BENTOCAKE

I bought the collection not for the bento cakes at all, but for the conversion table 😅 I constantly bake in 16 and 18 cm tins and used to recalculate by hand every time. Here the coefficients run from 10 to 30 cm. Already used it several times — genuinely handy.

This was actually the first cake I made on my own. Chose Red Velvet because my daughter loves it. The sponge rose, the cream didn't run, the strawberry coulis worked out. Frosted it a bit crooked, of course 😂 but no complaints about the recipe itself.

For me the main plus is the explanation of what to substitute a specific product with. I don't live in Ukraine, half the usual brands simply aren't here. The PDF says what fat content, composition and texture to look for. That's genuinely useful.

I already make cakes to order, so I skimmed the section for complete beginners. But the recipes and the calculations for 1, 2 and 3 bentos were genuinely useful. When three orders land at once, I don't have to sit up at night with a calculator.

Oreo was the first one I made for sale. I picked the most straightforward flavour deliberately, to test the recipe. The client then ordered the same one a week later, only two cakes this time. For me that's the best review a recipe can get.

Bought it after the TROUBLEBABA blog article about bento size. Then read the one about cost and decided to try selling. So far I've made test Oreo and Red Velvet, colleagues cleared both.

My cream kept running when I frosted. Found the article about the causes on the TROUBLEBABA blog, then bought the PDF. Of the two frosting creams I picked the denser one, and for the first time got properly straight sides.

The PDF format really works for me. I can't stand cooking from video: hands are dirty, you have to hit pause, scroll back. Here I put the tablet on the counter, open the right page and everything's in front of me.

The price seemed high at first for 'just a PDF'. After downloading I realised it's 66 pages, not ten sheets with recipes. I use the conversion table and the products section the most.

I've followed Zhenia on Instagram for about three years. What I waited for most was Pistachio-Raspberry. Made it for my sister's birthday — the cream is very delicate, raspberry cuts the sweetness well. The only thing, my pistachio paste was a different brand, I had to hunt for the right one.

I know Zhenia from TikTok, cooked a few of her recipes before buying the PDF. First from the collection I picked Snickers. Salted caramel + chocolate cream cheese — very good. Slightly too sweet for me, next time I'll use a bit less caramel.

I follow @troublebaba on YouTube. What I really liked is that the book is specific about products, not just 'take some cream' or 'good cocoa'. I finally understand why different cocoa brands were giving me completely different results.

A friend gifted me this PDF. Honestly — I probably wouldn't have bought it myself, there are a million recipes online. But after the Oreo I changed my mind. The chocolate sponge is excellent, and the kids ate the cookie cream before I could even assemble the cake.

I've followed Zhenia since Facebook days, some really old recipes. So buying wasn't scary. Made Cherry Chocolate. That's exactly my taste — chocolate, ganache and slightly tart cherry. Not cloying at all.

Good collection, but I'd like video for each cake too. Photos and text are clear, but some assembly moments are easier for me to see once. Otherwise the PDF is very detailed, I especially liked the equipment section.

Saw Zhenia's Instagram story with Raffaello and bought it specifically because of that one. Coconut-almond sponge + the crunchy layer — superb. My husband, who doesn't even like coconut, ate half the small cake himself.

I've watched Zhenia on TikTok for ages, but mostly the quick meals. Didn't even know she's been doing cakes since 2014. Bought the collection out of curiosity. Started with Ferrero Rocher — the ganache and crunchy layer are a bomb.

Bought it for my 16-year-old daughter, she's really into baking now. She ended up making the Cinnabon almost entirely by herself. I only helped with the caramel. Now she keeps saying she'll sell bentos to her classmates :)

I've followed Yevgenia on Instagram since before all these short videos 😄 So I trust her recipes. What I liked in the book is that there are no 'by eye' ingredients. Everything in grams, temperature stated, order clear.

Pina Colada was a real hit in summer. Coconut sponge and pineapple coulis give a genuinely fresh taste. Didn't expect a bento could be that light. Though my coconut cream took a bit longer to stabilise than I'd planned.

I wouldn't say the collection is for someone who has never held a mixer. You do need to understand the terms. But if you've baked a sponge even once, the rest is easy. My Pistachio-Raspberry worked first try.

First thing I made was Snickers for my son. He said it was 'the best cake in years', and he usually criticises my experiments 😂 The salted caramel really does the work there.

Really liked Red Velvet. The mascarpone cream is far more delicate than the cream I usually made, and the strawberry coulis fits it perfectly. Now I want to try the same filling in a full-size cake.

I follow @troublebaba on both TikTok and Instagram. But I only bought the collection after I saw it includes calculations for several cakes at once. For orders that's far more convenient than separate recipes from social media.

