Best cake baking bible

[Hera]

I have been looking for a comprehensive cake baking book and was wondering what people have and use. I have been toying between Delia Smith and one of the Mary Berry ones. Any recommendations?

[Yamin151]

You cannot go wrong with either of those, have used both extensively. I would also recommend Nigella lawson, she has a very engaging style and is very much into quality without fuss, if you see what I mean. I have several of hers but domestic goddess is an obvious one to start with, but Feast also has plenty of cake recipes too.

[MedievalBabe]

My DD who loves to bake prefers Mary Berry and we have several books. She finds the recipes easy enough to follow, which is important for a child to be able to follow otherwise she gets frustrated.

[Guest55]

Why don't you borrow them from the library and 'test drive' them. I think cook books are quite personal and what suits one person won't suit another.

[Hera]

Which is the best Mary Berry to buy? I will check out the library too. Although I bake quite a lot, I have a few simple trusted favourites that I make and wanted to try some new recipies and hopefully be inspired.

[KS10]

I find that I use a variety of books for different cakes.

- Delia's coffee cake was the first that I ever made, so I stick with her for that
- Mary Berry and Primrose Bakery for chocolate cake
- kids' cook book for fairy cakes
- Hummingbird for more adventurous ones
- M&S book for novelty cakes

I know that's not really helpful, but it's quite a difficult question to answer. For example, although I've made and enjoyed the PB chocolate cake, in general, the recipes don't really work for me.

[Tinkers]

DD, who is the main baker in the house, likes a variety. She would add Lorraine Pascale to Mary. She hasn't really taken to Delia, but then I don't think she has really seen her.

Her fav is one of her 'kids' cookery books, even though she is actually a very good baker. Her reasoning is that it has simple recipes that always work but give plenty of ideas on how to ring the changes with the recipe. At the moment I can't find it though, but she thinks it is 'simple sweet treats'.

Her biggest problem has been that everyone knows she likes baking, so they buy her baking books, but always kids ones. when she sort of grew out of that a number of years beforehand. One friend realised once we got to the point that DD always made the dessert if we ever went over to theirs, and that her ability and taste was a bit more sophisticated than that.

Over the years we have cut out recipes from mags and printed them from the electrical INterweb and stuck them into a notebook. DD has now taken over ownership of the book, added to it, indexed it etc.

[fairyelephant]

I use Nigella Domestic Goddess for cheesecake and fabulous chocolate brownies, Jamie for chocolate "party" cake (filled with cream and raspberries with a heavenly choc sauce over the top) and Nigella again for Victoria sponge. Delia I use less these days.... Except to remind me of quantities for crumble topping, shortbread and pancakes!

[doodles]

I have Mary Berrys Ultimate Cake Book. Had it for a good few years but go back to it time and again.

[RedVelvet]

It may be worth looking in charity shops too. The one I use most often for basic everyday cakes is a Family Circle one from the 1970s!

For a more modern selection, Nigella and Delia cover most things.

The best method for a quick basic sponge is to just weigh the eggs. Then equal amounts of everything else. Plus any flavouring you want. It's probably what I use most.