Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Those who love comfort food have cause to be grateful for Nigella Lawson's book How to Be a Domestic Goddess. Cause, too, perhaps, to wonder that she isn't the size of a house, since baked comfort foods typically encompass large quantities of butter, cream, eggs, sugar, chocolate, nuts, cream cheese and all the other foodstuffs to which with dreary inevitability attaches the deadly word "sinful". But in Nigella Lawson's hands these dangerous, even feared, substances are transmuted alchemically into the healing balms of the goddess, who presides (perhaps a little ironically) over a harmonious kitchen realm.

The recipes are suitably divine, covering cakes, biscuits, pies, puddings, breads, with special sections on cooking for (and by) children and Christmas. Most are sweet, though there is a choice selection of savoury pies and puddings--Pizza Rustica, Steak and Kidney Pudding, Cornish Pasties. The sweet things range from the airy elegance of Pistachio Macaroons, through the luscious spiciness of Norwegian Cinnamon Buns, to the trailer-trashiness of Coca-Cola Cake.

Nigella Lawson's poise never falters, whether she is discussing serving mulled wine with mince pies ("Don't fight it") or a strange passion-fruit liqueur required for one of her trifles ("the most divinely camp liqueur you could ever come across"). She plays a kind of game with her readers, insisting constantly on her greed, but really invoking our own. What a fascinating book: hints of obsessiveness revealed behind the beautifully projected personality of a laid-back voluptuary.--Robin DavidsonThis is a book about baking, but not a Baking Book. The trouble with much modern cooking is not that the food it produces is not good, but that the mood it induces in the cook is one of skin-of-the-teeth efficiency, all briskness and little pleasure. Some

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later than the cooking time specified; the polenta base for a fruit tart which was supposed to feed 6 came out so small that it barely fed me and my partner and I was left with a tin of cherries that would not fit on the base; the peanut butter biscuits which were said to be heavenly were ordinary and I got bored of having to eat them after 2 days; the banana muffins didn't rise at all; the lemon cake had to sit in the oven 35 minutes extra before it cooked inside while the outside was hard and brittle. All these failures convince me that most of the recipes have not been tested prior to being published. I use the Leith's baking bible regularly and everything always turns out fine, just as it should - nothing burns or needs to be baked for an extra half an hour or sinks after being taken out the oven.

Two stars only because of the lemon and rspberry muffins which were rather nice (although of course also flat and did not rise at all...and yes, I have checked the validity of my baking powder!) Overall, a book with wonderful potential and beautiful photos - if only someone tried the recipes and modified them so that they actually work.

Truly Comforting, 25 Nov 2007
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful, 03 Aug 2007
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.


Enjoyable to read but..., 29 Jun 2007
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later than the cooking time specified; the polenta base for a fruit tart which was supposed to feed 6 came out so small that it barely fed me and my partner and I was left with a tin of cherries that would not fit on the base; the peanut butter biscuits which were said to be heavenly were ordinary and I got bored of having to eat them after 2 days; the banana muffins didn't rise at all; the lemon cake had to sit in the oven 35 minutes extra before it cooked inside while the outside was hard and brittle. All these failures convince me that most of the recipes have not been tested prior to being published. I use the Leith's baking bible regularly and everything always turns out fine, just as it should - nothing burns or needs to be baked for an extra half an hour or sinks after being taken out the oven.

Two stars only because of the lemon and rspberry muffins which were rather nice (although of course also flat and did not rise at all...and yes, I have checked the validity of my baking powder!) Overall, a book with wonderful potential and beautiful photos - if only someone tried the recipes and modified them so that they actually work.

Truly Comforting, 25 Nov 2007
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful, 03 Aug 2007
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.


