The Great British Bake Off App and Book Review

The latest series of Great British Bake Off has started and I am glued to the telly when it is on, I even record it for my 3 girls to watch later as it is on after their bedtime.  I was delighted to be sent the latest book to accompany the series to review.

Along with the book is an iphone app which features 50 recipes from the two latest GBBO books.  The recipes are divided into five categories: Cakes, Biscuits, Bread, Pastry and Puddings. Each recipe comes with an overview, including a skill level rating, a list of ingredients and easy to follow step-by-step cooking instructions.

Using the search function you can filter the recipes in different ways: by baker, occasion, ingredient or difficulty, and you can store those recipes that you want quick access to as favourites.

Photo courtesy of iTunes

Don't worry about getting your iphone or ipad all mucky whilst baking!  If you lay your iPhone flat and tap a 'touch-free' button, you can wave a hand back and forth above the screen to move forward and back whilst you are viewing the recipes.

The book, entitled The Great British Bake Off: How to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers, covers a wide range of bakes from large and small cakes, biscuits and cookies, sweet and savoury pastry, puddings to breads and patisserie.  The recipes are separated into sections: biscuits, cakes, breads and the recipes within each section are rated by the level of skill required.  

Photo courtesy of Random House

There are gorgeous photographs throughout the book but there are just not enough of them.  Some of the recipes, which include technical challenges and signature bakes from the show, are quite complicated and yet almost half of these recipes do not have an accompanying photograph of what the bake should look like.  I found this rather frustrating.

If I am going to try recipes which are showstoppers, and much more faff than I usually tolerate, I want to know what the final bake will look like and what I will be aspiring to.  That said there are some great tips and tricks for cake decorating and making our bakes look a bit more special such as making chocolate leaves, how to make buttercream and how to ice and stack a cake.  There is also a handy measurement conversion section.

I am enjoying the book and will try a few recipes from it, I shall of course blog them when I do.

The app is available from the iTunes store for £2.99.  The book is available online or in book stores with a RRP of £20.