Great Cakes, Pies, Cookies, Muffins & More

by Carole Walter

With twenty years of experience teaching baking classes and three award-winning cookbooks to her name, Carole Walter is renowned for her meticulous directions, foolproof recipes, and scrumptious results. In Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More, Carole turns her attention to the types of treats that are perfect for breakfast, an afternoon snack, or dessert—the sweets people most like to make at home to enjoy with family and friends.

From pound cakes, coffee cakes, muffins, and other quick breads to scones, sweet biscuits, Bundt cakes, and buckles, Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More features more than two hundred recipes for America’s favorite baked goodies. Carole guides novices and expert bakers alike through irresistible recipes including Butter Crumb Coffee Cake, Country Cherry Honey Scones, and Raspberry Buttermilk Muffins with Streusel Topping. A bevy of old-world classics such as Almond Croissants, Double Chocolate Walnut Babka, and Cinnamon Raisin Rugelach are complemented by what are sure to become new favorites, like Crystallized Ginger Pound Cake, Glazed Orange Ricotta Cookies, and Pumpkin Pecan Loaf.

To ensure success, Carole’s signature “At-a-Glance” boxes outline baking pan sizes, oven temperatures, baking times, and any special equipment you might need. In addition, Carole includes extensive general information on outfitting your own kitchen for baking, common ingredients, and techniques. With straightforward directions and enticing recipes, Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More will have you baking up a storm of treats for every occasion.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Nonfiction

396 pages, Hardcover

First published October 16, 2007

Reviews

[Saudah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid! Touches on the basics and shares enough unique recipes for a classic category of sweet treats.

[Darby · Rating 5 out of 5]

This cookbook has a variety recipes and all that I have tried are DELICIOUS!

Good Things
*The directions are detailed so that if you are new to baking or the techniques used in the recipe you will be able to work through it.

*The ingredients are clear and most likely items that you probably already have in your cupboards or pantry. There are few things you might not have on hand like flavored liqueurs and crystallized ginger.

*The recipes have ratings. If you are inexperienced you can start with the "1 cup" recipes and then move onto the more difficult recipes.

*There helpful tips in the sidebars.

*There's something here for all levels of bakers from novice to pro

Not-So-Good-Thing
*There isn't enough photos in this book. They have some of course but not for every recipe.

*There are a few editing errors. It seems like they were just cut and pasting some standard recipes throughout the cookbook even if that recipe is not making as many as the others. But the author has posted the corrections on her official website.

The author provides detailed instructions for the mouth-watering recipes. It is a wonderful wonderful cookbook. I've baked about 8 things out of it and everything has been delicious. Definitely a book I would like to have in my kitchen! And I can't wait to check out other books by this author.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Walter's style is great - I'd love to take one of her classes. However, I didn't like this nearly as much as her cookie book. Basically, I think of the kinds of things in here as 'quickbreads' and these recipes are anything but quick. What I tried in here was good, but it was generally more involved than I"m willing to go for a snack or something to bring to M & M Meeting. If you have the time and inclination, this is a useful book. I also gave her at least an extra half star for advocating strudel pulling parties - I've actually done this (with my mother-in-law, no less) and it is a really good time, in a very nerdy way. Of course you end up with more strudel then you need, so this is probably a better thing to do with a couple or two.

So, this is well-written and not a bad book; I personally just don't have much use for the recipes.

[Kathy Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally found a keeper recipe! I have been trying a variety of blueberry muffin recipes over the years, because I was on a search for a better one. I found it! This is the show stopper. The muffins smell delicious while they are baking. I baked them for 25 minutes here in Indiana. This is the one - I'm finished looking. The streusel is perfect, and made enough to bag it and keep for the next batch. I share a photo of the inside of one of the blueberry deliciousness

I have marked several recipes I am interested in making. I'll update here when I do.

[Tilden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't made anything out of the book yet but I enjoy making and eating muffins, coffee cakes, and biscuits. So, I'm always looking for more recipes. I haven't heard of Carole Walter but I'll give her recipes a try.