Enjoyable to read but..., 29 Jun 2007
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

You can stop buying shop bread now!, 04 Aug 2008
My husband bought me this book for Christmas and I haven't looked back. The recipes are great and exclude the sugar and skimmed milk powder nonsense that came with the recipe book for my machine. Every loaf has come out perfectly (I have a Panasonic SD253) - I have even braved the free-form ones using the dough programme and had great results (The Italian loaf is to die for). On the rare occasions we buy bread now, we notice just how sweet it is, and just how many alarming ingredients there are listed on the packaging! I can't recommend it highly enough.

excellent book for the money, 31 May 2008
To date I have only used four recipes from the book,they have all turned out perfectly,so am looking forward to trying a few more. I like the fact that I'm not using sugar in plain everyday loaves,and, for me it will be the book to return to.

A useful accessory for your new breadmaker, 28 Sep 2007
I've made loaves using 5 of the recipes in this book; they all turned out great. I like the fact that it doesn't list milk powder as an ingredient with every recipe (as does the recipe book that came with our breadmaker). In addition to the recipes the book includes an explanation of the reasons for including the different ingredients and of how the bread making process works. If you're going to spend £60 on a breadmaker it's well worth spending an extra £3.60 on this book.

Ok but not comprehensive, 06 Sep 2007
The only recipe I use a lot from this book is the very simple one for Italian bread, which I actually adapt to make ciabatta rolls. It isn't comprehensive enough for me. I'd have liked to have seen a Sahara Sand recipe, and many more ideas for rolls for my kids' lunchboxes.

fantastic book - please buy it!, 09 Apr 2007
i bought this at the same time as buying a panasonic s253 breadmaker, i like the way the author has stripped the uneccesary ingredients from the recipies, who needs sugar or milk powder in a savoury loaf? i can only say that if a bad loaf comes from any recipe in this book - then maybe its time to switch breadmakers?

Over many years, Mary Berry has perfected the art of cake-making and her skills have earned her a reputation as the queen of cakes. Now she has updated her classic home baking bible, the Ultimate Cake Book, and once again shares with you the secrets of he

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later than the cooking time specified; the polenta base for a fruit tart which was supposed to feed 6 came out so small that it barely fed me and my partner and I was left with a tin of cherries that would not fit on the base; the peanut butter biscuits which were said to be heavenly were ordinary and I got bored of having to eat them after 2 days; the banana muffins didn't rise at all; the lemon cake had to sit in the oven 35 minutes extra before it cooked inside while the outside was hard and brittle. All these failures convince me that most of the recipes have not been tested prior to being published. I use the Leith's baking bible regularly and everything always turns out fine, just as it should - nothing burns or needs to be baked for an extra half an hour or sinks after being taken out the oven.

Two stars only because of the lemon and rspberry muffins which were rather nice (although of course also flat and did not rise at all...and yes, I have checked the validity of my baking powder!) Overall, a book with wonderful potential and beautiful photos - if only someone tried the recipes and modified them so that they actually work.

Truly Comforting, 25 Nov 2007
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful, 03 Aug 2007
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.


Enjoyable to read but..., 29 Jun 2007
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

You can stop buying shop bread now!, 04 Aug 2008
My husband bought me this book for Christmas and I haven't looked back. The recipes are great and exclude the sugar and skimmed milk powder nonsense that came with the recipe book for my machine. Every loaf has come out perfectly (I have a Panasonic SD253) - I have even braved the free-form ones using the dough programme and had great results (The Italian loaf is to die for). On the rare occasions we buy bread now, we notice just how sweet it is, and just how many alarming ingredients there are listed on the packaging! I can't recommend it highly enough.

excellent book for the money, 31 May 2008
To date I have only used four recipes from the book,they have all turned out perfectly,so am looking forward to trying a few more. I like the fact that I'm not using sugar in plain everyday loaves,and, for me it will be the book to return to.

A useful accessory for your new breadmaker, 28 Sep 2007
I've made loaves using 5 of the recipes in this book; they all turned out great. I like the fact that it doesn't list milk powder as an ingredient with every recipe (as does the recipe book that came with our breadmaker). In addition to the recipes the book includes an explanation of the reasons for including the different ingredients and of how the bread making process works. If you're going to spend £60 on a breadmaker it's well worth spending an extra £3.60 on this book.

