I need some advice from all the great bakers on this site. I have a 12 year old niece that is interested in baking. I think she makes cookies the most but has also made some cakes. For Christmas I plan on giving her baking books and maybe a bundt pan since they don’t have one. There are some books I am considering and I would like to know if anyone has experience with them:
The Cookie Bible by Rose Levy Berenbaum
The King Arthur Baking Co. Essential Cookie Companion
100 Cookies by Sarah Kieffer (I know this book has been very popular)
Cookie books by Martha Stewart and America’s Test Kitchen
I’m planning on giving her a 10 cup bundt pan since I think that is the most common size. The 6 cup would probably be a good size for their family as her mother is very strict on sugar consumption. I would like to give her recipes for the pan. I’ve looked at some bundt cookbook reviews but none of them have grabbed me. Please let me know of any book you think has good recipes for bundt. I have also considered an all-purpose book such as one by RLB or King Arthur. There are too many things I would like to give her so I’m indecisive. The two books I first thought of were 100 Cookies and Snackable Cakes because they were so popular this year.
Please help as I want to encourage her baking interest.
I’ll suggest King Arthur’s Baker’s Companion (currently on sale for Black Friday). You could include a note with info on the KA Baking Hotline (phone, email, chat) - the staff is incredibly helpful when you have questions or trouble spots, and it’s a free service in support of their recipes.
A slightly different idea to consider (hope you don’t mind) is a cookbook like Snacking Cakes, and a set of 6” round pans (or 8” -9”and 6”), since those recipes can be scaled down by half in a 6” pan. The one thing I dislike about Bundt cakes is that they are so darn big. It’s a lot of cake, and if her family is not going to be entirely on board with lots of Big Cakes All The Time, you might want to set her up to be able to make Small Cakes More Often.
I don’t have a book that comes to mind immediately.
But for a 12 yo - my experience is that pictures are key (of course you know your niece best). So for me, that would rule out Americas test kitchen (the books L have from them have no pictures).
Similar to @truman I think round pans might be easier to start with.
To increase her odds of success, I’d like to suggest the round pans with the built in “knife” feature. You are pretty much guaranteed a successful release (from the pan) after spinning the “knife” feature.
Second the suggestion for the Jessie Sheehan book - a lot of easy, 1-bowl bakes. Something like ATK’s kids baking book might also be a good start.
Given your comment about consumption, and in the spirit of more exploration, I would suggest smaller baking pans like a 6" bundt and 4 to 6" cake tins, mini loaf tins, cupcakes and mini cupcakes, and so on, that would make partial recipes very easy to execute (and consume).
You can add an inexpensive digital scale towards the same goal so she can learn to halve or quarter recipes .
I must disagree with the recommendation of those ‘knife’ pans. I’ve used them a number of times. Almost every time, batter has gotten beneath the knives, so when you go to spin them, you just end up mangling the bottom (or more!) of your cake.
Rather, a set of nice non-stick baking pans with the pop-out bottoms, similar to this:
line the bottom w/ a parchment disc and removal from the pan becomes trivial.
5 Likes
BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
11
Great idea. Make sure that any book you buy has measurements by weight, not those darned cups,
e.g. 1-3/4 cups flour, lightly sifted into the cup. Sorry, pet peeve of mine.
oohh… I think the inexpensive digital scale could be wonderful to start her off on weights not volumes for most ingredients. My baking life changed for so far the better with it. As long as the older people in the house don’t get intimidated. I know it’s hard for some who have been baking a while to make the shift. And as you say, Saregama, would make it easier to make partial recipes.
Like Munchinkin, I love King Arthur Baking. They’ve saved me several times with really friendly, helpful, and free advice on their recipes. I also love their products and their recipes; the comments by other bakers with all levels of experience are very helpful. And some recipes have videos for those who respond well to seeing what it’s supposed to look like at different stages.
I rarely weigh, which I know is unpopular around these parts, but I usually bake pretty forgiving recipes, and if I was teaching a kid (as I have my nephews and various friends’ kids), I would err on the side of making it easy and fun rather than precise.
I have been watching the early seasons of Great British Bake Off and went right to Amazon (through HO!) and bought it! No I need one of those small pans.
Some younger people love the digital scale and find it fascinating, and fun/easy. Depends on temperament, I think! And if the older “teachers” like it and are able to communicate their enthusiasm. Whatever works for the learner.
They already have digital scale. I checked on that right away. I think they have 9 inch rounds, but no 8 or 9 inch square. I think the small pans are a great idea, but I want to make sure she doesn’t have a problem with scaling a recipe. I’ve never made a smaller cake. Can you reliably halve recipes? I know there are bakers here that use the smaller pans.
2 Likes
BarneyGrubble
(Fan of Beethoven and Latina singers)
19
Yes, I halve recipes all the time. In fact I make half and quarter recipes a lot more frequently than full ones.
Its easier if the eggs are divisible by 2, but if she has a scale, she can weigh an egg and halve it, or add the whole thing and get a bit more volume, (I downscale the eggs if there’s a half and add some yogurt or milk to make up the gap, but teaching a kid improv is further down the road(.
You can also get her started on a blog like Dessert for 2 or subsets of small batch recipes on places like KAF, Practical Kitchen, and elsewhere.
