Cake Magic! Mix & Match Your Way to 100 Amazing Combinations

Choose a batter, flavor with syrup, add a frosting—it’s magic!

Want something decadent and fudgy? Darkest Chocolate Cake + Caramel Syrup + Malted Milk Chocolate Frosting + crushed candy bars = Candy Bar Cake. Or how about a nutty cake like the Elvis: Peanut Butter Cake + Bacon Syrup + Nutella Frosting, topped with candied bacon. Fit for the king, indeed!

This innovative and remarkably easy way to bake luscious, flavorful cakes is a formula for cake bliss. Cake Magic! is a full-color visual cookbook—photos in the front, recipes in the back—and the first step in every baker’s cake adventure. It includes valuable baking tips, vegan and gluten-free variations, plus how to tweak the recipes to make sheet cakes, Bundt cakes, and cupcakes, too.

 

Caroline Wright, a graduate of the prestigious Ecole de Cuisine La Varenne and recipient of a coveted scholarship from Les Dames d’Escoffier, is a former food editor at Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food. Currently she’s a freelance food editorial professional/dynamo who wears many toques: she works as a recipe developer and tester, food stylist and photographer, and food writer and editor for Oxmoor House, Cooking Light, Real Simple, Every Day with Rachael Ray, Health, and Women’s Day, among others; she is also a field producer for the Cooking Channel. A mentee of renowned cookbook author Dorie Greenspan, and former student and mentee of Anne Willan (founder of La Varenne), Caroline lives with her husband and newborn son in Dallas, TX.

INTRODUCTION 1
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 2

CHAPTER 1: VANILLA CAKES 4
Confetti Cake, Sweet Cream Cake, Cookies + Cream Cake, Blackberry Buttermilk Cake,
Horchata + Caramel Cake, Vanilla, Cherry + Chocolate Cake, Caramel Pineapple Upside-Down Cake, Creamy Caramel Cake, Buttered Rum Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Boozy Berry Cake, Classic Birthday Cake, Spicy Cinnamon Cake with Apples, White Russian Cake, Vanilla–Olive Oil Cake with Rosemary + Lemon, Peaches + Cream Cake

CHAPTER 2: CHOCOLATE CAKES 22
Best Blackout Cake, Warm Chocolate Gingerbread Cake, Candy Bar Cake, Chocolate Cake with Tea + Lemon, Grasshopper Cake, Drunken Tuxedo Cake, Salted Caramel Chocolate Cake, Dark Chocolate Cake with Basil + Caramel, Chocolate-Orange Cake with Caramel Frosting, Chocolate-Hazelnut Cake, Hostess Cake, Chocolate + Red Wine Cake, Soda Fountain Cake, Spicy Hot Chocolate Cake, Chocolate + Pear Cake

CHAPTER 3: CITRUS CAKES 38
Summer Lemon Cake, Blueberry Lemon-Ricotta Cake, Arnold Palmer Cake, Orange + Cardamom Cake with Honey Frosting, Strawberry-Lemon Cake, Lemon Pucker Cake, High Tea Cake, Spiced Grapefruit + Cream Cake, Triple Citrus Cake, Lemon-Ginger Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Hot Toddy’s Lemon Cake, Basil + Lemon Cream Cake

CHAPTER 4: BROWN SUGAR CAKES 52
Southern Diner Cake, Cookie-Butter Cake, Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake, Maple, Bacon +
Chocolate Cake, S’mores Cake, Honey-Walnut Cake with Ginger Syrup, Root Beer Float Cake, Rum Raisin Cake, Cinnamon-Sugar Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Butterscotch Cake, Pecan Bun Cake, Maple Vanilla Brunch Cake, Browned Butter Cake, Toffee Cake, Tea with Cream + Sugar Cake