I like the At A Glance, how she indicated the difficulty of the recipe and the baking time. There's also a short blurb about the recipe at the beginning and detailed step by step instructions. There's not a lot of photos (maybe to keep the cost of the book down) but that's OK with me.

[Alyson Angell · Rating 5 out of 5]

This has become a go to, with the pages tabbed now and written in, for all types of delicious treats. There is definitely something for everyone in this book, from the young to old and every taste in between.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice recipes, but it seems SO old fashioned that I’d believe a publication date of 1973 more readily than 2009.

[Miki Magara Feuless · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic, revisited

[Pattie Tierney · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book. Who could not like a book with a subject as delicious as coffee cakes? And yet, though the information was concisely written and plentiful, it still lacked something. First and foremost, there weren't nearly enough pictures. While I don't necessarily require one picture per recipe (though I do love this), at least one picture every three recipes would have been nice. Also, I don't like the habit of clustering pictures in three or four sections of a book for the reader to admire, and then spend time seeking out the recipes pictured. Another thing I didn't care for was that a good percentage of the recipes in this book relied on other recipes for completion. By this I mean that there are a number of basic doughs. So, if you decide you want to make a cinnamon streusel coffee cake and go to that recipe page, you then have to flip back and forth between it and the basic dough of choice in order to make this cake. It might seem redundant to both author and publisher to repeat the dough with each recipe, but for the user, this would be a great help.

Of the three recipes I tried, all were good. But the lack of photos and formatting put me off, so I really wasn't interested in proceeding further.

[Farah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked the pictures which made it appealing to me. i wrote down some of the recipes to try.
this book is very informative and the recipes are full of details. Most of them are very long. they are written in a way that everyone can make them even a person who is not familiar with baking that much.
the following recipes that i found easy to make and nice:
CLASSIC SOUR CREAM AND NUT COFFEE CAKE
NUT-CRUSTED ORANGE POUND CAKE
SUPER- MOIST BROWNIES
BLUEBERRY POUND CAKE
CAPE COD CRANBERRY MUFFINS
OATMEAL RAISIN MUFFINS

[Intisar · Rating 5 out of 5]

I originally checked this out from the library. After paging through it on several occasions,I decided to purchase for my collections. I would like to make quite a few recipes in this book. So far I have made the crumb buns, and they went over really well at my meeting. Everyone should definitely check this out.

[Ames · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only tried three recipes out of the library's copy this book so far and it's enough to convince me to buy it. The Whipped Cream Pound Cake is absolute dynamite, I think I'm in love with it. Full of all varieties of baked goods from the simple (pound cake) to the complex (bear claws). Yum!

[Miss Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lemon/ Lemon Poppyseed Cream Cheese pound Cake
Lemon Poppyseed Muffins
Old-fashioned Buttermilk Biscuits
Flaky Croissants
Black Raspberry Jam Squares
Lemon Shortbread
Variety of glazes, spreads and frostings.

[Catherine Woodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not cooked out of this much, but the author is well known to me, and the selection of recipes for breakfast food is outstanding--if you are looking for a single sourcecookbook for this sort of baking, this is a great option

[Marlee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Time consuming, challenging but oh so yummy looking

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of great looking recipes. I have only made a few and they have turned out well. My copy is a galley and doesn't have an index, which I feel is essential for a good cookbook.

[Margaret]

Great recipe for vanilla chocolate chip muffins - my daughter's favorites

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting recipes. Try the banana muffins with cardamom. More attention to processes and multiple steps than most baking books, but worth the effort.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful coffee cakes, some unusual scone flavors and unwrapping the mysteries of things like Kuchen. What more can a girl ask for? (Except maybe more pictures.)

[Arun · Rating 4 out of 5]

A definite read if you love cooking

[Dorena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was overwhelmed with all the wonderful recipes I needed to write down and it was due back at the library. I will check it out again. :)

[Tammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book with recipes you won't find just anywhere

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not enough photos. I really didn't care for having to flip back and forth looking for the first ingredient in other recipes.