I really like cupcakes and cakes and all things sugar. Very excited to try out more of these recipes.
Very nice photos and easy to follow.
I think this would be a cool gift as well!

The Mermaid Cookbook is a fun and colorful cookbook for anyone who wishes they could live under the sea. There is a wide range of recipes, from traditional cupcakes and cakes, to cookies, drinks, and other desserts. Some of them look best suited to a fun party perhaps for a child, while others, like the Mermaid's Purse Mirror Glaze Cake and the Jam Clams are quite elegant. Recipe difficulty is noted at the top of each recipe, and pictures of each recipe are featured, as well as some pictures showing techniques. While I was reading it, I felt very eager to go out and get the supplies to make some of the treats. A fun cookbook that offers more than just a specialized set of recipes.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Review to come in April.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I just adore mermaids, so I was very eager to try out a cooking book full of Mermaid stuff. Sadly, I am a bit disappointed.

Quite a few things didn’t have to do with mermaids, or were just called mermaid, but seeing the mermaid wasn’t so easy. I am guessing some just had the colour scheme going on to show it was mermaid-esque. There were several more under the sea stuff (sharks/coral/more coral/stars), that sure, would fit with the mermaid theme, but I would rather have had the book called Under The Sea then. I know harsh, but I recently read a book about Unicorn food, and that was totally unicorn-esque. I was expecting this one to also be 100% about mermaids. Not every other creature or thing in the sea.

Still, I had fun reading the book, and my tummy is definitely rumbling now. I so need something yummy now.

I did find a few mermaid things that I do want to try out one day. Like the first drink of the drink chapter, the mermaid cheesecake was just beautiful, and I wonder if I can make it, and then there dive into the ocean cupcakes,

Non-mermaid things would be the Jam Clams, Oyster cookies, Stormy Sea Brownies.

Plus, sorry have to be honest here, some things just didn’t look that nice. The octopus looked more like a jellyfish, the fish doughnut looked more like a Sesame Street character.
And come on, Octopus Arm Churros? Those were just normal Churros.

I did like that there was so much variety in how hard the recipes were, some seemed impossible but some seemed very easy. Clear what you need, and also clear info on how to make things. I also liked the little introduction at each recipe. I am however not sure if most people would be able to make some of the things in this book, as I said, some do seem a bit too impossible. I can see some of these ending up to look like the end results of contestants in Nailed It. 😛

I do want to compliment the author on using normal/standard ingredients, not sure how to word it correctly in English. So many cookbooks go for healthy and OMG you can’t use milk or sugar or flour because they are bad, and sure, eating cake every day is not the best idea, but I don’t see what is wrong with a sugarbomb of a cake once in while.

But there is one more thing that I found a shame, and that is finding out that several of these photographs are from Shutterstock…. Yep, that is right, several of these aren’t even her works? Feels kind of like cheating, and I would rather have seen what she made.

In overall, I am still happy I read this book, it was fun, and I am hungry now.

First...this is the cutest recipe book ever! Who doesn't love mermaids? The book is great for young children as well. It begins with a short introduction and a "What's Your Mermaid Name?" page. This really gets the attention of young readers, engaging them before the recipes even began.

The recipes are easy to follow and all look delicious! The images that go along with them are bright and appetizing. If you know someone who loves mermaids and baking, this is a great gift. It makes you want to grab your apron, preheat the oven, and dive right in!

With the re-release of the Little Mermaid, mermaids along with unicorns are what every little girl wants. I've seen a lot of books that will help parents make the perfect unicorn party but none on mermaids until this particular book. Great ideas and pictures included.

Make a splash and be the mermaid you always wanted to be with this beautiful, magical cookbook. Think Mermania meets Hello Kitty Cupcake!

The mysteries of the deep come to light in this delightful cookbook packed with pearls and sparkles. From a Sandcastle Cake and Turtle Doughnuts to Jam Clams and Treasure Trifle, fulfill all your dreams of becoming a mermaid. Or at least eating like one. Color photographs are paired with easy-to-follow recipes. Besides various desserts (cupcakes, celebration cakes, cookies, and bars and bites), the cookbook also includes party food (i.e. Crispy Starfish Churros), breakfast (i.e. Mermaid Toast), and drinks (i.e. Seaplendid Smoothie) sections. Each recipe also shows estimated time to make and difficulty rating.

