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Gunhilde
Duchess Bakes a Cake
This is a lyrical, rhythmic, rhyming book of pure joy. Read to a toddler, it will sooth and enchant; to a pre-reader, it becomes a lesson in language and a memory exercise. Vivid illustrations bring the story to life. A treasure!
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First published January 1, 1955
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
December 5, 2019
One day a Duchess decided to bake a light, lovely, luscious, delectable cake. I loved this book growing up and I am guessing that both my mother and grandmother selected this book for me repeatedly when I was young because of the independent women and girl protagonists here. I decided to revisit The Duchess Bakes a Cake by Virginia Kahl when I was contemplating the banned book square for classics bingo for next year. Each year I choose a children’s book to give awareness to how narrow minded people can be.
When my kids were younger my mom tried to find this book at her library only to find out that in many places the Duchess is banned. And why? Apparently, because Duchesses do not bake cakes. They hire cooks and servants to do all their work for them and are supposed to be figure heads and not do anything worthwhile during their lives. This Duchess reads and writes and wants to surprise her family with a cake made with love. She has also taught her youngest daughter Gunhilde to think for herself rather than following the royal mold. Sadly, this rhyming book with sophisticated words for young readers was not considered traditional enough for many communities, preventing generations of kids from laughing when the Duke, Duchess, and their children eat there way through a cake that reaches clear up to the sky. You tell them, Duchess!
3.5 stars
When my kids were younger my mom tried to find this book at her library only to find out that in many places the Duchess is banned. And why? Apparently, because Duchesses do not bake cakes. They hire cooks and servants to do all their work for them and are supposed to be figure heads and not do anything worthwhile during their lives. This Duchess reads and writes and wants to surprise her family with a cake made with love. She has also taught her youngest daughter Gunhilde to think for herself rather than following the royal mold. Sadly, this rhyming book with sophisticated words for young readers was not considered traditional enough for many communities, preventing generations of kids from laughing when the Duke, Duchess, and their children eat there way through a cake that reaches clear up to the sky. You tell them, Duchess!
3.5 stars
July 13, 2016
Did anyone else love this book as a child? Anyone? Be my friend?
February 6, 2016
Very sad to have missed this for so many years. A bit derivative of Seuss - but unlike him, she does it without making up any words! Can you name any other children's book that includes squill, angelica, suet, cruet, bilberries, bogberries, burberries, dogberries, leaven, marrows, and rushes? The rhythm is glorious and the rhyme sublime, with a little refrain that fits in perfectly. I shudder to think what some young sub-editor would do if this were submitted to a publisher today.
Thanks to a hint from another reviewer here, I discovered something. In the Purple House Press reprint, one unfortunate alteration has been made to the original text and illustrations. The original reads: "So the longbowmen shot a great shower of arrows, but all that they hit was a couple of sparrows." The facing illustration includes one bird, dead (with a little X eye) in mid-air with an arrow through it. The (digitally altered?) illustration now shows two happy birds, which is not the worst thing. The problem is that the text now reads: "So the longbowmen shot a great shower of arrows, but they kept missing, even the sparrows." It breaks the rhythm, which has been so wonderfully done throughout the book. I do wish that the text had been left unchanged. In but fifty years have we really become such a culture of wimps that we can't tolerate even fictional accidental deaths of birds in historical works? Must we protect our dear little ones from the most innocuous literary roadkill through revisionism? This falls into the same category as airbrushing cigarettes out of old photos - because we wouldn't want kids to think that anyone ever smoked in the past, right?
Thanks to a hint from another reviewer here, I discovered something. In the Purple House Press reprint, one unfortunate alteration has been made to the original text and illustrations. The original reads: "So the longbowmen shot a great shower of arrows, but all that they hit was a couple of sparrows." The facing illustration includes one bird, dead (with a little X eye) in mid-air with an arrow through it. The (digitally altered?) illustration now shows two happy birds, which is not the worst thing. The problem is that the text now reads: "So the longbowmen shot a great shower of arrows, but they kept missing, even the sparrows." It breaks the rhythm, which has been so wonderfully done throughout the book. I do wish that the text had been left unchanged. In but fifty years have we really become such a culture of wimps that we can't tolerate even fictional accidental deaths of birds in historical works? Must we protect our dear little ones from the most innocuous literary roadkill through revisionism? This falls into the same category as airbrushing cigarettes out of old photos - because we wouldn't want kids to think that anyone ever smoked in the past, right?
