Betty Crocker's Ultimate Cake Mix Cookbook: Create Sweet Magic from a Mix [Spiral-bound]

A few days ago I made the Peanut Butter Cake & it looked impressive and was delicious!! I felt like a million dollars presenting it.

The book is full of appetizing pictures for nearly all the recipes, easy to use & follow directions, and has lots of tips & ideas. It also tells you how many calories are in a slice (for all you gals who want to know, although my advise is to skip that particular line).

In the book you will find all kinds of recipes for cakes, trifles, cupcakes, cookies & more.
Indulge yourself & your family.

From quick "bake-and-take" cakes for church potlucks, to elaborately designed masterpieces for parties and weddings, to brunch cakes, this book has it all! Why no try the decadent Tres Leches Cake, or the fun Chocolate-Chip Cookie Surprise Cake, or maybe you want a cake in the shape of a train. This book has it all!

There is an intriguing introduction where the authors take you on a journey through the mystical world of cake mixes. They begin in 1943 in the Betty Crocker labs and kitchens, and move from there through the trends of the 1960's and into the future of cake mixes in the 21st century. The pictures and magazine ads they reproduce in this book are historical and fun. Before the recipes begin, there is a how-to section on preparing your pans, servings per cake, how to cool and split (torte) a cake, frosting and glazing cakes, and even high-altitude baking. Page 15 features a "Customer Q&A" about the SuperMoist cake mixes.

The recipes are divided into chapters: Bake-and-Take, Wonderfully Indulgent, Special Celebrations, Heavenly Holidays, Come for Brunch, Scrumptious Desserts, Easy Cookies and Bars, and Fabulous frostings and Glazes. The cookbook also adds sections on Helpful Nutrition and Cooking Information, and an alphabetical Index.

The Heavenly Holidays sections features cakes for beginning cake decorators. These cakes require no previous cake decorating experience, and look beautiful. There are chocolate heart cakes for Valentine's Day (no heart pan needed!), an adorable Easter Bunny, a Flag Day cake made with fresh fruit, a Jack O' Lantern cake (no 3-D cake pan needed), and even Rudolph Cupcakes which can be made with children.

My favorite recipe from this cookbook is on page 18, Chocolate Turtle Cake. If you like the combination of nuts with chocolate, this recipe is for you! The recipe has a full-color picture, a tip for serving, and nutritional information. All of the recipes in this cookbook feature nutritional information. The turtle cake recipe calls for a devil's food cake mix, water, oil, eggs, caramels, evaporated milk, pecans, and chocolate chips. The recipe requires a bit of planning as caramels are not a staple item that I keep on hand. The final product, however, is well worth the planning. The cake is moist, gooey, and a favorite for entertaining, especially when served warm.

The Chocolate Graham Streusel Cake on page 20 is a classic recipe from the 1970's. The recipe features an advertisement that was used in the 1970's, a tip for glazing the cake, nutritional information, and a yellow graham variation. The recipe calls for graham cracker crumbs, nuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, devil's food cake mix, water, oil, eggs, and a recipe of glaze (provided on page 242). This recipe was a heavier, denser cake than normal, and as such, it was a little dry. It's a good recipe for a morning brunch or family coffee-style cake.

Even without a picture for every single recipe, this cookbook is an excellent value. The recipes are tried-and-true winners, and are family-friendly. The nutritional information for each recipe and the dietary guidelines in the back are an added bonus, it is a feature that most cake mix cookbooks prefer to gloss over. The full-color printing, alphabetical index, and spiral binding make this cookbook easy to use. A winner!