It’s the final of The Great British Bake Off tonight. Over the past ten weeks, we’ve seen some stylish signatures, tricky technicals and, well, showstopping showstoppers. Bake Off is highly-regarded for its friendly and supportive judges, presenters and contestants, as well as its cosy charm, making it a show the whole family can enjoy. If you and your child have been inspired to have a go, why not borrow one of our family baking books?
Nadiya Hussain - Nadiya’s Bake Me A Story
This combined story and recipe book from 2015 Bake Off winner and new national treasure Nadiya Hussain features delicious, easy-to-follow recipes devised by Nadiya herself and inspired twists on popular children’s stories. Each recipe is accompanied by a story, so you and your child can occupy yourselves while your creations are in the oven by reading them together. Read The Not-just-ginger Gingerbread Guy while baking gingerbread men, Ruby Red, The Three Bears and the Very-berry Breakfast until your very-berry breakfast muffins are ready to eat, or Rapunzel’s Enchanted Carrots while waiting for your carrot and nutmeg cookies to be done.
Cathryn Dresser - Let’s Bake!
A colourful book from another Bake Off alumnus, Let’s Bake has a section for each season and provides clear instructions on how to make delicious bakes for all sorts of occasions: parties, picnics, the last day of school, Halloween, summer holidays, even just for a packed lunch. You could make something savoury such as easy feta cheese triangles or sweetcorn and chorizo cornbread muffins, or something sweet such as malty moon custard biscuits or white rabbit cake.
Tim Bugbird - The Great Fairy Bake Off
Camilla the Cupcake Fairy, Daisy the Doughnut Fairy, Lola the Lollipop Fairy, Izzy the Ice-cream Fairy, Annie the Apple Pie Fairy and Katie the Candy Cane Fairy share their favourite recipes. As the fairies’ names suggest, this book features recipes for a whole range of sweet treats, from simple cake pops to fancy celebration cakes.
Stephanie Turnbull - Cool Stuff To Bake
This book not only provides easy-to-follow recipes for cakes, puddings, biscuits and other bakes, but encourages children to use their creativity to come up with their own unique designs and reduce food waste by using up ingredients languishing in the store cupboard.