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This post on my top 5 Bake Off books has been a long time coming! It will be really obvious to anyone who has seen my blog that I absolutely ADORE the Great British Bake Off. I have been watching it ever since I was a child, in fact, Bake Off has probably been around for almost half of my life! Every year, a Great British Bake Off book is released which includes recipes from the judges, contestants and many more!
As a keen baker who always wants to improve, I love flicking through the recipes in each book and giving some of them a go! This might be technical challenges to improve my general baking skills, attempting one of the showstopper challenges or trying something simple and easy! I have collected a lot of Bake Off and Bake-Off-related books over the years, and think some are better than others!
We all know the problem of having far too many cookbooks or baking books, but hardly ever looking at them because the recipes are rubbish! To avoid that, and if you want to stick to only owning a few books, this is the perfect list to get you started!
In this post, I am going to share with you my Top 5 Great British Bake Off books! These are my absolute favourites, the ones I use the most, the ones from which I have learned the most, and from which some of the recipes on my blog have been inspired! Give it a read, see what you think, and then treat yourself or others to one of these books from the list! The perfect Birthday or Christmas present for a keen baker!
My Top 5 Great British Bake Off Books
1. Mary Berry´s Baking Bible
The top mention has to go to Mary Berry´s Baking Bible, even if it doesn´t stem from the Great British Bake Off directly. This was one of the first baking books I was given and it is full of fantastic recipes! The recipes range in difficulty and the time it takes to make them, and I have probably made most recipes in this book, probably even more than once!
Mary Berry´s Baking Bible is divided into multiple sections, including Classic Cakes, Cupcakes and Small Bakes (great for children), Biscuits and Cookies, Tarts and Pastries, Puddings, Buns and Scones! Whatever you are looking for, you are guaranteed to find it in this book!
If you are only just starting out with baking, then Mary Berry´s Baking Bible is probably the best possible book you could start with!
Some recipes inspired by Mary Berry´s Baking Bible:
- Best-ever Carrot Cake Traybake
- Mary Berry´s Lemon Drizzle Cake
- Chocolate Éclairs
- Cheese and Chive Scones
- All-in-one Method Victoria Sponge Cake
- Swiss Roll Cake with Strawberries and Cream
- Chocolate and Nut Baked Alaska with Italian Meringue
2. The Great British Bake Off – How to turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers
This book, How to turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers, is from my all-time favourite season of the Bake Off: Season 3! It was the first season I saw in full, and John Whaite remains my favourite ever Bake Off winner!
I remember buying this book in 2012… I saw it when we were in Marks and Spencers (fancy!) and it was £20 – which, at the time, was probably 1-2 months´s worth of pocket money! 😂 But I bought it, and it has remained my favourite out of all the official books from the Great British Bake Off Series.
What I love about this book, is that it also gives you a lot of basic recipes, not only for basic sponge cakes mixes, gingerbread biscuits, or pastry recipes, but also for a lot of decorations. For example, it includes recipes for chocolate ganache, royal icing, lemon curd etc., as well as how to make chocolate decorations, edible flowers etc.! Plus, obviously including bakes from the contestants and judges! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their baking repertoire and those of you who really want to learn how to turn everyday bakes into showstoppers!
Recipes inspired from GBBO´s How to turn Everyday Bakes into Showstoppers:
- Mary Berry´s Fraisier Cake
- Homemade Lemon Curd Recipe | Baking Basics
- Hand-raised Chicken, Bacon and Apricot Pies | Paul Hollywood´s Technical Challenge
- How to make Royal Icing – Everything you need to know! | Baking Basics
- Christmas Light Cookies with Royal Icing
3. The Great British Bake Off – Classic Cakes & Biscuits
Next on my list, is the GBBO Classic Cakes & Biscuits book. This book is again not directly taken from the TV show, but instead is a compilation of classic cake and biscuit recipes that will help amateur bakers become bake-off worthy! I own this double-version, but the only thing I see available at the moment are two separate books: Classic Cakes and Classic Biscuits.
