By Alan Dunn - Sugar Flower Skills: The Cake Decorator's Step-by-Step Guide to Making Exquisite Life-like Flowers Hardcover – 17 July 2013

I have to just stop and sing the praises of this fabulous book. Alan Dunn is a sugar flower tutor and this book shows why he is so highly respected. Clear instruction, step by step, with photos to show how to achieve each step. What has surprised me is this book does not lead to your having to spend a fortune on equipment which you may only ever use once, or now and again. Alan Dunn explains how to make your own moulds, again step by step. He has templates in the back of this book for most of the plants covered and explains how to make your own templates. It is such a practical, sensible approach. I will be looking for this man's books from now. I would have to say it isn't necessarily a book for absolute beginners, but it doesn't expect expertise, either. I am so pleased I bought this book and it won't be collecting dust on the bookshelf!

I have a number of Alan Dunn books but this is my favourite. I like the format, a bit squatter than usual, but more importantly its just about making flowers rather than repeating the basics which seem to appear in every book you ever buy on cake decorating. So often you buy one of these books (I'm not just talking about those written by AD) to find half of it is taken up with the basic techniques of how to ice the cake and stack it etc. This book however, just concentrates on how to make a wide variety of flowers, making it very good value for your money. For an amateur like myself its all thats needed, but given the quality of what Alan produces, I can't imagine any professional wanting to be without it. The instructions are really good and the photographs easy to follow.

This, the latest book to be released from Alan Dunn is, in my opinion, worth every penny!Every step is illustrated with step by step pictures of how things should look (!) at every stage of the process.The flowers covered are gardenia, rose, peony,hibiscus,wild pansy, babies' bonnet, flamingo flower, orchid,iris,sweet pea, thistle,opium poppy, Chinese lanterns, bluegrass blossom, Chinese jasmine, anemone, lily of the valley , Easter lily, passion flower, bluebells, ginger lily, nasturtium, lisianthus, pelargonium and clown orchid. ( I'd want to know if I was thinking about buying another book on flowers!)If you make sugar flowers you would not regret the purchase of this book!

I keep going back to this Book everytime...if Alan does books like these with new flower it's the modern way of selling flower book to new generation of artists...I love this style of instructions no matter what level..The only negative in the more complicated parts should be shown in few angles...but that's just my opinion other than that great buy

What a great little book. Full of information and advice to make sugar flowers. Alan is the master and I can only hope to learn what he knows. Really useful to anyone who makes or wants to make sugar flowers

I was very impressed with this book. I have quite a lot of experience with polymer clay, but now wish to decorate my cousin's wedding cake and felt I needed some guidance before attempting it. This book gives detailed illustrated instructions that would be suitable for the beginner or the more experienced.

Just love most of his books; they make you feel like sculpting all those beautiful floral displays - in my case in cold porcelain. The explanations are quite clear and detailed. And, considering the price of most cutters, it is quite pleasant to find some money-saving templates at the end of the book!

This is the best book yet especially for beginners. As a teacher of sugar craft I am always looking for good reference books, and this one has lots of information not found in other publications. The lay out is far better than any of his other books, more step by step pictures make it easy to follow. GREAT BOOK. Terry, Bradford College.