Hodder & Stoughton Delia's Cakes

I bake a lot of cakes for my daughter’s coffee shop and bought this to get some new ideas. There are some lovely recipes which work well. However, the way the ingredients are listed is awful. When I am baking a cake I can barely read the ingredients which are listed in a pale gold colour against a white background. They are also listed going across the page and not underneath each other which makes it very difficult to check you’ve put everything in. I have lots of Delia’s books and have never had a problem till now. I am now reluctant to use the book as it really is a strain on my old eyes.

This is a gorgeous looking book and I was truly looking forwards to having this, however all the recipies are missing the temperature for baking! I think this is a mistake because temperature is in online content in “preparations” section not printed into the book. I find it makes the book impossible to use really and it will only be usable as long as I can check each recipes temperature online. But what is the point of having the book then!!

I really like this book, I guess though it depends what you are judging the presentation or the content.Priority for me is the content, there is a good selection of cakes and like all of the Delia's recipes I have tried, they work. They taste good, they aren't too complicated, they don't call for hundreds of ridiculous ingredients you will spend a fortune on and then only use a bit of before they go off in the cupboard. I would much rather have a book that enables me to easily make good cakes that one that is clearer and looks better but produces rubbish.In terms of presentation, generally it's a nicely laid out book, clear instructions and photos. But yes, as lots of people have suggested the ingredients are in gold and in rows not columns, which I can see might annoy some people.What no-one seems to have suggested is that you look at the 'look inside' section above and see for yourself. Have a look, if it bothers you, don't buy it, if it doesn't and you need a good general cake book then you will struggle to do better.

I am working my way through this. I have every confidence that every single recipe in it will work perfectly because it's Delia Smith, and, as long as your oven temperature is accurate and you follow the instructions, her recipes always, always, work. I am an experienced home cook, but this would be an excellent choice for an inexperienced one as well. There is a marvellous selection of recipes for basics like shortbread, right through to dinner party quality dessert cakes. Brilliant, of course.

I bought this book because I have many of Delia's books and her recipes have never failed to impress. The book is a thing of beauty. I found the colour of the font used for the ingredients to be very difficult to read. Also having the ingredients printed across the page rather than down as is normally how a recipe is presented, not easy to follow. Overall I was disappointed by the whole book.