Time to bake... (Bake - Rachel Allen)

Member Name: blackviolets

Product:	Bake - Rachel Allen
Date:	22/04/09 (77 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: coconut tart and other nice recipes

Disadvantages: .

My brother recently bought this book after watching the TV series. I can't quite make out if this was a good idea or not. OK so maybe it's alright because he wants to be a baker, but then there's the problem of other people using it and wanting to make absoloutly anything!

The 288 page long book is full of nice little photos, showing you what the cake, pie or maybe just a biscuit is supposed to look like. However on some occassions you just have a picture of Rachel Allen putting a cake in the oven. Or maybe just a photo of some pans. Now correct me if I'm wrong but I assummed that this was a cooking book. I'm not saying that other cooks don't do it in their books, culprits being Jamie Oliver or Nigella Lawson, but I would still rather see if what I'm making is looking somewhat recognisable and not something just flung together.

Anyhow, the actual book is split neatly into 7 sections. I have to say this makes things a bit more easier to find when you know it's pretty obvious which chapter it's going to be under. These sections are :~ Sweet mouthfuls, Cakes and puddings, Tarts and pies, Breads and savouries, Breakfast and pastries, Baked meals, holiday and celebrations. There is also a little bit at the back which tells you how to make stuff like pastry, or maybe butter icing etc.

The first thing that was made out of the book, was the coconut tart and may I say that it was so nice we've made it a wopping 3 times! (In the recipe it says that you can use rasberry jam as an option, but if you do intend on buying it, I suggest you don't!)

In my opinion it's all down to your own tastebuds but I am going to be completely blunt here, out of the food that has been made so far I would skip past the poppy seed cake and Spinach, potato and goat's cheese tart.
You could be thinking that maybe we made a mistake but no, in my mind they really are not at all that nice!

The recipes in themselves are easy enough to follow but like with all cookery books it's best to read though them first just to make sure that you know exactly where's best to start. Especially if something is supposed to be finely chopped but you only have them whole.

This book I think was well worth getting. I don't remember the programme actually being shown at the time it was on, and although not all the recipes are that original, fairy cakes and eclairs there are some new ones which I thought had never even occurred to me.

If however you are strapped for cash a cheaper alternative to finding about how to make these recipes would be to go on the website below

http://uktv.co.uk/food/stepbystep/aid/607684

and you should find pretty much most of them on there!

Summary: .