Knitted Cakes Book Review

Knitted Cakes (Twenty to Make) by Susan Penny

Mmmmmmm. There are so many knitting books of hats, socks, afghans etc that it is exciting to find a book dedicated to a single, unusual knitting category. When you flip through this booklet, you could almost imagine that you are looking at recipes, rather than knitting patterns! (Aside: A book of knit cakes where you also had the recipes for those cakes... that would be a yummy book!)

There are 20 different kinds of cake:

• Chocolate Gateau - Shown in the cover photo.
  
• Iced Doughnut
• Coffee Cup Cake - probably could be knit in the round to avoid as much seeming. Very Cute.
  
• Birthday Cake - Shaped like a small square ice cream cake. There is even scalloped frosting and a candle!
  
• Fruit Tart
• Jazzy Cake
• Baby Cup Cake - (this theme has been used a few times now)
  
• Swiss Roll - Simple, knit two rectangles and roll them up. But man do I have a craving for these things now.
  
• Christmas Holly Cake
• Muffin
• Lemon Meringue
• Carrot Cake
• Viennese Whirl
• Raspberry Heart Cake
• Cherry Pie Slice
• Crazy Cup Cake
• Angel Cake
• Wedding Cake
• Cup Cake Egg Cosy
• Fruit Fancy
  

I have some complaints about this otherwise delicious book:
Complaint #1: The actual yarn brands used are not mentioned. I have a feeling that for some of these patterns, the yarn type makes a lot of difference with how the cakes come out.
Complaint #2: The patterns are not as elegant as they could be. There is a lot of sewing pieces together. There are rows that say something like "knit, increasing 2 sts randomly on each needle." Why not just give a row and say where to make the increases?
Complaint #3: When flipping through, you see some fun beadwork. When you look closer, you realize that these are all sewn on after the fact. "Decorate with seed and bugle beads"

There is not a "how to knit" section in this book, so don't use this as your first knitting reference! This will, however, make a great novelty gift for your favorite knitter.