What's not to love about this cookbook?! It's so colorful and has great recipes in it. Any child or adult would love this book because it has step by step instructions and tells you the level of difficulty each item. The pictures were great and made me want to start baking right away! I can't wait to own this book and make everything in it.

Thank you #NetGalley for the ARC of #TheMermaidCookbook
Pub Date: 30 Apr 2019

Thank you Net Galley, Alix Carey, and Andrews McMeel Publishing for allowing me to get a sneak peek and review this amazing children's cookbook! Wonderful theming, full-color photos for every recipe and easy to follow detailed instructions for all, make this cookbook a true winner. The glossary of cooking terms and cooking essentials is clear, concise and will help even the most serious cook in the kitchen. From easy to complicated, every recipe has step by step instructions to make desserts, snacks, and yummy treats. As a semi-successful baker, it is nice to see even complicated baked good recipes in a follow along format. I also appreciate the caution taken to remind young readers to seek adult help. I plan on trying a few of these snacks myself! Thank you again.

This review is brought to you by Pearl Tide Dancer™ who will be making seaweed coconut bars as soon as possible

I am in love with themed cookbooks and this is one of the better ones! Unicorns and mermaids are of course very trendy right now (with my daughters on team unicorn, and me on team mermaid) and this book has dozens and dozens of recipes that girls of ALL ages will love. I found the recipes very straightforward and feel like I could make most of these items with relative ease. A few do require some speciality baking items for the more advanced cooks, but I found plenty of recipes that could be done with grocery store bakery ingredients and a bit of food coloring. If you've got a girl (or yourself!) planning a mermaid themed birthday party...get this book!

The Mermaid Cookbook is super cute and has loads of awesome recipes ranging from easy to difficult. The cookbook starts off with a table of contents that breaks down the recipes into sections such as cakes, breakfast, cookies, etcetera. It also includes a page to discover your mermaid name, which I thought was a fun and whimsical touch. I couldn't help but share the beautiful images and cool ideas with my daughter. She loved them all and was thinking maybe we should give her a mermaid party now lol. One of our favorites was the Turtle waffles. So stinking cute! I also enjoyed some of the practical additions to the cookbook, such as the kitchen essentials listed in the beginning and the measurement conversion in the back of the book.

This cookbook was adorable. The pictures were beautiful and the directions organized and clear. I loved the breakfast ideas. Will try some of these in the winter when I am missing the beach. Thank you to Netgalley for my copy.

The Mermaid Cookbook is sweet, cute, and colourful. Initially while I was flipping through the recipes, I found my mouth watering – so many of these recipes just look sooo good!

I will admit I do have a weakness for cute food, and The Mermaid Cookbook delivers. The recipes included are ones that try to emulate and encapsulate mermaids – so except a lot of greens, blues, and shells. The Mermaid Cookbook is broken up into nine main categories which feature unique recipes. The sections are:

What is Your Mermaid Name? (I am a proud ‘Moonshine Tide Dancer’)
Cupcakes
Celebration Cakes
Cookies
Bars and Bites
Party Food
Breakfast
Desserts and
Drinks.
Don’t be turned off by the cover and abundance of sweets, the book does include healthy mermaid friendly options 😉 Also the recipes aren’t just for special occasions, you can spruce up your breakfast and start the day with some mermaid magic.

THE COOKBOOK ITSELF:
Ease of Use: The recipes are set out in an easy to read layout and do let you know if you need special equipment at the start of the recipes. Each recipes also has it’s own picture, so you can see the whole mermaid effect.

Formatting:

Recipes: The recipes are set out in an easy to read manner and stay on theme by featuring a little blurb about the mermaid-ness of the food. Every recipe that I tried and had an in-depth look at, was really user friendly and easy to follow.

The ingredients are listed in order of usage and the following instructions are very clear and concise on what is needed to be done.

Book: After the introduction, the book includes a ‘What is Your Mermaid Name’ page, which I thought was really cute and engaging for any kids looking through or cooking from the book.

The recipes are separated into the types of food, with the desserts being separated into cupcakes, cakes, cookies, and it’s own section desserts. The recipes included in the ‘dessert’ section feature ones such a mousse, popsicles, and fruit tarts, so ones that are different from the other typical dessert foods featured in the book.

