Stunning cakes, delectable photography and yummy results (The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - Tarek Malouf)

Member Name: hayley_jayne

Product:	The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - Tarek Malouf
Date:	26/07/09 (211 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful book to read with great american style baking ideas

Disadvantages: Inconsistent instructions with errors!

*Publication details*
Title: The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook
Author: Tarek Malouf
Book Type: Non Fiction / Food and Drink / Baking
Publisher: Ryland, Peters & Small Ltd
Publication date: 15 April 2009
ISBN: 1845978307
RRP: £16.99

*Synopsis*
The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook is based on the sweet treats sold at the Hummingbird Bakeries in London. Sixty different recipes are shared from cupcakes to key lime pie. All are based on the American style of baking. The product description claims, 'Hummingbird recipes not only taste great but also look spectacular - without resorting to fussy recipes and hours in the kitchen'.

*My Opinion*
During June I was hosting a family barbeque for two birthdays. I had seen pictures where instead of baking a typical birthday cake people had instead made and frosted a couple of dozen cupcakes and arranged them on a three tier cake stand. Some of the pictures I had seen looked really great and I thought it would be nice to avoid cutting cake up and having loads of cutlery and plates to sort out. I hadn't made any type of 'fairy cake' since I was a kid so I set about looking for a book that would give me some guidance.

I was browsing through the Book People site, which I use quite a lot and spotted the Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook. The cover looked really pretty and the product description suggested this book might be what I was looking for. In the interest of research I put Hummingbird Bakery into Google and found the Hummingbird Bakery website. Viewing the website had me sold within a few seconds. It was beautifully presented and the cakes looked sensational. I thought at that point if the book is delivered in a similar way it would be fabulous. So I took a chance and ordered two copies, one for me and one for a friend's birthday present.

When my parcel arrived I was blown away with the appearance of the book. The photography is divine. The book is a smaller hardback complete with dust cover in base colours of chocolate brown and pink. Inside the front cover the first two sides are just a sea of chocolate hundreds and thousands. Inside the back cover is a spread of chocolate swirls. The book starts with a foreword by the author, which describes his introduction to American baking in New York and his realisation there was a gap in the market for this type of bakery in the UK.

Moving into the main body of the book, each of the 60 recipes is laid out on a two-page spread. There is a photograph of the final product on one page and the recipe laid out on the other. The book contains: frosting; cupcakes; pies; brownies and bars; muffins; and cookies. It ends with the usual index and acknowledgments.

As I had bought this book with a purpose in mind I set about having a trial run and selected the chocolate cupcakes. The book states the chocolate cupcakes are based on a devil's food cake. The ingredients and method were clearly different to chocolate cake mixtures I have used from British cookbooks; definitely not for those on a diet due to the high quantity of sugar used. The instructions were easy to follow but didn't give any explanation as to how to cook with a fan oven, so I had to guess. I used fairy cake cases; from looking at the pictures I am guessing you are meant to actually use American cupcake cases, which are bigger. However, from the quantities listed it only just filled the 12 fairy cake holders so I don't think it would really make twelve. On cooling I swiftly found the quantities suggested for frosting '12' cupcakes were way out. I think you could probably have iced 40 with the amounts given! Despite the issues with quantities, once iced they looked and tasted divine; just not so good for the waistline!

I decided for the birthday barbecue to make the vanilla cupcakes with vanilla frosting in pink and cream. I doubled the quantities to make 24 and made two batches of frosting in two colours (made the pink by adding a few drops of food colouring). I then used an icing bag with a large star nozzle to decorate the cakes, which were finished off with the odd milky bar button. I had bought an inexpensive white card cake stand that I decorated with pink edible glitter. The feedback off my family and friends about the cakes made me feel great, especially as I am by no means an experienced baker. I think the fact that 24 cakes got ate by 18 attendees well before the end spoke for itself. My mum liked them so much she asked me to make a batch in blue and cream for a residents birthday party at the care home where she works and they loved them too.

I haven't had much time too bake anything else this month but am trying to decide what to try next. However, I think the Brooklyn Blackout Cake is likely to win!

Tonight I have had a look through the reviews on Amazon and people's thoughts on this book are very mixed. Some people adore it and others hate it. It seems the biggest bug bear is the issues with quantities. It strikes me that they should have spent more time working out how to make these recipes on a domestic as opposed to industrial scale.

*Would I recommend*
Yes I would, especially if you can pick up a copy at a good price. The pictures are delectable and the results totally scrumptious! However, you need to be prepared to use common sense if the quantities look a bit odd; so probably better for the cook that doesn't mind being experimental at times. I'm giving it four stars as I actually love it but I do think the 'quantity' issue loses it a star.

*Availability*
I was lucky enough to spot this at the Book People, where it was available for only £4.99. It is currently out of stock but there is a message saying it will be back on the 3rd August 2009; delivery is free if you spend over £25. Amazon has it for £8.49 with free super saver delivery.

Summary: Looks fabulous, products taste great but quantities are out!