Ok but not comprehensive, 06 Sep 2007
The only recipe I use a lot from this book is the very simple one for Italian bread, which I actually adapt to make ciabatta rolls. It isn't comprehensive enough for me. I'd have liked to have seen a Sahara Sand recipe, and many more ideas for rolls for my kids' lunchboxes.

fantastic book - please buy it!, 09 Apr 2007
i bought this at the same time as buying a panasonic s253 breadmaker, i like the way the author has stripped the uneccesary ingredients from the recipies, who needs sugar or milk powder in a savoury loaf? i can only say that if a bad loaf comes from any recipe in this book - then maybe its time to switch breadmakers?

Mary Berry, my saviour!, 05 Oct 2008
My Mum gave this to me as a present several years ago and I haven't looked back since. I had failure after failure with cakes until I got this book. Very easy to follow and great results. I have had to adjust some baking times due to having a fan oven. It has given me so much confidence that I have now entered the local horticultural society's baking competitions for different cakes and have been over the moon to get lots of 1st and 2nd places. I also do the traybakes and cakes for my son's local rugby team (U18's) which are always cleared away, even the crumbs! My favourite cookbook of all time, thank you, Mary Berry, from a once reluctant baker.

A wonderful book of recipes, 06 Sep 2008
I have tried several recipes from this book and the end result have always been scrumptious. My family's firm favourite at the minute is the carrot cake.



Delicious, 24 May 2008
I have made several of the recipes in this book and all have been delicious, i particularly like the section on Traybakes, which as a mum is perfect for school teas and birthdays, i have had lots of compliments from the results of this book and am always recommending it to others.

The Bible!!, 18 Mar 2008
I've loved this book - it turned me into a confirmed cake baker! It's simply written, the recipes are pretty easy to follow and I've had a go and more than half of them with only a couple of disappointments. I'm about to buy two more copies for friends who are inspired by tasting my cakes (v. flattering) to try making their own, they'll soon realise it's not me - it's Mary Berry!

Excellent!, 12 Oct 2007
The recipes that I have tried from this book have never failed. I make the fairy cakes, and the two different types of brownies quite often. The effort involved is minimal with these resipes and the results are always spectacular! It is a good book for a beginner as the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later than the cooking time specified; the polenta base for a fruit tart which was supposed to feed 6 came out so small that it barely fed me and my partner and I was left with a tin of cherries that would not fit on the base; the peanut butter biscuits which were said to be heavenly were ordinary and I got bored of having to eat them after 2 days; the banana muffins didn't rise at all; the lemon cake had to sit in the oven 35 minutes extra before it cooked inside while the outside was hard and brittle. All these failures convince me that most of the recipes have not been tested prior to being published. I use the Leith's baking bible regularly and everything always turns out fine, just as it should - nothing burns or needs to be baked for an extra half an hour or sinks after being taken out the oven.

Two stars only because of the lemon and rspberry muffins which were rather nice (although of course also flat and did not rise at all...and yes, I have checked the validity of my baking powder!) Overall, a book with wonderful potential and beautiful photos - if only someone tried the recipes and modified them so that they actually work.

Truly Comforting, 25 Nov 2007
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful, 03 Aug 2007
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.


Enjoyable to read but..., 29 Jun 2007
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

You can stop buying shop bread now!, 04 Aug 2008
My husband bought me this book for Christmas and I haven't looked back. The recipes are great and exclude the sugar and skimmed milk powder nonsense that came with the recipe book for my machine. Every loaf has come out perfectly (I have a Panasonic SD253) - I have even braved the free-form ones using the dough programme and had great results (The Italian loaf is to die for). On the rare occasions we buy bread now, we notice just how sweet it is, and just how many alarming ingredients there are listed on the packaging! I can't recommend it highly enough.

excellent book for the money, 31 May 2008
To date I have only used four recipes from the book,they have all turned out perfectly,so am looking forward to trying a few more. I like the fact that I'm not using sugar in plain everyday loaves,and, for me it will be the book to return to.

