Published: 2000
Overview: A beautiful book that deserves a place on any domestic goddess’s bookshelf. A complete guide to wonderful home baking by the most glamorous TV chef ever!
Review: Nigella Lawson (or Nige – as she is affectionately known by myself) is my ultimate culinary idol so this review is always going to be somewhat biased. I love her persona and she writes beautifully, making her foodie descriptions both articulate and down-to-earth. I have read this book over and over, drooling over the recipes and letting my imagination transport me into a huge country kitchen where I bake scones and layer cakes ready for afternoon tea. Nige introduced me to the fabulous world of baking. This was one of the first cookbooks I purchased and it has come in very useful on so many occasions. I use her fairy cake recipe to make my own cupcakes and her buttermilk birthday cake never fails. If I ever feel the need to pop on a pinny and knock up a batch of something delicious, this is the book I turn to. There are nine chapters, which focus on different branches of baking such as cakes, biscuits, puddings and Christmas. Each chapter has a vast selection of recipes, many accompanied by the most beautiful, gold tinged images which are light, bright and good enough to eat. The glossy pages are bursting with deliciousness, you cannot skim through this book without feeling a burning desire to be stove-side providing home made goodies for your loved ones. Anyone with a passion for baking MUST buy this book! Some recipes I would recommend are: Butterscotch layer cake (p20); Fairy cakes (p39); Sweet and salty peanut biscuits (p55); American breakfast pancakes (p77); Brownies (p193); Granny Boyd’s biscuits (p204); Buttermilk birthday cake (p210); Rocky road (p224); Mini pavlovas (p239); Christmas cake (p248); Pink grapefruit marmalade (p351). Nigella’s recipes are clear, concise and easy to follow and generally never go wrong. The only time I have ever had an issue with a recipe from this book was her Cornish pasty recipe, where the pastry went too crumbly and was very difficult to eat. I only tried the recipe once so it could have been a mistake that I made rather than a fault with the recipe. Overall, I simply cannot fault this book, it is possibly my favourite cookbook ever!
Rating: A rather biased 10/10! I heart Nigella!
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