CHAPTER 5: FRUIT + VEGGIE CAKES 68
Carrot + Coconut Cake, Banana-Maple Cake + Malted Vanilla Frosting, Fall Harvest Cake, Apple Cider Cake, Pumpkin-Chocolate Cake, Zucchini-Thyme Cake with Lemon Pudding Frosting, Pumpkin-Ginger Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Fresh Blueberry Cake, Pear Cake with Chocolate Frosting, Chai-Pear Cake with Honey Frosting, Caramel Apple Cake, Banana-Caramel Cake with Malted Milk Chocolate Frosting, Carrot-Lime Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

CHAPTER 6: NUTTY CAKES 82
School Lunch Cake, Peanut Butter Pretzel Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting, Peanut Butter Cup Cake, Elvis Cake Apricot, Cashew + Cardamom Cake with Honey Frosting, Dinner Party Cake, Almond Cake with Cinnamon + Honey, Almond Joy Cake, Pistachio + Lemon Cake, Spiced Almond Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting

CHAPTER 7: COCONUT CAKES 94
Coconut Cake with Strawberry Frosting, Coconut-Caramel Cake with Malted Chocolate Frosting, Coconut–White Chocolate Cake Dream Cake, Coconut + Chocolate Cake Coconut, Ginger + Rum Cake, Mango-Coconut Cake with Salted Caramel Frosting, Coconut + Raspberry Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting, Italian Cream Cake, Coconut Cloud Cake

CHAPTER 8: MOCHA CAKES 106
Mocha Raspberry Cake, Mocha Caramel Cake, Double-Shot Mocha Cake, Orange Mocha Cake +
Cream Cheese Frosting, Mulberry Street Cake, Irish Coffee Cake, New Orleans Café au Lait Cake, Tiramisu Cake, Spiced Coffee + Cream Cake, Malted Chocolate Stout Cake

CHAPTER 9: PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER 118
How to Assemble a Cake Magic! Cake, Adapting the Cake Magic! Method to Other Pan Shapes, Splitting a 2-Layer Cake into a 4-Layer Cake, The Cakes, Pan Prep 101, A Note About Buttering and Flouring the Pans, Measuring Ingredients, Melting Chocolate, Making Substitutions, Mixing It Up, Troubleshooting Wonky Cakes, Freezing “Naked” Baked Cakes, The Syrups, The Deal with the Syrups, How to Store the Syrups, Frosting + Decorating, A Note on Softened Butter, Creaming Butter and Sugar, Frosting Flavorings, Make-Ahead Frosting Tips, The Crumb-Free Cake, How to Make a Swirled Frosting, How to Dust a Cake, How to Coat the Side of a Cake, Storing Frosted Cake, Freezing Leftover Cake

CHAPTER 10: THE RECIPES 140
THE CAKES 142
Cake Magic! Cake Mix, Gluten-Free Cake Magic!, Cake Mix Vanilla Cake, Darkest Chocolate Cake, Lemon Cake, Brown Sugar Cake, Apple Cake, Peanut Butter Cake, Coconut Cake, Mocha Cake

THE SYRUPS 152
Vanilla Syrup, Sweet Cream Syrup, Mixed Berry Syrup, Rum Syrup, Cola Syrup, Fresh Rosemary Syrup, Spiced Syrup, Tea Syrup, Lime Syrup, Coconut Syrup, Bacon Syrup

THE FROSTINGS 162
Nutella Frosting, Malted Vanilla Frosting, Cream Cheese Frosting, Salted Caramel Frosting, Bittersweet Chocolate Frosting Lemon Pudding Frosting, Honey Frosting, Malted Milk Chocolate Frosting, Strawberry Frosting

THE EXTRA-SOMETHINGS 171
Caramelized Strawberry Jam, Salted Caramel, Honey Caramel, Lemon Pudding, Sautéed Apples, Caramelized Bananas, Toasted Coconut, Toasted Marshmallows Walnuts in Syrup, Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze, Graham Cracker Crumble, Cinnamon Sugar, Basil Sugar, Homemade Vanilla Extract

CONVERSION TABLES 182
INDEX 183