How to Be a Domestic Goddess

This is a book about baking, but not a Baking Book. The trouble with much modern cooking is not that the food it produces is not good, but that the mood it induces in the cook is one of skin-of-the-teeth efficiency, all briskness and little pleasure. Sometimes that's the best we can manage, but at other times we don't want to feel stressed and overstretched, but like a domestic goddess, trailing nutmeggy fumes of baking pie in her languorous wake...' How to be a Domestic Goddess is not about being a goddess, but about feeling like one. What this deliciously reassuring and mouthwatering cookbook demonstrates is that it's not actually hard to bake a tray of muffins, or a sponge layer cake, but that the appreciation and satisfaction they bring are disproportionately high. The 'domestic goddess' has to maintain her (or his) cool when faced with pastry, too, of course - but with Nigella Lawson's guidance even puff pastry can be pain-free. Here at last is the book which understands our anxieties, feeds our fantasies and puts cakes, pies, pastries, pudding, breads and biscuits back into our own kitchen. This is the art of baking and comfort cooking made simple and alluring for the modern cook - with everything from cup cakes to certosino, brownies to bagels, peach cream pie to pizza, game pie to blueberry boy-bait, from rhubarb schnapps to Barbie cake - not to mention children's cooking, festive foods, pickles and preserves.

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Truly Comforting - Rated
This book reintroduced me to the kitchen after long avoiding it (it's amazing how long you can survive on cold spaghetti hoops and sandwiches). I admit I was entranced by the cover picture, and for about two weeks it sat wrapped up on the side with me wondering what on earth posessed me to buy it.
When I did finally pluck up the courage to read it I was so glad I did. It not only serves as the most wonderful food porn, but it's non-patronising and really easy to follow.
Not only do I love lusting over the sound of the confections, I really really enjoy baking them. I've had only one item go awry-the courgette cake-but even as a sunken mess it tasted fantastic.
I think anyone who loves cakes should have this on their shelf.

Wonderful, Simply Wonderful - Rated
I've had this book ever since it came out, but the only reason I'm writing this review now is because I feel the need to defend Nigella's recipes. Any person who says her recipes are 'guesstimates' either doesn't own this book or hasn't ever cooked from it.Of the 100+ cookbooks I own, this is the one I've used the most and have yet to come across a recipe that has failed. If you love to bake then you must have this book and if you love to cook, then it is imperative that you own all her books.

Enjoyable to read but... - Rated
I don't think the quanties in the recipes are right. I have watched Nigella on the T.V. and she rarely measures things out. She cooks like my Mum, by sight. Therefore, like my mum, the quanties in the recipes are 'guesstimates'. I much prefer Mary Berrys books as you know if you follow exactly as she she says you'll get the cake/meal etc she promises.

Essential Kitchen Staple - Rated
In every kitchen there are essential staples that allow you to create really great food and without which no kitchen would be complete.

This book is one of those staples. Every recipe sounds delicious but unlike some books, this one actually delivers every time.

Because this is the sort of book that you can rely on without fear of disappointment, and because of the quality of writing and the recipes themselves, I highly recommend it and I have bought it as presents for friends who all agree.

I keep coming back to the carrot cake muffins and the chocolate brownies recipes again and again-they're absolutely divine! People say to me they're the best they've ever tasted. Try them for yourself and see.

All Time Favourite Baking Bible - Rated
I had heard of the chef Nigella Lawson, the domestic goddess, but I was yet to read one of her books or try her recipes. I bought this last year as a gift for myself, and I must admit that the first thing to attract me to the book was the cover! Very pretty and feminine. But once I got home and curled up with the book and a cup of tea, I realised just why Nigella is known as the domestic goddess; the recipes are out of this world! I looked through the entire book and found lots of recipes that I was itching to make, and the illustrations are gorgeous, a visually stunning baking guide. The book has something for everyone, even if you do not have a sweet tooth, it also contains savoury recipes. The cheese and onion pasties went down a treat, and the pizza rustica was just delicious and unusual too. My favourite recipe was the sour cream chocolate cake, it sounds strange adding soured cream to a cake, but the result was a moist cake, not temple achingly sweet yet still gooey and chocolatey. And the cheesecakes were perfect, much better than the shop bought artificial creations we are accustomed to. Overall I would say that this is the best baking book I have ever read, and I have read a lot of Delia and Mary Berry too. Nigella deserves her domestic goddess name tag and this book is not only a joy to look at but is packed full of some of the best recipes you would ever see.