May 18, 2022
Very enjoyable!
A somewhat silly duchess decides to make a cake (a lovely light luscious delectable cake) even though she’s never made one before. It’s a large-scale mishap that will have your littles entertained throughout!
Fun and unique illustrations from the author too.
Ages: 2 - 8
A somewhat silly duchess decides to make a cake (a lovely light luscious delectable cake) even though she’s never made one before. It’s a large-scale mishap that will have your littles entertained throughout!
Fun and unique illustrations from the author too.
Ages: 2 - 8
July 3, 2016
One day, the duchess, being bored, decides to bake a cake
A lovely light luscious delectable cake. Wouldn't that be a treat for everyone?
And she doesn't take the cook's advice. Leading to comic disaster.
Artwork is functional but doesn't work outside the story.
A lovely light luscious delectable cake. Wouldn't that be a treat for everyone?
And she doesn't take the cook's advice. Leading to comic disaster.
Artwork is functional but doesn't work outside the story.
June 5, 2016
A bored duchess decides to make "a lovely light luscious delectable cake"
The pictures are OK, but the delightfully florid rhyming text is excellent. Full of sly humor, too:
'Then Gunhilde, the youngest
she howled and she wailed,
And their every attempt to quiet her failed.
"Don't cry, dear," the Duke said.
"about your poor mother.
I'm sure, if you wish,
I can find you another"'
3.8/5 I'll have to see what else the library has of Kahl's.
The pictures are OK, but the delightfully florid rhyming text is excellent. Full of sly humor, too:
'Then Gunhilde, the youngest
she howled and she wailed,
And their every attempt to quiet her failed.
"Don't cry, dear," the Duke said.
"about your poor mother.
I'm sure, if you wish,
I can find you another"'
3.8/5 I'll have to see what else the library has of Kahl's.
November 2, 2016
Edition at DCPL bowdlerized... silly, because it would be impossible to miss the giant cake with the arrows. Still, a fun story. I recognize the daughters... I wonder if I didn't read another of Kahl's stories about them when I was young.
May 12, 2020
I loved this book as a kid and checked it out of the library many times and it was fun to revisit! It is a delightful tale that is both silly and sweet. I love the way they all got fat on that wonderful cake and saved their mother!
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June 9, 2025Hunted out this childhood favorite after almost having a Duchess Moment myself this morning, as I stood in the pre-dawn gloom mechanically preparing bread sponge, not noticing until I'd poured the whole jar of yeast out that I'd set the scale to ounces, not grams. A lovely light luscious delectable cake: it can happen to you.
May 22, 2017
This was one of my absolute favorite books growing up, and my mother gave it to me as a gift this past Mother's Day to remind me of all of the times she read it to me and then later I learned to read it to her. What a gem!
November 2, 2021
Picture book about trying something new, not succeeding perfectly and coming up with inventive solutions to problems, possibility thinking.
November 22, 2021
What a fun read! The Duchess Bakes a Cake, published in 1955, has held up to time. Children, and the elderly too, will enjoy the story of how the Duchess made “a lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake” with “light” causing some problems for the royals.
I used to read this to the children at The WV School for the Blind. They loved the rhyming and repetition of “lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake.”
I used to read this to the children at The WV School for the Blind. They loved the rhyming and repetition of “lovely, light, luscious, delectable cake.”
October 28, 2014
Back when I was a homeschooler, this book was a legend. Long out-of-print and sought after by many; like "Miss Suzy," old copies of "Duchess" were snapped up on Ebay in fierce bidding wars. As soon as it came back into print, I bought it and now I see what all the ruckus was about. It is adorable, charming, witty, and it even rhymes! An instant favorite in my home.
June 5, 2022
I had never heard of this book, nor the author, but I found a copy at a thrift shop and to my delight it has an inscription by the author! It's amazing how many signed books I've found at second hand shops. But aside from that, I love this book. It has great rhythm in the rhyming story which would make it ideal to read aloud. The simple illustrations are bold and energetic too.
June 15, 2016
A vintage delight of a book. So glad this has been reissued.
