Anyone who bakes cakes is no stranger to Rose Levy Beranbaum.
She really is the doyen of this art. Only one problem, the recipes use American Flour, and the UK flour just does NOT produce the same results. Believe me when I say I have researched this and researched this for HOURS! It has something to do with the protein contents and the fact that american flour is bleached and heat treated. This is prohibited in the UK, and I believe that only some bakeries have access to this kind of flour? It is definitely not available to the general public for domestic use. So much so, that you are not allowed to bring american flour into the UK! So to make this review more palatable for the person reading it, I can say the following: If you want to try any of these recipes, then PLEASE go to a Blog on 'KATE FLOUR'. The article is self explanatory. Do not try to make any of these cakes using our local flour, you will end up with a stodgy heavy imitation of the real thing. A total waste of exensive ingredients.
I beleive that Rose has found that this is indeed a problem over here, and has in fact come to the UK, and spent many hours researching a way for her UK readers to use her recipes. Go to her blog and read up on the matter before you consider to buy this book.
I do know that you can buy the UK version of this book that uses our Plain and SF flours, where Rose states that you can get similar results to the cakes using american flour.
Having said that, I have made and used the Kate flour and the results were superb, but it is a time consuming way around things, and I definitely would NOT recommend this book for a novice baker, it will put you off baking cakes for life. There are far more suitable books out there for you to try.
Good Luck!!