A useful accessory for your new breadmaker, 28 Sep 2007
I've made loaves using 5 of the recipes in this book; they all turned out great. I like the fact that it doesn't list milk powder as an ingredient with every recipe (as does the recipe book that came with our breadmaker). In addition to the recipes the book includes an explanation of the reasons for including the different ingredients and of how the bread making process works. If you're going to spend £60 on a breadmaker it's well worth spending an extra £3.60 on this book.

Ok but not comprehensive, 06 Sep 2007
The only recipe I use a lot from this book is the very simple one for Italian bread, which I actually adapt to make ciabatta rolls. It isn't comprehensive enough for me. I'd have liked to have seen a Sahara Sand recipe, and many more ideas for rolls for my kids' lunchboxes.

fantastic book - please buy it!, 09 Apr 2007
i bought this at the same time as buying a panasonic s253 breadmaker, i like the way the author has stripped the uneccesary ingredients from the recipies, who needs sugar or milk powder in a savoury loaf? i can only say that if a bad loaf comes from any recipe in this book - then maybe its time to switch breadmakers?

Mary Berry, my saviour!, 05 Oct 2008
My Mum gave this to me as a present several years ago and I haven't looked back since. I had failure after failure with cakes until I got this book. Very easy to follow and great results. I have had to adjust some baking times due to having a fan oven. It has given me so much confidence that I have now entered the local horticultural society's baking competitions for different cakes and have been over the moon to get lots of 1st and 2nd places. I also do the traybakes and cakes for my son's local rugby team (U18's) which are always cleared away, even the crumbs! My favourite cookbook of all time, thank you, Mary Berry, from a once reluctant baker.

A wonderful book of recipes, 06 Sep 2008
I have tried several recipes from this book and the end result have always been scrumptious. My family's firm favourite at the minute is the carrot cake.



Delicious, 24 May 2008
I have made several of the recipes in this book and all have been delicious, i particularly like the section on Traybakes, which as a mum is perfect for school teas and birthdays, i have had lots of compliments from the results of this book and am always recommending it to others.

The Bible!!, 18 Mar 2008
I've loved this book - it turned me into a confirmed cake baker! It's simply written, the recipes are pretty easy to follow and I've had a go and more than half of them with only a couple of disappointments. I'm about to buy two more copies for friends who are inspired by tasting my cakes (v. flattering) to try making their own, they'll soon realise it's not me - it's Mary Berry!

Excellent!, 12 Oct 2007
The recipes that I have tried from this book have never failed. I make the fairy cakes, and the two different types of brownies quite often. The effort involved is minimal with these resipes and the results are always spectacular! It is a good book for a beginner as the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

Great stuff!, 12 Oct 2008
This is a fabulous guide to the time-honoured art of baking cupcakes. Although my wife Doreen has never been much of a cook, her sister Rose recently came to visit for the weekend. During her stay she made up an absolutely delicious batch! We were all so impressed that I decided to pick up a copy of this excellent recipe-book for Doreen, so she could have a try for herself. I'm sorry to say that the results of her labours have been little short of catastrophic (although it would hardly be fair if I were to blame the author for my wife's gross ineptitude).

Anyway, I shall never forget the powerful aroma that permeated our house that day. After the cakes had been withdrawn from the oven and left to stand, it wasn't long before I was lured into the kitchen by the scent. As the author reminds us, it is essential to allow the cakes to cool for an adequate period of time before serving. Seeing as they had been left unsupervised, however, I just couldn't help myself! Unfortunately it was at this very moment that Doreen made a move for the kitchen, in order to fix herself yet another generous serving of absinthe and raspberryade. You would not have believed the look of fury that registered in her eyes- when she saw that I was on the brink of spurting a generous dollop of icing over her sister's red-hot cupcakes!!!

Cupcake Heaven, 05 Oct 2008
I have purchased Kates cakes so I just had to buy her book and have a go. They are fantastic - her receipes and ideas are brilliant and you won't be disappointed. The pictures are stunning and even if you don't get round to baking the cakes, it is a lovely book to look at and have out in your kitchen.

Yum Yum Yum, 15 Sep 2008
Every woman should own Cupcake Magic!

