Sugarcraft expert Frances McNaughton has designed twenty wonderful sugar animals that you will want to make using simple techniques and readily available ingredients.

McNaughton shows how to make beautiful, natural-looking sugar animals with realistic coloring, attitudes and expressions.

A delightful sample from Character Cake Toppers, including a Mucky Pup; Daisy’s Birthday; First-Class Meercat; Knit One, Purr One; and Panda Playtime. Learn how to make amazing fondant cake topper designs, with five fun ideas for sugar characters, bases and accessories. Whether it’s a playful mummy panda with her mischievous cubs, or a kitten with a comfy cushion and a ball of yarn to play with, each cake topper design has three unique features for you to make—use these individually or mix and match from different designs to create your own unique cake toppers! Basic cake decorating techniques are explained with clear illustrated step-by-step instructions, so everyone can make fun cake toppers for birthdays, weddings and any occasion! From Maisie Parrish, author of the bestselling Fun & Original series! Sugar Animal Cake Toppers is excerpted from Maisie Parrish’s fantastic Character Cake Toppers, with over sixty-five fun ideas for sugar characters, bases and accessories.

Not a cookbook, but a encyclopedia collection of entries on all things sweet. The articles explore the ways in which our taste for sweetness have shaped-- and been shaped by-- history. In addition, you'll discover the origins of mud pie; who the Sara Lee company was named after; why Walker Smith, Jr. is better known as "Sugar Ray Robinson"; and how lyricists have immortalized sweets from "Blueberry Hill" to "Tutti Fruiti".

This dramatic history of an ingredient that changed the world “offers up a number of fascinating stories” (The New York Times Book Review). Sugar explores the history behind the sweetness, revealing, among other stories, how powerful American interests deposed Queen Lili’uokalani of Hawaii; how Hitler tried to ensure a steady supply of beet sugar when enemies threatened to cut off Germany’s supply of overseas cane sugar; and how South Africa established a domestic ethanol industry in the wake of anti-apartheid sugar embargos. The book follows the role of sugar in world events and in individual lives up to the present day, showing how it made eating on the run socially acceptable and played an integral role in today’s fast food culture and obesity epidemic. Impressively researched and commandingly written, Sugar will forever change perceptions of this tempting treat. “A highly readable and comprehensive study of a remarkable product.” —The Independent “Epic in ambition and briskly written.” —The Wall Street Journal “Readers will never again be able to casually sweeten tea or eat sweets without considering the long and fascinating history of sugar.” —Booklist