Cake Art--for Reading not Eating!

The only baking I did this week was Blueberry Streusel Muffins already posted in April. http://bakingdazeinla.blogspot.com/2010/04/blueberry-streusel-muffins.html
I am off soon to my niece's wedding in New York, so my cake decorating is on hold for a bit.  However, I have been doing some reading about baking! 


First I discovered the CIA'S (Culinary Institute of America) Cake Art book published in 2008. It covers every aspect of cake decorating: baking, filling, icing, piping, modeling, embossing, and painting.  I can't wait to try my hand at some of the more complex aspects of cake art. 






 And then for fun, I've been flipping through Duff Goldman's Ace of Cakes, which is about the beginnings of Charm City Cakes and the eclectic group of artists who work with him.  Lots of photos and quirky information.  Not exactly airplane reading--too heavy literally. 







But then I planned on bringing my good friend and mentor Gayle Brandeis's newest novel Delta Girls.  I just started the first few chapters and am hooked.  (No wonder she won Barbara Kingsolver's Bellwether Prize for Fiction).  Now this has nothing to do with baking cakes--but it does involve pears, so there is a connection of sorts!