Receipes very easy to follow
Interesting & Tasty Receipes
There's a receipe for all levels of cooks as i'm a novice myself and found it straight forward - I've only baked 2 cupcakes so far as purchased this book last week; went down a treat with my mother-in-law and grandma.

Hope to enjoy more cupcakes!!!



Fab little book!, 20 Jun 2008
Being new to the cupcake scene I decided to buy a little book for inspiration. Cupcake Magic has provided just that! Not only does it have recipes for icing and cake mixtures but also decorating ideas-with instruction and pictures too. If you are a bit of a novice to cake making (like me) this is the perfect book but I'm also guessing that if you're an experienced cupcake Connoisseur, this will provide some great ideas and a whole lot of inspiration. Another couple of bonuses are the light hearted way it is written and the onus on freerange!

Fabulous book, 05 Jun 2008
Although I have a book-shelf heaving with cake & baking books, I just couldn't resist this one.
Kate's style is informative, friendly and fun and the books' design and lay-out make it a pleasure to use. The ingredients are clearly listed, along with many handy hints & tips, and the instructions are easy to follow.
The chapters are helpfully ordered in order of 'faffdom', which makes deciding which cakes to make all the easier.
I made some of her low-faff cakes and iced them following her recipes and they were a great success.I intend to bake many more!
An excellent little book, I love it.

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later than the cooking time specified; the polenta base for a fruit tart which was supposed to feed 6 came out so small that it barely fed me and my partner and I was left with a tin of cherries that would not fit on the base; the peanut butter biscuits which were said to be heavenly were ordinary and I got bored of having to eat them after 2 days; the banana muffins didn't rise at all; the lemon cake had to sit in the oven 35 minutes extra before it cooked inside while the outside was hard and brittle. All these failures convince me that most of the recipes have not been tested prior to being published. I use the Leith's baking bible regularly and everything always turns out fine, just as it should - nothing burns or needs to be baked for an extra half an hour or sinks after being taken out the oven.

Two stars only because of the lemon and rspberry muffins which were rather nice (although of course also flat and did not rise at all...and yes, I have checked the validity of my baking powder!) Overall, a book with wonderful potential and beautiful photos - if only someone tried the recipes and modified them so that they actually work.

Truly Comforting, 25 Nov 2007
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful, 03 Aug 2007
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.


Enjoyable to read but..., 29 Jun 2007
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

You can stop buying shop bread now!, 04 Aug 2008
My husband bought me this book for Christmas and I haven't looked back. The recipes are great and exclude the sugar and skimmed milk powder nonsense that came with the recipe book for my machine. Every loaf has come out perfectly (I have a Panasonic SD253) - I have even braved the free-form ones using the dough programme and had great results (The Italian loaf is to die for). On the rare occasions we buy bread now, we notice just how sweet it is, and just how many alarming ingredients there are listed on the packaging! I can't recommend it highly enough.

excellent book for the money, 31 May 2008
To date I have only used four recipes from the book,they have all turned out perfectly,so am looking forward to trying a few more. I like the fact that I'm not using sugar in plain everyday loaves,and, for me it will be the book to return to.

A useful accessory for your new breadmaker, 28 Sep 2007
I've made loaves using 5 of the recipes in this book; they all turned out great. I like the fact that it doesn't list milk powder as an ingredient with every recipe (as does the recipe book that came with our breadmaker). In addition to the recipes the book includes an explanation of the reasons for including the different ingredients and of how the bread making process works. If you're going to spend £60 on a breadmaker it's well worth spending an extra £3.60 on this book.

Ok but not comprehensive, 06 Sep 2007
The only recipe I use a lot from this book is the very simple one for Italian bread, which I actually adapt to make ciabatta rolls. It isn't comprehensive enough for me. I'd have liked to have seen a Sahara Sand recipe, and many more ideas for rolls for my kids' lunchboxes.

fantastic book - please buy it!, 09 Apr 2007
i bought this at the same time as buying a panasonic s253 breadmaker, i like the way the author has stripped the uneccesary ingredients from the recipies, who needs sugar or milk powder in a savoury loaf? i can only say that if a bad loaf comes from any recipe in this book - then maybe its time to switch breadmakers?

