Baking Book for DD (7) and I to learn together

[AnonymousBird]

I am no baker, it has to be said. DD however, is incredibly keen to bake and over the past few months we have cobbled a few passable cakes etc together. I'd love to get her a book suitable for her age and upwards, that tells us both a bit more about the basics with some tasty but fairly easy recipes to follow....

I suspect throwing ourselves in at the deep end with Mary Berry's best baking book might be a tall order - though I would be delighted to be wrong if it is in fact easy to follow and talks you through basic techniques and recipes as well as doing the more sophisticated stuff.

Eg. I have absolutely no idea how to ice anything - we've had recipes which simply say "make up the icing, and then ice the cake". How?! I have absolutely no idea and would love to be able to help DD with more of these sorts of things.

TIA!

I'm no baker either but I can do the recipes in How to be a domestic goddess and also in Delia's cookery course. If you have a nosey around your library you might find them or have a look at this. We haven't got a copy but have some of their other cookery books and they are all easy for children and adults alike

Thanks, DD would love that book! She has some Usborne cooking cards already, which are fine but extremely basic (and often don't work!) but this book looks much more like the kind of thing she could pore over and read for herself.

I have found a section in one of my Delia's actually, since I posted earlier. Some very nice recipes, but my particular book doesn't say all that much about techniques... but some useful explanations about oven temperatures, correct use of cake tins and so on which is all good groundwork.

Thanks for that, really helpful.

I have this book: Ultimate Sweet Treats which is a nice spiral-bound hardback, designed for kids - lots of pictures and tips about baking in general. I think I got it from the Book People.

You can't go wrong with the Be-Ro cookbook for all the basics, but it is very small and the pictures aren't great. Only costs a couple of pounds though.

Delia published a new cake book last week, and has just started an online cookery school with videos of all the basics you could watch together, would be good if you had a tablet or laptop you could use in the kitchen.

DO NOT knock the Berry!
I have a ton of baking books; I'm addicted. I've just looked at Mary Berry's Baking Bible, and it has a really good intro - incl tips on how to best melt chocolate, how to line a tin, etc etc. And her recipes aren't over long, and they're very to the point whilst explaining exactly what you have to do.

If not MN, then I'd say Delia also - or a specific baking book for children. The 1st Usbourne book linked looks great! Delia has a new cake book out, which I don't have yet, but I do have lots of her other books and agree that she also explains exactly what one needs to do. Second also the recco to take a look at her online cookery school.

I love Nigella, but I'd actually not recommend her for littlies - she's very wordy and this might be off-putting for your DD.

Thanks all!! I'm not knocking Mary at all - far from it - I just don't know whether her books would be "basic" enough for our needs......

I have found a couple of her books on Amazon for not a lot of dosh...

My next question, and I may start a separate thread on this - is it ok to use Stork instead of Butter??? Or is that just naff and frowned upon in the baking world?! I can remember my mum using Stork on the odd occasion we baked at home and it does say "Perfect for Cakes"..... and it is nice and soft whereas butter needs to sit out all night to get soft....

new thread coming up I think!