Customer Reviews

Easiest and Best Coffee Cakes and Quick Breads: Great Breads and Cakes to Stir and Bake

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is, by far, the most treasured cookbook in my collection. I have tried nearly every recipe in the book, and they are all excellent. I bake regularly for my family and friends, and have a reputation as being a "fantastic" baker, and it's all because of Renny Darling's fabulous recipes. The instructions are clear, easy to read and follow, and the outcome is always perfect. There are wonderful recipes for banana breads, cranberry breads, pumpkin breads, as well as cakes, muffins, and scones. Renny also indicates how to change cooking time to adapt quick bread recipes to muffins, or cakes and vice versa. You will not be disappointed in this "Cake Bible."

I had never heard of Renny Darling before my husband brought this book home to me as a gift for our first wedding anniversary. That was over five years ago, and I continue to use this cookbook for sweet treats more than any other baking/dessert cookbook I own. Darling's philosophy is that baking is a labor of love, but in this book, as she says in her introduction, she has taken out the labor--these recipes really ARE easy to make, and use ingredients that are simple, not impossible to find. This cookbook has no photographs in it, but they aren't needed! Just casually perusing the book will get you inspired to start baking! Darling includes muffins, lots of quick breads and coffee cakes, and also some more sophisticated tortes which are still quite easy to prepare. If you like to bake at all, you must have this cookbook in your collection--you will not regret buying it!

This is the cookbook I use to prepare all of our family's birthday cakes, and I have also obtained my "signature" banana bread recipe from it: Sour Cream Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze. I have made it almost a dozen times, and love to give it away to friends and neighbors, who always rave about it and often request the recipe for themselves. The book includes lots of easy glazes, icings and other toppings which are so quick to prepare and make the products seem so extra-special. Among my other favorites are: Chocolate Pumpkin Pecan Cake, Fresh Apple Sour Cream Cake, Spiced Carrot and Orange Bread, and Danish Apple Strudel.

I love baking and have hundreds of cookbooks to prove it. I have all kinds of books that are supposed to "baking bibles" with intricate instructions on how to bake perfect cakes. But since I bought this book, I have barely opened the others. The methods in this book are so simple and the results are so moist and delicious that you almost feel as if you cheated. This is a must have for bakers of all skill levels.

Out of the hundreds of cookbooks that I have, this one is reached for most often. Easy to follow instructions, no fussy equipment needed and the muffin and quick bread recipes have won me rave reviews! Well worth the money!

I am ordering a copy of this cookbook for my sister. Why? Because I'm tire dof having to copy out recipes from it for her! I love this cookbook for the practical, easy recipes. Just because they are easy, however, doesn't mean they aren't fabulous, creative, and incredibly versatile!There is something here for everyone - from downhome cornbreads to fruited holiday treats. You need to make something quick to go with dinner? soup? Breakfast? It's in here. You have company coming on short notice? Guests for the holidays? No problem. These recipes are delicious - but you are counting calories, this is not the book for you. Renny's recipes are delicious and satisfying because she doesn't cut corners(or calories) and she gets you a rich, moist, great result every time.

I have about 300 cookbooks from many well-known and not so well-known authors, and by far this is the best book I've ever bought! All recipes are very easy, with simple ingredients that we all have at home. As I live in Mexico, sometimes I can't find certain mixes that the cookbooks from the USA request for, or they are too expensive, so that this book with recipes made from scratch is excellent. You don't have to be an expert baker to make them. I always try to buy books with pictures because I like to see how does the final product will look like, but believe me, this book is so good that you won't need any picture at all! (It doesn't have a single picture)Instructions are very easy, it has tips, advices,sizes of baking pans, kind of pans, etc. Don't think that as it is a very old book, recipes are bad, no way! they are great! Buy it you won't be dissapointed.!

I tried two quick bread recipes - Rhubarb Oatmeal Bread, pg 157, and Chocolate Chip Banana, pg 132. Good taste but both recipes created loaves with fallen centers. I tried both recipes 2-3 times with different flours, temps and got the same result. I am getting frustrated since my goal was to create gift breads but I can not give these because of their appearance.

I also tried the Greek Lemon Bread, pg 251 - it was OK, a little sweet for my taste. I did not have a problem with a sunken center with this bread.

Also, there is absolutely no help in troubleshooting problems. I expect more from a cook who trained at the Cordon Bleu, at least recipes that turn out. I am disappointed.

My father gave me a copy of this book in the early 1990's, and I put it on a shelf and forgot about it. Fast forward several years . . . I was cooking my way through every banana bread recipe I could find to discover the very best, and by chance I checked this volume for a recipe. After having baked dozens of banana bread recipes from other authors, I discovered that Renny Darling's recipe blew all the others away. (I make the Sour Cream Banana Bread with Chocolate Glaze, but leave out the chocolate chips/nuts/glaze.) It is by far the very best, beating Gale Gand and King Arthur (that used to be my favorites). I have since made several other recipes from the book, which are also wonderful, but I have many repeat requests for the banana bread so that one reigns supreme. This book is a really well kept secret. By the way, if Amazon doesn't have it in stock, you can still get it from Renny Darling's website. Her price and reliability may be better than a "marketplace" purchase.