Skip to content
Open menu Close menu

Feed your appetite for cooking with Penguin’s expert authors

penguin logo

Top 5 Baking Books for Beginners

by Julia Pal

published on 10 September 2013

Baking can be a true pleasure. Producing a perfect Victoria Sponge for a relaxed afternoon tea, or a rich chocolate cake for a birthday celebration, is immensely satisfying, both for the baker and for those who enjoy the fruits of his or her labour. However, if you are new to baking or just can’t seem to produce the results you crave, it can be a disheartening experience. Never fear! If you want to up your baking game, the Happy Foodie can help. We’ve gathered together a collection of brilliant recipe books that will take you from shambles to showstopper in no time at all.

How To Be A Domestic Goddess

How To Be A Domestic Goddess

This was the book that brought the glamour back to baking and launched Nigella Lawson’s career into the stratosphere. An absolute cookery classic, it is an essential book for anyone who lacks confidence with their baking. Nigella’s warm, conversational style and relaxed approach make even the most complex recipes feel achievable.

Brilliant Bread

A finalist in 2012’s series of Great British Bake Off, James Morton won over the nation with his witty banter, fairisle jumpers and boundless enthusiasm for baking. In Brilliant Bread, he guides the reader through every aspect of breadmaking in a friendly, no-nonsense style. The recipes are graded from easy to challenging, and are accompanied by clear step-by-step guides to essential techniques.

The Great British Bake Off: Learn to Bake: 80 easy recipes for all the family

The Great British Bake Off: Learn to Bake

by Linda Collister

From the team behind Britain’s favourite TV baking show, Learn To Bake is the ideal book to entice families into the kitchen to get baking together. With a comprehensive glossary of baking terms, notes about essential equipment and 80 family-friendly recipes, it is a wonderful starter book. Pick a bake, grab the kids and get messy in the kitchen!

Mary Berry’s Baking Bible

Who better to get you baking than the queen of Bake Off herself? This book lives up to its name, with over 250 recipes for cakes and bakes to suit every occasion. All the classics are here – from simple everyday bakes, to sumptuous celebration cakes. Mary’s simple pared back style inspires confidence and takes the terror out of trying something new.

Dan Lepard’s Short and Sweet

Fans of Dan Lepard’s writing for The Guardian appreciate his laid-back, accessible style and fuss-free recipes. Short and Sweet is full of these, covering every aspect of baking – from cake to pizza and sourdough. The straightforward explanations in the book are accompanied by stunning, inspiring photography.

Try some of our favourite cakes and bakes here:

Share

You might also like


View all

Book Collections

The ultimate guide to Rick Stein’s cookbooks

With a career spanning more than 50 years, Rick Stein has introduced us to some of the very best of cooking and food cultures. As well as being a restaurateur...

Recipe Collections

10 recipes you’ll love from Nigella’s At My Table

“Life is complicated; cooking doesn’t have to be.” Such is the ethos of home cook, bestselling author, and all-round domestic goddess Nigella Lawson, as set out in her hit 2017...

Recipe Collections

One-pot recipes you’ll love from Mob One

Fans of Mob know that the cooking collective’s recipes are synonymous with great ingredients, ingenious kitchen hacks, and inspired flavour combinations that make cooking fun and accessible. Their latest cookbook...

newsletter

Subscribe to The Happy Foodie email newsletter

Get our latest recipes, features, book news and ebook deals straight to your inbox every week