Cake Bible

Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible is a baking reference built around one skill: taking intricate pastry technique and turning it into recipes that a home cook can follow without stress. Beranbaum has written about food for magazines and newspapers, The New York Times among them, and the book reflects that experience of explaining things clearly.

The range is wide. Recipes cover every major kind of cake, from simple pancakes up to wedding cakes of four tiers. Along the way the book teaches shortcuts that do not cost quality, such as a buttery, tender layer cake that can be mixed in under five minutes, and a deeply chocolatey cake that needs only three ingredients.

Health-minded bakers are covered too. There are cakes that cut back on sugar while keeping their flavor and texture, and a good number of recipes that are low or free of cholesterol and low in saturated fat.

The book was inducted into the International Association of Culinary Professionals Culinary Classics Hall of Fame in 2017, a mark of its standing among cake cookbooks.