Book Review: Nadiya Bakes

Book Review : Nadiya Bakes by Nadiya Hussain
 
What made me choose this book:
These days it is very rare for me to buy a physical book, I have to admit to largely reading from the kindle. Having watched Nadiya bake her way through 'Bake Off' and then progressing to her own Nadia Bakes TV show, it encouraged me to put her book on my Christmas list.
 
What I found in Nadiya was someone who not only baked amazing cakes but also represented so many things I personally admire :
 
1. She always looks great, she wears a range of really colourful clothes with some great head scarves for accessories, like Nigella she represents for me women who like beautiful things. (I don’t mean expensive, simply pretty things).

2. She carry’s her love of pretty things through all her cooking utensils, and kitchen décor and h=I have to say there is an element of it in her book design making it a very attractive addition to your bookshelf.

3. She clearly loves what she is doing, she bakes with a real enthusiasm, clearly enjoying what she is doing. She has a natural attraction to fun which shows through in her writing and her personal twists on familiar bakes….for example who would ever think of putting rhubarb and custard sweets in a bake!
 
What can you expect to find in the book.
 
This beautiful recipe book has a great selection of Cakes, mini cakes and traybakes. The book is a good mixture of cakes that can be made with your staple cupboard ingredients such as Zesty fruit cake, hot cross buns and Jam Roly Poly together with some bakes using really unusual ingredients such as mint choc-chip Nanaimo bars and a Matcha and Kiwi hurricane roll.
 
There are some great practical’s to the book:
 

• Each recipe states the time it will take to prep, to cook and more importantly how long it will last for, though I have to say they don’t ever last that long in our house.
• Each recipe has a clear well structured ingredients list.
• As well as a Nadiya style description each recipe has clear and precise instructions.
• There is something for everyone in this book, from gluten free to  meat loving recipes.

 
Disappointments:
 
There really isn’t anything not to love about this book, if I had to find one thing I would like adding would be an understanding of the calories in each recipe, but I guess i'm probably best not knowing. Ha
 
Finally If you are someone who tends to buy recipe books but never get around to making the cakes then you can be assured that the photographs in this book are beautiful and well worth a flick through in their own right.
 
I guess all that is left to say is the proof is going to be in the pudding, so keep an eye out for future blogs where I will try out some of the recipes.