Baking With Kids: Inspiring a Love of Cooking with Recipes for Bread, Cupcakes, Cheesecake and More by Camilla Perez and Lisa Flodin with the photography of Charlie Drevstam (Skyhorse Books, $16.95)
There is nothing quite as rewarding as watching youngsters as they whip up recipes in the family kitchen. This cookbook encourages young chefs to create such delights as sweet scones, carrot cake, rolls, breads, biscuits, and cupcakes. Each recipe has concise step-by-step instructions that will make cooking fun in addition to being a learning experience.
The recipes are divided into three sections: Bread Fun, Baking Fun, and Classics. There are standard conversions, baking tips and techniques, and an explanation of basic tools and utensils.
Perez and Flodin are cookbook authors based in Sweden. Drevstam, an advertising and editorial photographer, also lives in Sweden.
This is an excellent collection. Imagine the joy of the child in your family serving up a platter of macaroons that he or she made. This cookbook is fun and highly recommended.
Since everyone loves cake and I had several bananas that had seen better days, I tested the Banana Cake recipe.
BANANA CAKE
2 eggs
4/5 c dark muscovado (sugar)
1 1/3 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
3.5 oz dark chocolate
2 bananas (ripe)
1/5 c milk
1./5 c sunflower oil
1/5 c shredded coconut for the pan, or powdered sugar
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Crack the eggs into a cup and pour them into a bowl.
Measure the sugar and pour it into the bowl. Beat the eggs and sugar with an electric mixer until you have fluffy batter.
Take out a bowl and place a strainer over it. Sift all of the dry ingredients into the bowl: flour, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla sugar, and cinnamon. Mix them with a spoon. Pour the mixture into the bowl with the egg batter and stir.
Grate the chocolate with a grater or with a peeler, and add the grated chocolate to the bowl with the batter.
Mash the bananas on a plate using a fork. Put the mashed bananas into the bowl. Stir with a spatula.
Measure the milk and oil, pour them into the bowl. Stir with a spatula.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Take out a springform pan about 9.5 inches in diameter. Butter it, and sprinkle with coconut.
Pour the batter into the pan and place it on a rack in the middle of the oven.
Bake the cake for about 40 minutes. Check the cake with a cake tester – if the tester comes out a bit sticky, the cake is not quite ready, but may take a few more minutes to bake.
Remove the cake from the oven and allow it to cool. Remove the edge from the springform pan and sprinkle the cake with icing sugar if you want before you serve it. A dollop of whipped cream is also a delicious addition.
Note: You can exchange the dark muscovado sugar for light or raw sugar.