Both books are divided into 4 sections. The first gives you an overview of everything you need to know about ingredients, equipment and methods. The section is followed by three sections of recipes, grouped into easy, intermediate and difficult! Start with the easy recipes, then work your way up! You´ll soon find yourself mastering both! Again, I would really recommend this book to anyone wanting to improve their cake and biscuit making skills! This book would also be great for older children/teenagers who are wanting to get into baking!
There are more books in this series, including one on chocolate, desserts, pastry and pies, etc… I don´t own any of them yet (!!!), but I will let you know what I think of them once I do 😉
Recipes inspired by GBBO´s Classic Cakes and Biscuits
- Chocolate and Vanilla Checkerboard Cake
- Classic Victoria Sandwich Cake
- Blackberry Cinnamon Crumble Cake
- Viennese Whirls filled with Buttercream and Raspberry Jam
- Checkerboard and Pinwheel Biscuits
- Chocolate Digestive Biscuits | British Baking Classic
4. The Great British Bake Off – How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom
So, number 4 on the list is a book called “How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom”, something everyone wants to know in order to prevent disappointing Mary Berry! How to Avoid a Soggy Bottom is not a recipe book per se (although it does include a few), but instead, aims to teach you about the actual processes involved. The book discusses each of the major areas or baking in turn (cakes, biscuits, bread, pastries and desserts), explaining a bit of the history, methods involved, mistakes to avoid and ways to troubleshoot when things go wrong!
This book is great for those of you who are also interested in the “science” behind baking, and why we do things the way we do! This book has taught me so much about all aspects of baking, where the technical difficulties lie and how to perfect my skills! A must-read I´d say for every advanced home baker!
5. The Great British Bake Off – Perfect Cakes and Bakes to Make at Home
The final Great British Bake Off book that made it into my top 5 is the one from season 7: Perfect Cakes and Bakes to Make at Home. I just really like the recipes in this book and have really enjoyed experimenting with them over the years! As well as the usual technical challenge recipes, and the occasional bake from the show, this book is also packed with additional recipes from Paul, Mary and the bakers! There are a wide range of bakes to choose from, including cakes, breads, pastries and canapés. In fact, this book inspired me to give homemade filo pastry a go, as the bakers were challenged to make canapés in pastry week! In my opinion, this is one of the best Bake Off books in terms of the recipes it includes, so I would really recommend it if that´s what you are after!
Recipes inspired by GBBO´s Perfect Cakes and Bakes to Make at Home:
- Maple and Walnut Biscuits
- Mini Chocolate and Raspberry Sandwich Cakes
- Lemon and Poppy Seed Bundt Cake
- How to make Filo Pastry | Baking Basics
A Few Notable Mentions
With so many books to choose from, I found it quite hard to narrow it down to just 5. I am very happy with the selection above though, and highly recommend each and every one of the books! I would also like to add a few other books that I feel deserve a mention. One being Paul Hollywood´s book “Bread”, which is nice for starting out with bread baking. He does have a few other books which I´d like to have a look at in the future.
I also really like the book my favourite bake off winner, John Whaite, released, called John Whaite bakes. I don´t think it is the best book I have, as some of the recipes I am pretty sure I´ll never try, but it does still have a few good recipe ideas and has given me some baking inspiration (e.g. these Florentines)!
Finally, my flatmate also gave me a copy of this year´s (2020) Bake Off Book “Love to Bake”, which I have briefly skimmed through already! The recipes look great and I will definitely giving a few a try! Who knows, maybe it can knock off one of the other 5 from my list above! 😉
I really hope you enjoyed this list of my Top 5 Baking Books directly from or just related to the Great British Bake Off! This list should be a great starting point for the keen bakers among you, or if you are looking for present for someone else who loves baking! Any questions about any of the books, just let me know!
