Sunday, April 15, 2012

Daniel Herbert's Best Ever Baking Recipes


OK - I love baking.

I love decorating as well, but what good is a pretty looking cake if the taste lets you down.

So it makes sense that I love baking cook books. Y'know the type that promises to deliver simple yet delicious tried and tested recipes, some of them handed down through the generations.

When I received David Herbert's Best-Ever Baking Recipes, which by the way has a super temptingly looking chocolate cake on the cover, I looked forward to flicking through the pages to see if there was anything I would like to try.

and I wasn't disappointed. With over 200 recipes included and chapters on Butter Cakes and Sponges, Cakes with Baked-on Toppings, Chocolate Cakes and Brownies, Slices, Biscuits and Cookies and Tarts and Cheesecakes to name a few the book ended up with quite a few post it notes stuck out the side ear marked for future baking endeavors.

I'm thinking for starters in might be the Raspberry and Coconut Macaroon Cake, with a baked topping based on the old fashioned coconut macaroons that I loved as a child. Or perhaps the Orange and Chocolate Chip Pound Cake or maybe the All in One Coffee and Walnut Cake, and that's without even getting past the first couple of chapters.Oh and I must mention I noticed quite a few gluten free options as well.

There are lots of colour pictures with a kind of retro feel and a relaxed styling approach that makes the end product look within the reach of regular home bakers everywhere.

David Herbert's Best-Ever Baking Recipes is available now at most book stores, it is published by Penguin Australia.

Best-ever Baking Recipes

I received a copy of Best Ever Baking Recipes for the purpose of this review

7 comments:

  1. I agree, the taste is so important too! :) And this reminds me of a coffee walnut cake I saw Nigella make. It sounded fantastic! :)

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  2. This book sounds fantastic!! I too love baking cookbooks as well as every other type too :)
    Coffee & Walnut combinations are always a firm favourite of mine!

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  3. Turns out that the recipe you featured is exactly the one that caught my attention in your intro! This book looks like a great resource. :-)

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  4. real good recipe it has to have a good taste
    text for free at
    http://textme4free.com/

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  5. Wow! Now THAT is a Chocolate Cake!

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  6. This is, indeed, a very good baking book. It achieves the virtually impossible in that it has loads of stuff for the novice baker, yet still has many useful things to say to those with more experience. The key to it all of course, is that the recipes seem to work! This might sound obvious, but, sadly, it isn't. I have probably consigned $300 worth of baking books to the recycling bin because of sloppy writing and inadequate testing. What I particularly like about this book is that each section has a page of very useful tips pertinent to the recipes that follow. Also, and I know you'll think this is the Pom in me, I can't stand volumetric measurements (cups etc.). Actually, I don't use American cookbooks for the same reason and it's because reproduceable baking demands the precise measurement that only weighing can give you. David Herbert's book thankfully gives ingredients by weight. This is a welcome surprise since this Australian Penguin book is not available in Europe or the USA. Why, I will never understand - there is a ready market for it and Herbert is based in London!

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