The Duchess Bakes a Cake

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 show more 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. show less

This quaint rhyming story seems like a classic, but I’ve never seen or heard of it before! The Duke, the Duchess, their thirteen daughters, and king all have their ways that spend their time, but when the Duchess grows tired of reading and writing she decides to bake a cake — a lovely light luscious delectable cake. Unfortunately, it soon becomes clear the Duchess doesn’t really know how to make a cake. She uses so much yeast that the cakes rises right up to Heaven and carries her with it! This story is told with a beautiful rhythm and a rich vocabulary that’s almost a tongue twister. The illustrations have clean lines and simple colors and are humorously expressive.

Forgotten classic of a cake that rises so much it lifts the titular duchess up into the sky. Luckily her youngest daughter is a bit of a greedy pig, and so has the idea to eat her mother back down again and all is well. Even the cake tastes good, though it's made with dill.

Artwork isn't quite to my style, and it's fairly monochromatic, but the words more than make up for it.

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.

The rhyming is wonderful. I hate clunky rhymes and these are super.

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.

46 months - Great rhyming text and unique story. A fun read! The illustrations are simple with a simple color pallet of an older book.