Mary Berry, my saviour!, 05 Oct 2008
My Mum gave this to me as a present several years ago and I haven't looked back since. I had failure after failure with cakes until I got this book. Very easy to follow and great results. I have had to adjust some baking times due to having a fan oven. It has given me so much confidence that I have now entered the local horticultural society's baking competitions for different cakes and have been over the moon to get lots of 1st and 2nd places. I also do the traybakes and cakes for my son's local rugby team (U18's) which are always cleared away, even the crumbs! My favourite cookbook of all time, thank you, Mary Berry, from a once reluctant baker.

A wonderful book of recipes, 06 Sep 2008
I have tried several recipes from this book and the end result have always been scrumptious. My family's firm favourite at the minute is the carrot cake.



Delicious, 24 May 2008
I have made several of the recipes in this book and all have been delicious, i particularly like the section on Traybakes, which as a mum is perfect for school teas and birthdays, i have had lots of compliments from the results of this book and am always recommending it to others.

The Bible!!, 18 Mar 2008
I've loved this book - it turned me into a confirmed cake baker! It's simply written, the recipes are pretty easy to follow and I've had a go and more than half of them with only a couple of disappointments. I'm about to buy two more copies for friends who are inspired by tasting my cakes (v. flattering) to try making their own, they'll soon realise it's not me - it's Mary Berry!

Excellent!, 12 Oct 2007
The recipes that I have tried from this book have never failed. I make the fairy cakes, and the two different types of brownies quite often. The effort involved is minimal with these resipes and the results are always spectacular! It is a good book for a beginner as the instructions are very clear and easy to follow.

Great stuff!, 12 Oct 2008
This is a fabulous guide to the time-honoured art of baking cupcakes. Although my wife Doreen has never been much of a cook, her sister Rose recently came to visit for the weekend. During her stay she made up an absolutely delicious batch! We were all so impressed that I decided to pick up a copy of this excellent recipe-book for Doreen, so she could have a try for herself. I'm sorry to say that the results of her labours have been little short of catastrophic (although it would hardly be fair if I were to blame the author for my wife's gross ineptitude).

Anyway, I shall never forget the powerful aroma that permeated our house that day. After the cakes had been withdrawn from the oven and left to stand, it wasn't long before I was lured into the kitchen by the scent. As the author reminds us, it is essential to allow the cakes to cool for an adequate period of time before serving. Seeing as they had been left unsupervised, however, I just couldn't help myself! Unfortunately it was at this very moment that Doreen made a move for the kitchen, in order to fix herself yet another generous serving of absinthe and raspberryade. You would not have believed the look of fury that registered in her eyes- when she saw that I was on the brink of spurting a generous dollop of icing over her sister's red-hot cupcakes!!!

Cupcake Heaven, 05 Oct 2008
I have purchased Kates cakes so I just had to buy her book and have a go. They are fantastic - her receipes and ideas are brilliant and you won't be disappointed. The pictures are stunning and even if you don't get round to baking the cakes, it is a lovely book to look at and have out in your kitchen.

Yum Yum Yum, 15 Sep 2008
Every woman should own Cupcake Magic!

Receipes very easy to follow
Interesting & Tasty Receipes
There's a receipe for all levels of cooks as i'm a novice myself and found it straight forward - I've only baked 2 cupcakes so far as purchased this book last week; went down a treat with my mother-in-law and grandma.

Hope to enjoy more cupcakes!!!



Fab little book!, 20 Jun 2008
Being new to the cupcake scene I decided to buy a little book for inspiration. Cupcake Magic has provided just that! Not only does it have recipes for icing and cake mixtures but also decorating ideas-with instruction and pictures too. If you are a bit of a novice to cake making (like me) this is the perfect book but I'm also guessing that if you're an experienced cupcake Connoisseur, this will provide some great ideas and a whole lot of inspiration. Another couple of bonuses are the light hearted way it is written and the onus on freerange!

