Best baking book for beginners

[Choconuts]

I am just starting to get in to baking and have progressed from the cake boxes (hangs head in shame) to cupcakes from scratch but I would like to start being a bit more adventurous.

Please can you recommend a good baking cookbook that isn't too complicated that I can put on my Christmas list?

Thanks everyone

Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess. If you can get past the title it has some great recipes and explanations of terms without being patronising - I bought it for my son when he started baking as a young teenager.

I really like James Morton's How Baking Works.

www.amazon.co.uk/How-Baking-Works-what-doesnt/dp/009195990X

(He's the medical student now doctor who was on the GBBO.) He goes through the concepts of baking really simply and, even for me as a pretty regular baker, brings things back to basics to allow you to develop your confidence at baking following recipes and then adjusting them to suit yourself as you get more practised.

Lorraine Pascale Baking Made Easy. Fool proof recipes, some of which look really impressive with hardly any effort and without spending a fortune on ingredients. Best brownie recipe I have ever used.

Mary berry baking bible.

Had this for years. Loads of all in one recipes so very very simple and not had a duff recipe yet. Then when you've got your skills up there's some faffier stuff in their too

Thanks everyone I'll check those books out