Funny buying a book from a namesake :) Liked the collection, but I'd want a page for my own notes after each recipe. I always change something to suit myself. Of the recipes themselves I've made three so far — all work.

I didn't buy the collection for a business, I just like baking at weekends. For home use 10 flavours is more than enough. Made four already, the family now votes on which is next.

On TikTok it always looks like: one-two — cake done. In the book you can actually see how many stages there are. I liked that more, because you can plan your time properly instead of discovering at 9 pm that the cream still has to stabilise.

Baked Oreo for the kids. Thought it'd be an ordinary chocolate cake with cookies, but the Oreo cream cheese turned out excellent. Now they ask for that one specifically, though Red Velvet used to be the favourite.

Used the table from the collection to scale Pistachio-Raspberry to an 18 cm tin. Everything added up fine. Thank you for that table alone — the coefficients online are a permanent mess.

I've watched Yevgenia's Instagram for the pretty cakes for ages, though I'm not a pastry chef myself. Decided to make a bento for my husband for our anniversary. The taste came out perfect, the decoration — well, let's call it original 😂

I've been taking orders for about two years. From the collection I took Poppy-Citrus and Pina Colada, because I wanted something in the menu besides chocolate and berries. Clients respond well to unusual flavours specifically.

Very useful section on packaging. Recipes you can find in plenty of places, but what box size to take, what to put inside, how to hand it over properly to a client — nobody usually tells a beginner that.

I bought the Polish version because my daughter reads Polish better, and I was reading the Russian one. Handy that there's a language choice. Now the two of us cook from one collection.

I didn't come from social media, I came via Google. I was searching how much a bento should actually weigh, landed on a TROUBLEBABA article, then on the collection. The site is well made — you can read proper material first instead of being hit with 'buy now'.

Bought it to start selling. The most useful part turned out not to be a recipe but the equipment list. I was about to order half a basket of things I don't need. After the PDF I crossed off nearly a third.

Cherry Chocolate is love. I always pick desserts with some tartness, and here the cherry coulis balances the milk chocolate beautifully. Made it twice already, and the second time straight away for three cakes.

I watch Zhenia on YouTube together with my mum. She likes traditional cakes, I like modern ones. Raffaello pleased us both, which is rare :) Now we want to make Ferrero and compare.

I'd add a decoration section with far more examples to the collection. The basics are there, but as a beginner I'd want a straight 10–15 options for finishing. No complaints about the recipes.

Made Pina Colada for a friend who doesn't like chocolate cakes. The pineapple coulis came out very bright in flavour, the coconut doesn't drown everything else. Three people have already asked for the recipe.

Usually I buy a course, watch two lessons and forget it. The PDF is far more practical for me. I open only what I need today. In a month I've made five flavours.

My pistachio cream came out too soft on the first attempt. I wrote to @troublebaba on Instagram, then realised I'd taken the wrong paste myself. Second time it worked. So read the product recommendations carefully.

The Red Velvet from this collection was the first cake I genuinely wasn't embarrassed to photograph and post on my own Instagram. Before that my cakes tasted good but looked very homemade.

I'm 52 and I definitely am not planning to become a pastry chef :) I bought it simply because I like baking for my children and grandchildren. I was very afraid of these modern fillings, but it turned out there's nothing frightening about them.

I really liked that the recipes are already given for one, two or three cakes. When you're baking to order that genuinely saves time. Strange that not all pastry books do that.

Poppy-Citrus was the first recipe I opened and I was initially scared by the number of components. But if you break it into stages, there's nothing complicated. I especially liked the curd — bright, not 'citric acid' but a proper citrus taste.

My sister does cakes, and I'd never made anything more complex than muffins. We decided to make the same recipe at the same time and compare. Hers looks nicer, obviously, but taste-wise my Pina Colada came out no worse at all :)

For me the cost calculation inside the PDF itself was missing. TROUBLEBABA has a blog article about pricing, but I'd want that table next to the recipes. Everything else for starting sales is put together very competently.

My husband asked for Ferrero Rocher after seeing the photo on the site. Made it for his birthday. The crunchy layer stayed crunchy even the next day — that was my main worry.

I watch TROUBLEBABA on YouTube because Yevgenia explains calmly and doesn't pretend pastry is some kind of magic. The collection is the same. Made Raffaello without any exotic tools.

I've made 7 out of 10 already. My personal top right now: Cherry Chocolate, Poppy-Citrus, Pistachio-Raspberry. Snickers is too rich for me, though my husband put it in first place. So it's down to taste.

After Instagram and TikTok I expected the PDF to be just a pretty book with photographs. But in practice what I use most isn't the pictures at all — it's the conversion table, the products section and the two frosting creams. So it's more of a working cheat sheet.