The Children's Baking Book

February 15, 2010
This accessible baking book features more than 50 sweet and savory recipes—everything from tarts and potpies to brownies and muffins—with full-color photographs that show both preparations and tasty end results. Divided into sections on cookies and baked goods, dough, cakes, and pastry, the recipes are further labeled with levels of difficulty. Aspiring bakers should be pleased at the simple steps involved to make a raspberry cheesecake, but more difficult dishes, like a jam-filled cake roll, may benefit from adult assistance. The sweet-toothed should find the mouthwatering pictures and straightforward instructions hard to resist. Ages 7–12.

May 1, 2010
Gr 4-8-Divided into four sections ("Cookies and Baked Goods," "Doughs," "Cakes," and "Pastries"), this volume has more than 50 recipes and an attractive and colorful design. The majority of the dishes are sweet, with several savories also included. Recipes are clearly labeled for difficulty, prep time, and cooking time. In addition, there are safety tips, cleanliness advice, a decent glossary, and a spread with decoration ideas. Variations are given for many of the dishes, a feature that might spark individual creativity. The wonderful photographs clearly show many of the steps of the sometimes complicated but tasty-looking recipes. With so much going for it, it's too bad that a close look reveals some detail problems. In the front matter, the author states that the recipes provide both Imperial and metric measurements, which doesn't translate well in every case. For instance, the one for cornbread calls for 4 oz (125 g) of cornmeal or polenta. This leads to a volume vs. weight debate, and, since a kitchen scale is not specified in the list of tools needed, the cook might assume that it mean half a cupor does it? Is white bread flour the same as white flour? Will a recipe for marble cake that's made in an eight-inch square cake pan really make 25 servings? Should a recipe for pizza dough that requires 7-10 minutes of kneading be labeled "Easy"? In any case, if you have Rose Dunnington's "Bake It Up!: Desserts, Breads, Entire Meals & More" (Sterling, 2007), you're in good shape and can take a pass on this one."Lauralyn Persson, Wilmette Public Library, IL"

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