Fabulous book, 05 Jun 2008
Although I have a book-shelf heaving with cake & baking books, I just couldn't resist this one.
Kate's style is informative, friendly and fun and the books' design and lay-out make it a pleasure to use. The ingredients are clearly listed, along with many handy hints & tips, and the instructions are easy to follow.
The chapters are helpfully ordered in order of 'faffdom', which makes deciding which cakes to make all the easier.
I made some of her low-faff cakes and iced them following her recipes and they were a great success.I intend to bake many more!
An excellent little book, I love it.


Just the beginning......, 02 Aug 2008
I bought this book on a whim and have just completed my fifth cake and am in the process of devising my sixth cake - the pictures and instructions are brilliant, I had never iced a cake before and now feel competent enough to make them for people other than family! Would highly recommend this, and looking at other peoples reviews am going to buy book 2! Well worth it.

good book for the beginners..., 12 Jun 2008
this book was recommended by a dear friend it is a good book for beginners..worth buying...

fantastic, 13 Jun 2007
What can I say ...except this book is a must have for learning everything about making cakes through to how to decorate in various ways. It is very infromative with easy to follow instructions...a complete must for the beginner right through to the more experienced. It was so good that I bought book 2 also, another great book.

the international school of sugarcraft:beginners bk.1, 18 Oct 2006
summary:this is the most brilliant book i have every come across
good illustrations and very explanatory. great tips too.very useful for anyone who wants to learn the art of baking and icing cakes.

[...]

A bible for sugarcraft !, 26 Jul 1999
I was given the first hardcover edition of this book in 1988 as a Christmas present and I have stayed loyal to it ever since. The basic cake recipes are highly reliable - the rich fruit cake one of my staples come Christmas. The sugarcraft techniques are taught in such a way that has provided a foundation for further exploration. It's a great introduction to sugarcraft for the novice and provides a clear structure and overview for those who have struggled aimlessly in the dark thus far. I also have Book 2 and it is equally highly recommended. Both of my books are now ready for replacement after much wear, tear and intense use!

Another Great From Rachel Allen, 10 Oct 2008
This is a great book, I now have three of Rachel's books and this is by far my favourite. In response to the previous review, this book does have some casseroles (lemon and garlic chicken), maybe not all in the traditional slow cooked meat and veg sense but there are other great baked meals such as sausage and bean bake, cottage pie, lasagne and mediterranean pasta bake. I think it was a bit unfair to give the book 1 star based on the fact that it has no casseroles, especially as quite obviously that is not what the book is solely about. For casseroles and stews I would recommend Sophie Conran's Soups and Stews

There are a wide variety of baked goodies in this book; tarts, pies, quiches, breads, cakes, biscuits and also jams. There is also a glossary and a bit at the back giving you a step by step guide (with pictures) to making different types of pastry, bread, a sponge and meringue. There are also several ideas for icing (cream cheese, butter, vanilla buttercream, american frosting & glace) and sauces (bechamel, toffee, coffee, raspberry, blueberry & apple) as well as how to make your own crystallised flowers, marzipan, chocolate curls and candied peel.

I have cooked many recipes from this book already (I've only had it a few weeks!), the carrot cake is by far the best I have ever tasted. The only fault that I can give for this book is that there are too many yummy recipes and I don't have enough time to make them all! I can't recommend this book enough!

A pleasing cake & bake book, 07 Oct 2008
Well, it's been less than a year since I started cooking properly (last time before then was cookery lessons at high school, which was about 8 years ago) & I have done many things since then, but one area I hadn't done as much as others was baking.

So I got this & have been very pleased with the results so far. There are some good cookie recipes in here, namely the smarties & choc orange cookies which have both worked out very nicely (shame though that the mixture doesn't seem to really work with cookie cutters) but there are other ideas that I'll be trying out.

So, in all another good book, has the same problem as the rest of the series (see my review on 101 one pot dishes or cheap eats to find out what that is) though it doesn't seem as much of a problem here, I am pleased with the book & the results.

An amazing little book, 06 Sep 2008
I just started baking recently and brought this book after reading most of the reviews and I am glad that I did. I have tried a few receipes and the results have been amazing. My family have flipped through the book and left tags on certain pages of the cakes that they wish for me to bake for dessert time.