December 30, 2016
all time favorite book to read to kids just cute and adorable
October 11, 2025
Bored with her embroidery, and her other sedate occupations, the eponymous duchess in this rhyming picture book from author/illustrator Virginia Kahl decides that she will bake a cake, and the results are somewhat unexpected. Ignoring the cook's sage advice, she throws anything and everything into her cake, including six times the recommended amount of yeast, and when the cake rises and rises, the duchess finds herself lifted into the sky, far from her husband and thirteen daughters. Nothing the duke and his men, and the king and his men do, brings the duchess down, until youngest daughter Gunhilde suggests the obvious: eating away at the cake, until the duchess is brought down to earth...
Published in 1955, The Duchess Bakes a Cake was the second of Kahl's numerous picture books, following upon her 1954 debut, Away Went Wolfgang! . Like that earlier book, and many of her subsequent ones, it was based on her time in Austria, working as a librarian for the U.S. Army during the post-World War II period. The rear dust-jacket blurb here mentions that she "lives in a country of cottages and castles. From Salzburg she sends to America the gayest picture books," and her author photograph shows her in her Army uniform. It is the second title I have read from Kahl, following on her 1957 The Habits of Rabbits , which I read first because I mistakenly thought it was the first book about little Gunhilde, her twelve sisters, ducal parents, and sovereign king. As it happens, this was the first book featuring Gunhilde and her central European-inspired world, with its zany misadventures, amusing stories told in wonderfully rhythmic rhyme, and fun illustrations done in ink and bright red and green color accents. Much as with The Habits of Rabbits , I thought it was an entertaining blend of fairy-tale elements and madcap humor. Recommended to picture book readers who enjoy rhyming stories, quirky fairy-tales, and vintage artwork.
Note: Apparently Purple House Publishing reprinted this in 2002, and changed the illustration and text, in the scene in which the king's men accidentally kill a sparrow. I read the original version however, and didn't encounter this bowdlerization.
Published in 1955, The Duchess Bakes a Cake was the second of Kahl's numerous picture books, following upon her 1954 debut, Away Went Wolfgang! . Like that earlier book, and many of her subsequent ones, it was based on her time in Austria, working as a librarian for the U.S. Army during the post-World War II period. The rear dust-jacket blurb here mentions that she "lives in a country of cottages and castles. From Salzburg she sends to America the gayest picture books," and her author photograph shows her in her Army uniform. It is the second title I have read from Kahl, following on her 1957 The Habits of Rabbits , which I read first because I mistakenly thought it was the first book about little Gunhilde, her twelve sisters, ducal parents, and sovereign king. As it happens, this was the first book featuring Gunhilde and her central European-inspired world, with its zany misadventures, amusing stories told in wonderfully rhythmic rhyme, and fun illustrations done in ink and bright red and green color accents. Much as with The Habits of Rabbits , I thought it was an entertaining blend of fairy-tale elements and madcap humor. Recommended to picture book readers who enjoy rhyming stories, quirky fairy-tales, and vintage artwork.
Note: Apparently Purple House Publishing reprinted this in 2002, and changed the illustration and text, in the scene in which the king's men accidentally kill a sparrow. I read the original version however, and didn't encounter this bowdlerization.
August 8, 2022
With her family out doing things, the Duchess grows bored with her usual upper crust pursuits, tells her cook to take the day off, and decides to make a lovely light luscious delectable cake. Yes, all by herself. Which obviously results in all sorts of amusing mayhem.
As this was first published in 1955, there are a couple old-fashioned ideas here about how the men should be doing the ruling, hunting, and fighting; whereas the women are responsible for child-rearing, embroidery, and reading. The gender stereotypes are pretty mild though, and didn't bother me, especially in the context of a silly old-timey story about a duchess taking a mental health day.
What I love about this book is... well, everything! How is Virginia Kahl not better known today?! Her words flow and tumble most beautifully, conjuring up a lively story that doesn't talk down to children, and is a joy to read out loud. There's sweetness, suspense, and plenty of whimsy; but even though the story is quite fantastic, things never devolve into outright ridiculousness. With timeless minimalism (simple lines; a sparse yet elegant three-color scheme) Kahl perfectly captured her characters' body language and facial expressions. The discombobulated ducal household looking down on bleating little Gunhilde is frame-worthy, and the group portrait at the end of the book utterly funny and adorable.
I would group Virginia Kahl with classic children's authors like Dr Seuss and Margaret Wise Brown. People who didn't just write a story, but who used language as a precision tool, creating worlds that have delighted children for generations, and with any luck will continue to do so.
