The key difference I noticed between the pastries we sell in America
and the ones they sell in France is homogeneity. The most "assembly"
involved in a pastry you'd pay $1.50+ for at any bakery or cafe is
probably in a cinnamon roll or a danish (smear & roll or roll, hollow,
& glop). Even pie comes out of the oven ready to go. I'm not sure that
really counts compared to something like this
(http://www.frenchpatisserie.com/gate...s/gcaracas.jpg) or even
this (http://www.frenchpatisserie.com/gate...os/gflambe.jpg), for
a less fancy exterior.

I searched for cookbooks while I was abroad (reading French is not a
stumbling-block, fortunately), but all the cheaper cookbooks were
geared to a home audience. "Cake moms," as they call them, in France
don't make any less homogenous of pastries than we do (cookies, flans,
etc.)

I found two $50 books that explained how to assemble various pastries,
but they required tons of equipment, and, even worse, a
professional-size kitchen with incredible amounts of clear surface
space.

Yes, I know some of these pastries
(http://www.saraphina.com/moseyfrwest...0treasures.JPG)
would probably be right in the difficulty & resources range I'm
looking for...but frankly, they're not my cup of tea. I don't like
hard pastries & for some reason, none of those look any more
appetizing than their equivalents with less presentation.

So...are there any resources out there for teaching beginners the art
of assembled-after-cooking pastries? I tried once this summer to make
a circular base, circular middle layer, and strip of spongey cake (to
wrap as a side in a cylinder), but once I got them into my hollow
cylinder of metal, I couldn't figure out what was supposed to make the
side stick to the base once I took that mold off! So I'm looking for
books that don't assume you already know how to make the side stay
with the base, etc. and don't assume you have a kitchen as big as the
house I lived in. I am, however, willing to spend a total of $50-100
on proper molds, brushes, etc.

I think the $50 books focused more on how to make each kind of
squiggly, crosshatch, etc. designs wrapped around the outside or laid
on the top of various cakes. I'm not that far yet. I'd be happy with
learning how to properly assemble these things. I'm a little tired of
"layers" and "assembly" meaning that I spread buttercream or jelly
between pan-cake layers.