Lee frozen pound cake (it even had the same color and crust texture). I guess I prefer my layer cake to not taste so overly vanilla-ish and buttery. Also, I'm not a fan of buttercream, which is not the same thing as regular American frosting made with butter, powdered sugar, and cream. I made the Strawberry Buttercream for my cake, but it tasted just like flavored butter to me (might be good on toast). If your tastes run to this sort of thing, the Cake Bible might be a good investment. There are a lot of cakes, including several chocolate and a country buttermilk cake and a lot of recipes for fillings, meringues, and whipped cream. Also, she has a different recipe for genoise that supposedly works well, even for those who have never had success with genoise. This book is also helpful if you want to learn to make European cakes--i.e., those with dacquoise, genoise, syrups, meringues, and other sponge-type batters. Otherwise, I'd stick to a traditional American cake book!
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Summary: Where's page Fourteen?
Review: I have just received my book and have read quite a bit of it. It seems pretty straight forward. I will be testing it out for a wedding cake this Saturday. I do have one comment. Unfortunately my book has a blank page for page 14, which is listed elsewhere in the book as the page to go to if your looking for a source for the magi-cake strips that she recommends highly for helping to ensure a level cake.
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Summary: LET US EAT CAKE!
Review: While this is an extremely creative book for those whose lives revolve around cake baking, it is probably beyond the scope of most everyday bakers. Some of the recipes are quite difficult and call for exotic, hard-to-find ingredients. I think most people will end up using only three or four of their favorite recipes. Three or four, however, isn't bad, and the book is extremely well-written and covers just about every kind of cake imaginable. Highly recommended for those who want a special cake or something different. For those only interested in the old standbys, better stick to Betty Crocker.
Rating:
Summary: A LITTLE TOO EXOTIC FOR EVERYDAY
Review: The Cake Bible is great if baking and decorating cakes is your hobby. But those who just want to bake a great cake or bake something a little different will find the book's recipes a little too difficult and exotic. It does cover every kind of cake recipe under the sun--from butter cakes to fruitcakes to triple layer chocolate fudge. If you're like me, though, there will be only five or six recipes that will become "favorites" and the rest you won't use. Still, worth it.
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Summary: Word of warning for convection oven owners...
Review: While she writes painfully detailed and scientific descriptions, and her cakes are actually quite good, she makes a comment about using a convection oven that's not correct in my experience. She states that there's no need to adjust the tempurature or baking times for her cakes when using a convection oven--countertop model or not. (Conventional theory states that convection ovens require 25-50 degrees less heat than regular ovens.) Per her book, I tried using the same tempurature and baking times on a few different recipes from the book using my convection oven, and the cakes were as dry as sawdust. My oven tempurature is calibrated correctly, and I use the exact pans and equipment she suggests using (right down to the brand of cake flour, professional Kitchen-Aid stand mixer and magic cake strips), so those are not the issues. Baking cakes in less time but at the same tempurature resulted in cakes that were dry on the outside, but a gooey mess on the inside! I've been experimenting with different baking tempuratures and times but have yet to make a "perfect" cake. One convection oven cookbook suggested that for butter cakes, the tempurature should be lowered by 75 degrees (so instead of 350, try 275)! I'll have to try that next.
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