Testing 1,2,3… Cookbooks for baking fans

25 Nov, 2023 04:00 PM2 mins to read

Michelle Morfett of Mint Cakery's spiced plum bundt cake. Photo/ Manja Wachsmuth

Looking for a good gift for the baker in your life? These impressive books take the cake.

Aside from our lovely columnist Petra Galler’s incredible Butter Butter cookbook, there are a number of other baking beauties on the shelves now that have caught the attention this year. Here are some options to tempt you, or the baker in your life, into the kitchen.

Baking Yesteryear: the best recipes from the 1900s to the 1980s

One for the nostalgic baker — with a significant penchant for the quirky — this is a decade-by-decade collection of 101 curated recipes that highlight the most unique treats of yesteryear. Social media personality B. Dylan Hollis shows us how to bake vintage forgotten greats, with a full cup of humour. Get ready to wrap your laughing gear, and your mind, around delights such as a 1940s chocolate sauerkraut cake; potato chip cookies from the seventies; or maybe an avocado pie from the 1960s. You might even find a new favourite.

Author: B. Dylan Hollis. Publisher: Alpha. RRP: $55.

Chocolate All Day

This cookbook should come with a warning — because it will have you craving its chocolatey treats with quite some intensity. Big on wow and low on difficulty, this chocolate-lover’s dream will have you choosing from recipes such as Chocolate Babka Knot with Peanut Swirl; Choc-chip Cookie Sandwiches with Orange Ganache; Rocky Road Chocolate Cake; and Sticky Date Chocolate Puddings with Chocolate Caramel Drizzle. There are treats for morning, noon and night, arranged by textural experience: Crisp, Snap, Crunch; Molten, Toasty, Melt-in-the-mouth; Playful, Quirky, Out-of-the-mould; Creamy, Smooth, Chilled; and Old-fashioned, Comfort, Classic. We’ll take it all, thanks.

Author: Kirsten Tibballs. Publisher: Murdoch Books. RRP: $55.

Mint Cakery

Michelle Morfett’s passion for baking first manifested in mini cakes sold at markets around Auckland. Demand led to a cake store, Mint Cakery, and then eventually a move to bigger premises in Ellerslie. In amongst it all, Michelle self-published her first cookbook, dedicated to the most popular treats at Mint Cakery. From dark chocolate pear cake to classic jam doughnuts, the cookbook offers nostalgic Kiwi classics with stunning photography by Manja Wachsmuth. Sections cover Morning Baking, Dough, Cakes, Slices, Cookies, Festive Baking, and more.

Author: Michelle Morfett. Distributed: Bateman Books. RRP: $45