Alice Arndell, who has appeared on NZ’s Hottest Home Baker and is the blog writer at Alice in Bakingland has released her second book – Bake Me Home: delicious everyday occasions. It’s a wonderful baking book!
I’m liking
Something about Arndell’s style of creating recipes is just spot on. She manages a balance between creativity, utilising ordinary/everyday ingredients and simplicity that I’m very impressed with. It’s quickly become the book I pick up whenever I want to bake something, and having owned it a couple of weeks I’ve already baked several things – most of which I would definitely bake again.
There are photographs of every recipe which I find key to a cookbook, and there are some go-to simple recipes for basic things like shortcrust pastry which are useful. Bake Me Home strikes a nice balance between sweet and savoury, and there are a few gems like a marinated feta recipe in there too.
Things that made me go hmmmm
This book is organised in sections to suit styles of occasion. I can see why, it adds a unique element when juxtaposed with the many baking books on the market. But if you have a hankering for cake, or a savoury tart, you could be trawling through the whole book to find what you’re after. I’ve found this a bit annoying.
The binding in this book is super tight. You can’t easily leave it open on the bench if you’re cooking from the middle section of recipes – it will spring back to some other page that you’re not trying to concentrate on. Irritating, but I’ve learnt to work with it!
The conclusion
This is a nicely presented book, with a ribbon bookmark and pastel binding, and would make a lovely gift. So too would a cooked version of almost any of these recipes! Who wouldn’t want a carrot cake with a cheesecake baked inside it?!
It’s a great book for both the seasoned cook (there are a lot of fresh ideas that don’t require specialty ingredients) and the beginner baker. Whether you’ve got no baking books or ten, you’ll get a lot out of this one.
Bake Me Home – Delicious Everyday Occasions is published by HarperCollins NZ and carries and RRP of $49.99