Awesome, 15 Aug 2008
Amazing book. Find it really useful that every recipe is accompanied by a picture as I find with other recipe books i only cook the ones i can see. However the pictures make the cakes look far to enticing, and I have been unable to pick which ones to bake, so I ended up making three at ones, but the all got eaten quite quickly. The coconut cake and carrot cake went down especially well with even my mum requesting I bake them again and she doesn't normally eat cakes! Quite glad that there are lots of recipes in the book which aren't online so I don't feel like I'm wasting money - however I would pay the price just for the coconut cake it was that yummy.

Something for everyone!, 02 Aug 2008
I absolutely love this little book! I've had it for a while and it has been a very good companion to me. Whenever i feel the need to bake, out it comes! There much to choose from, such as healthy muffins to the more indulgent cakes and cookies, as well as that it caters for kids and adults alike. I still haven't managed to get through all the recipes, but I haven't found a bad one yet. For lovers of baking, i promise it's a must buy!

A group decision, 15 Jul 2008
This book is great full of many ideas some which i knew and others, bought this book after everybody on my forum chat group was buying the same book and talking of how nice what they baked was, up until now i have made the strawberry cheese cake muffins which are weird but delicious and banana tea bread. Shall bake some more in the summer holiday. though 2nd best to BeRo

Baking Flavoured Genius!!!, 29 Sep 2008
I absolutely love this book.

Mouth-watering recipes with honest & humerous additions and explanations to encourage you through them. Although some of the recipes look & sound a little advanced you never know until you try, and as the author explains some of the most wonderful recipes are created by mistake.

Admittedly i've mostly attempted sweet treats but the Cornish Pasty recipe was divine, I substituted the mince for butternut squash and made a vegetarian version. Thats another bonus of this book, many recipes have variations at the end, meaning once you've got your confidence you can experiment safe in the knowlegde that it wont ruin it by changing bits.

My book is covered in splashes of this & that and chocolate thumbprints as the recipes have been used over and over.

Theres a store cupboard chocolate orange cake, which again sounds scary when you discover the main ingredient is a jar of marmalade...but as my dad always said "try it before you screw your face up in disgust".

My favourite has to be the moist chocolate loaf which requires stirring in 250ml of boiling water!!! It did look very very watery and like a disaster waiting to happen.....but my god it was gorgeous!!! Have faith and attempt it more than once and you'll find you're constantly baking these favourites for everyone and their mother!!!

I've never managed to make a decent cheesecake and this book has a genius recipe for mini BAKED cheesecakes which turn out perfect every time - there's even advice on how to get the damn things out of the tins (which was as Nigella warned trickier if you're trying to eat them before they're cooled).

I love the little hints & tips - e.g. the butter cut out biscuits recipe makes absolutely tons of yummy biscuits (not a problem in our house) but as suggested you can put half the dough in the freezer and make a second batch later, it even explains how long to defrost it for! Also if she says use baking paper, dont think you know better! If it defies "non stick" for Nigella you and your supermarket brand bakeware wont stand a chance. But if you like eating your food straight from the baking tray or scraping it off into a messy heap...be my guest.

More like Domestic Failure..., 01 Aug 2008
Nigella Lawson goes out of her way to convince the reader that it is oh-so-easy to bake mouthwatering cakes and achieve a wonderful sense of satisfaction as a homey domestic goddess...unfortunately, after trying 70% of the recipes in her book and following them exactly, the only thing I feel like is a frustrated domestic failure. I don't know why everyone else raves about this book so much, but I suspect it might be just because it looks good on the shelf, and there's no doubt about it, the photos really do look wonderful. But I'm not convinced that all the positive reviewers have tried many of the recipes, and if they have I would love someone to let me know how I could modify them so that I too can feel like a domestic goddess?

I have tried the chocolate cake - made it for a special occasion and it was a disaster, the entire centre sinking from 5cm to a mere 1cm; the sour-cream chocolate cake was actually unpleasant; the almond cake with fruit was burnt to a crisp by the time I took it out the oven 30 minutes later