The back of the book also a ‘Conversions and Equivalent’ section, which is always appreciated when cookbooks are published in the United States of America.

Recommendations: I would really recommend this to people who want to cook with or for children (adults who are children at heart also count). The Mermaid Cookbook is not only full of amazing recipes but they look fabulous! I cannot wait to make the ‘Stormy Sea Brownies’ (pg. 64) and ‘Under the Sea Popsicles’ (pg. 119).

Also if you’re thinking about throwing a mermaid themed party – look now further, The Mermaid Cookbook is an excellent resource! Looking at all the fun recipes had me wanting to throw a mermaid theme party 🧜‍♀️

Please note, I received a copy of The Mermaid Cookbook from NetGalley.

From the mind of Sassy Whisper Wave (YES, this cookbook helps you pick out your own mermaid name!!!!) This cookbook is pretty adorable!

The cover and title are what got me and then once you open it... it’s just an seaworthy explosion!

The recipes look easy to follow and they range from easy to difficult. I also love all of the photos that accompany each recipe because it gives you a look at what you *hope* yours will turn out looking just like 😂. I’m most excited to try the Mermaid Purse Mirror Glaze Cake, Jam Clams, and the Mermaid Kisses.

If you’ve got a child obsessed with the sea and/or mermaids, I’d say check it out!

Fantastic book. Full of wonderful recipes and lots of pictures which makes all the difference to me. Little girls will love this one

I went into reading this book knowing that it probably wouldn't work for our family, but hoping that it would. We are a gluten free family and I tend towards healthy, natural recipes. That said, there was a wonderful unicorn themed cookbook that I read last year that used natural ingredients to make all kinds of magical looking, colorful treats and it was gluten free and even too healthy for my tastes, so I had hopes. Also, I'm pretty good at adapting recipes so I figured I could convert some recipes to GF if there were really cute ideas or basic recipes that were adaptable. That wasn't really the case.

The recipes in this book are very high in sugar, dairy, white flour and artificial food coloring. There is heavy use of gel food coloring, edible glitter and such. I enjoy sweets but I actually got a stomach ache about halfway through the book just because the desserts looked so sweet and artificial.

I'm also not sure who the intended audience is. It's written as if it's a book for children, with a little fact before each recipe. That said, the decorating techniques are very sophisticated and I think even adults would have a very hard time not ending up looking like they'd made a bunch of Pinterest fails. The recipes are all made from scratch (which I appreciate as I cook from scratch too) but quite complicated. Are kids really expected to make homemade risen doughnuts, fry them themselves, glaze them, and then decorate them with edible eyeballs???? There are warnings there as if it's written for children to do it, but that's not exactly an easy feat for most kids. That's not to say I don't wholeheartedly agree that we shouldn't teach children to bake from scratch, use cake frosting techniques and so on, but I do wish they were a little more basic and a little healthier.

There are color photographs for nearly every recipe, but I noticed at the end that they credited Shutterstock for many of them, including the step-by-step photos of cakes and other elaborate treats. This was a little disheartening, because the author didn't actually make the gorgeous creations herself and apparently just gave her own instructions on how to make something that would look like photos she found.

Adults who want to learn to do sophisticated cake decorating may enjoy this book, since it does show some cake decorating techniques. Those who really like over-the-top bright desserts and want to play a really fancy mermaid themed birthday party or something like that would probably enjoy all the ideas, too. There are occasional healthy treats sprinkled in the book too, but I'm guessing any child who looked through the book would pass those up and ask for the sugar-laden ones.

There are some fun ideas in here. I loved the looks of the sand castle cake that was covered with crumbled graham crackers to make it look like sand. It was decorated with homemade fondant pinwheels but I could see just using the basic idea and putting regular pinwheels in it to make a fun looking sand castle cake. There were a few other recipes that looked fun, but none that I really wanted to bother to make myself with my kids. You may want to check it out from the library and see if it's a good fit for you.

I read a temporary digital ARC of this book for the purpose of review.

Very creative and adorable creations! I would recommend this to anyone with kids at home who love mermaids and baking (or if you are planning a mermaid themed birthday party). I wish there were more pictures of the steps and some of them sound complicated.

Super cute mermaid idea book! This is so popular and I never thought of many of the ideas found in this book! Very creative for the mermaid crazed obsessed kid! 🧜🏻‍♀️