As this was first published in 1955, there are a couple old-fashioned ideas here about how the men should be doing the ruling, hunting, and fighting; whereas the women are responsible for child-rearing, embroidery, and reading. The gender stereotypes are pretty mild though, and didn't bother me, especially in the context of a silly old-timey story about a duchess taking a mental health day.
What I love about this book is... well, everything! How is Virginia Kahl not better known today?! Her words flow and tumble most beautifully, conjuring up a lively story that doesn't talk down to children, and is a joy to read out loud. There's sweetness, suspense, and plenty of whimsy; but even though the story is quite fantastic, things never devolve into outright ridiculousness. With timeless minimalism (simple lines; a sparse yet elegant three-color scheme) Kahl perfectly captured her characters' body language and facial expressions. The discombobulated ducal household looking down on bleating little Gunhilde is frame-worthy, and the group portrait at the end of the book utterly funny and adorable.
I would group Virginia Kahl with classic children's authors like Dr Seuss and Margaret Wise Brown. People who didn't just write a story, but who used language as a precision tool, creating worlds that have delighted children for generations, and with any luck will continue to do so.
May 15, 2023
This story is told with playful rhymes and the illustrations are simple and adorable. The story is about a duchess who gets bored and decides to bake a "lovely light luscious delectable cake" for her family. She is not experienced in baking and she refuses to listen to advice from the cook, so she ends up getting in trouble. The cake keeps rising and rising, no matter what the duchess does to stop it, and she ends up on top of it. Her family is distraught and my favorite line from the duke is "I fear an improper proportion of leaven Is taking my dear Duchess right up to Heaven." People unsuccessfully try to get her down, and eventually the king and queen and the family of the duchess decide to eat from their end while the duchess eats from her end and she is rescued. I think many readers will love this delightfully absurd story and can learn from the duchess to heed advice from people who know what they're doing when you don't. Additionally, this book contains many advanced words that will likely be new to readers and can be used to expand their vocabularies.
June 21, 2018
Just in case you are wondering why I read all these children's picture books, it's because I have grandchildren, and I give them books. So I'm always in search of good books to give them. I have a list of recommendations from various sources, and this book was on it. *rolls eyes* It's an older book, and just, well, dated. It's part of a series, none of which I intend to seek out. I'm sure there are folks that loved this book, but it didn't hit the sweet spot for me.
January 17, 2026
Honestly, I was kinda on the edge of my seat the whole time. I gave it a 3 because there were some parts where I didn’t agree with what was happening (throwing rocks at the duchess or the duke saying they’ll get another mother for their daughter…like how dare he give up so easily on the duchess?), but I loved the ending. The fact that the baby solved the problem was definitely a plot twist. And, I’m happy that the duchess’ cake was delicious!
I would reread :)
I would reread :)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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September 9, 2019The story is about a dutchess who is bored. So she decides to bake a cake except she doesn't follow instructions. So after attempting to make a cake, the cake just kept rising and rising until she was almost up in heaven. No matter what no one could get her down. Until everyone decided they had to eat the cake to get her down. (Picture Book.)
April 23, 2024
I mostly dug the illustrations of this, which reminded me of a deck of old Bicycle cards. The Duchess was endearing, if misguided, and I enjoyed the traditions I felt springing up from her misdeeds and antics. This will be a lot of fun to reenact with my son when he's old enough to not try to climb into the oven!
March 20, 2019
A cute and funny rhyming story that had us giggling.
Note in case of small and sensitive children: There is a part where a sparrow is impaled by an arrow. The cartoon-style drawing shows this, complete with Xs for eyes.
Note in case of small and sensitive children: There is a part where a sparrow is impaled by an arrow. The cartoon-style drawing shows this, complete with Xs for eyes.
June 27, 2017
The simple art and limited color scheme work well, the story is goofy and fun, and the rhyming and rhythm are excellent.
April 25, 2019
This book was quite humorous. I also like how the community worked together.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 25, 2019
great story
but illustrations are lacking
lends itself well to discussion about printing before today
but illustrations are lacking
lends itself well to discussion about printing before today
September 8, 2019
What a fun book to read out loud! It says in the blurb about the author that there are more books about this funny family, so I'll be looking into those.
December 30, 2019
This is another Courage pick...I find this book delightful. The duchess decides to bake a cake and the chaos that ensues is so much fun to read!
February 28, 2021
Cute old classic.
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