Baking Bliss!: Baked Desserts to Make and Devour

Gr 6 Up—Frozen pastry, prepared pie crusts, cake mixes, and melting candy are employed in projects (more than a dozen per volume) that emphasize craft over cooking. Some of these projects are incredibly easy (dip pretzel rods or cookies into melting candy, then decorate with sprinkles), while some require a high degree of artistic skill along with patience and a steady hand (layered cakes covered with rolled and cut fondant, homemade gel cake decorations). Beautifully designed, with mouthwatering images of finished projects and process photos where needed, these books are like real-world Pinterest boards. Some kids will like this skip-to-the-fun-part approach, but others will find the reliance on prepared or semi-prepared foods irksome—and, in truth, the finished desserts don't taste as good as they would have had they been made from scratch.