Simple Tasty Cakes? Mary Berry Simple Cakes! (Simple Cakes - Mary Berry)

Member Name: beckles88

Product:	Simple Cakes - Mary Berry
Date:	08/11/09 (208 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Well illutrated, easy to follow recipes.

Disadvantages: Slight glitches to recipes?

I have decided now that I'm writing reviews more often, I will start writing more reviews on the day to day items that I use and buy. I recently bought this recipe book from the book man at work whose sells a selection of brand new books at discount prices. I got this Mary Berry Simple Cakes recipe book for £3.50 when the R.R.P is £9.99. This paperback book is a BBC Book and it has 40 recipes in it, the book book tells us to: "Let Simple Cakes dispel the myth that cake-baking is all fuss and fiddle'.

The book is about a centimetre thick it has the title a photo of Mary Berry and a photo of a Victoria Sponge on the front, on the back is various photos of a marble loaf being made and different facts and information about the book. There is also a comment from the Sunday Telegraph: 'The recipes are a model of clarity with unfussy photographs to match' which really just emphasises the fact that the book is simple to follow. There is also the ISBN (978-0-563-52192-1) and the barcode on the back.

There is an introduction inside the book next to a picture of Mary Berry so I'm presuming it is wrote by her although it doesn't actually say so, so could be an editor. There is then a cake-making methods section, which gives techniques for; all-in-one method, creaming, whisking, rubbing in, melting and making pastry. There is an ingredients and equipment section which I think is a really good outline which a lot of modern books often don't give. This section is very clear and well photographed and there is no particularly expensive or unusual equipment needed. The introduction section has advice on storing cakes, secrets of success, advice if something has gone wrong and a conversion table, which is really useful.

The 40 recipes are split into 4 sections, the first of which is Chocolate Cakes. The most simple recipe in this section is probably Chocolate crispies which are basically cornflake buns and the most complex is probably Chocolate éclairs, due to the making of the pastry. There are other classics in this section such as a Sachertorte, chocolate chip cookies and chocolate brownies. I've made the chocolate brownies and chocolate cookies from this section, they are both really, really yummy.

The next section is Favourite Cakes, the most simple recipe in this section I probably the Victoria Sponge and the most complex probably May Berry's celebration cake which remind me of a Christmas fruit cakes and has lots of ingredients. I've baked the Lemon Drizzle traybake from this section yesterday and the majority of it has already been eaten by my family. The carrot cake looks really nice, as does the banana loaf, there are quite a few fruity cakes in the favourite cakes section.

Bite-sized Cakes is the next section, this section is basically buns and biscuits with a scotch pancake recipe. The recipe for Devonshire scones looks quite simple and I'm looking forward to trying to make these as I never have done before. I would say all of the recipes in this section look simple to follow. I made some Mini St Clements muffins for which the recipe was quite simple but I found the resulting buns were quite bitter I think this is due to the recipe telling you to put a whole orange (food processed in the mixture. Next time I will grate the rind and then take all the pith from the orange before putting it in the food processor.

The last section is Meringues, Tarts and Pastries and this is probably the most complex section. However the recipes are still quite simple and look easy to follow, I haven't made anything from this section yet but I'm sure I will do soon. There is a very tasty looking banoffi pie and an extremely tasty looking summer fruits cheesecake. I would say that my favourite section so far is chocolate cakes but there is a big possibility that it could soon be this section once I have made some of the recipes.

I like the last bit of this book titled 'Cakes for Occasions' with ideas of which recipes would be best for occasions such as children's tea party and coffee mornings. Also summer desserts, winter desserts and cakes that keep well.

I think this recipe book is well worth the £3.50 that I paid for it and it is available at £3.56 on amazon. I recommend this book for anyone from beginners to established bakers who may want new ideas. You just need to bear in mind that you will need the basic baking equipment but as mentioned there is a section on this at the start of the book and it can be quite cheap to set up a basic inventory if you go places such as Asda or Wilkinsons.

I have knocked a star off due to the fact that 1 of the 4 recipes that I made didn't quite taste right even though the recipe was followed step by step. I just wonder if there are any more recipes like this in the book but I do think it was probably just an overthought.

Summary: An overall fab book with plenty of simple recipes