Delicious Homemade Treats (The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - Tarek Malouf)

Member Name: amazinglo

Product:	The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook - Tarek Malouf
Date:	04/09/09 (37 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful photos, stylish book, gorgeous cupcakes

Disadvantages: A few of the quantities are wrong, go to www.hummingbirdbakery.co. uk/bakingtips

I originally bought this recipe book for a friend who is a big fan of the bakeries in Portobello Rd and Kensington. The book makes a gorgeous gift for friends who love to cook; it has a pretty design and the photography is beautiful.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Hummingbird, they are a bakery inspired by American home baking with two (very popular!) branches in Central London.

The book is filled with recipes for the bakery's trademark cupcakes and cakes to muffins, pies, cookies, brownies and cereal bars. Examples include: Red Velvet Cupcakes, Brooklyn Blackout Cake, Mississippi Mud Pie and New York Style Cheesecake.

After flicking through I couldn't help but copy down a few recipes to try myself. It didn't take long for me to try out the vanilla cupcakes and I was very impressed with the results: light, fluffy, buttery cupcakes with sugary frosting (*almost* as good as the bakery itself).

What I would say is that it's very important to have the right equipment with this book, as the success of the bakes really depends on the detail. I think it's fairly essential to use a silicone cupcake tray, too (trust me you'll never go back!).

Some of the recipes may seem odd or unconventional to experienced home bakers, this is because the style is American, but don't worry, persevere and they'll turn out fine!

I've also noticed from reading some of the other recipes that the quantities seem a bit odd (I always think it's so important to read the recipes in detail first, the amount of times I've noticed, halfway through baking, that a quantity is wrong!). I looked online and noticed that on their 'baking tips' on their website they've made a few amendments to some of the recipes.

It's a shame they couldn't get this right as it's really very frustrating when you go out and buy all the ingredients and they end up going to waste, or when you're preparing something for a special occasion. For this reason my review loses one star.

Summary: A brilliant recipe book and a great gift