The book itself is honestly absolutely beautiful. The recipes are laid out so that they are really easy to navigate and very relatable. The book is split into a number of sections: Cookies & Biscuits; Muffins, Cupcakes & Traybakes; Cakes & Loaves; Puddings; Pastry; Bread; Brunch and Special Occasions - so there is definitely something for everyone. What struck me straight away is the stunning photography throughout the book: each recipe has a picture next to it, and I can promise you that every single one makes the bake look irresistible. Tanya has also added a personal touch to each recipe: there is a little paragraph at the top of each recipe explaining how it relates to her life, which I think makes the book unique.
The first recipe I tried was her 'Sticky Toffee Pudding'. She explains that this is her husband's favourite pudding so she spent a long time perfecting this one with him until he deemed it to be perfect. As it is also my brother's favourite pudding I made these individual puddings one Sunday lunchtime. As you can see from the picture, they worked perfectly: the ingredients list is nice and short, the instructions are clear and simple, and the individual size meant that they only took 20 minutes in the oven. Drenched in the delicious sauce and served with vanilla ice cream, I can vouch that this is indeed the perfect sticky toffee pudding recipe.
Next I was after something a little more adventurous. There is nothing quite like a good jam doughnut. I had never made doughnuts before though, and was very sceptical about how easy to make Tanya claimed them to be!
Actually, they were really good fun to make. Although they do take a little bit of time as they have to prove for about an hour and a half in total, I think they are totally worth it if you have a free weekend afternoon. The frying part was much less messy than I thought it would be, and injecting the doughnuts with jam was surprisingly satisfying. I just did strawberry jam, but I am looking forward to making these again and filling them with nutella, custard, apple sauce...the opportunities are endless!
My most recent bake was Tanya's 'Salted Caramel Brownies'. It was a rainy Saturday afternoon, and we decided to bake some of these, and catch up on The X Factor with a cup of tea. Best decision ever. Again, the recipe was clear, simple, and all done in one bowl - always a positive when you don't have to do loads of washing up! The brownies themselves came out super-gooey and the caramel definitely adds an extra level of indulgence. I find that they only get better as they get older too, which is helpful when you've baked a whole batch for 3 people!
So my thoughts overall? I am seriously impressed. Given that Tanya is traditionally a beauty blogger and not a professional chef/baker, all of the recipes I have tried have worked without any problems at all - and have actually ended up looking just like the pictures in the book. It's a very readable and visually appealing book, and I've already bought another copy to give as a birthday present. My dream has always been to write a baking book (I'm still holding up hope!) and if I produced something close to the standard of this book, I would be very happy indeed.
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