Baked from BKD Book Review

If you've read my blog before it will be no secret from the recipes shared that both myself and my children love getting creative in the kitchen and of course our favourite thing to do is baking, I mean who can resist cake? I think getting our kids cooking is an important thing, not only are they learning an important life skill ; they are also getting the opportunity to have fun with you, something Adelle Smith from  award winning children's baking company BKD completely agrees with. And this is where her recipe book BAKED: Amazing Bakes to Create With Your Child aims to please.

Adelle is passionate about what she does and wants to inspire a new generation of mini bakers. Filled with over 20 scrummy yet stylish cakes and cookie recipes  ready for families to make, BAKED is definitely not your ordinary recipe book. From Oreo Chick Pops to Rainbow Unicorn Cupcake, the ideas inside are both witty and entertaining, providing some brilliant tips, tricks and inspiration not only for day to day bakes but for children's parties as well.  

I think what sets BAKED apart from other recipe books in this genre is the stunning photographs that showcase the ideas themselves. Colourful and eye catching, they scream fun to the children and this soon turns into, "make me make me."The subject matter really appeals too, I'm a big kid at heart so the unicorns and all things cute inside don't just grab the kids attention, I think I was more eager to get baking than my children.

No detail is left out as we are provided with lists for tools needed, basic ingredients, how to's such as lining a cake tin and filling a piping bag, as well as an array of fillings and frostings. I now have quite a long list of kitchen items that I want/need to step up my baking game, the husband has so far ignored my hints for a Kitchen Aid.

There are step by step instructions for each project and these include both text and small illustrations which make them quite easy to follow. Broken down as they are I don't think it would be possible to go wrong by doing something such as miss out an ingredient. The tips to the side of the instructions add an extra helping hand (especially to wannabe bakers like myself), giving you alternative methods and tools to try out should you need to.

Now of course a full review couldn't be carried out without actually testing out a recipe or two. I asked my girls to go through BAKED and pick out which recipe we should attempt, they opted for the Roaring Rocket Cake which meant making a batch of Adelle's choccy brownie cake mix.

This was where my lack of kitchenware made baking a little difficult as without a mixer I was forced to do it by hand and my bowl wasn't quite big enough for all of the ingredients so I'll admit that we made a little (ok big) mess but alls well that ends well.

Each of my daughters took in turns to do a step in the recipe and we were quite pleased with the end result. I know I'm biased but I thought it looked ok and it definitely tasted good, alright better than good, one slice was not enough. The only problem, deciding who got to lick the bowl/spoon.

Priced at £14.99, I can see this becoming one of those staple go to recipe books in your kitchen cupboard, not only are the recipes themselves both fun to make and tasty to eat after, they are also a stepping stone to bigger and better bakes as they give you ideas for cakes and cookies that you may not have thought about creating before.

If you already have a mini baker in the making or perhaps would like to start your child/ren on their cooking journey, BAKED is definitely a book to get even the most reluctant kids to get excited about stepping into the kitchen.