This compendium of baking offers an irresistible spread of delicious recipes for an extensive range of baked goods.

The book begins with a comprehensive techniques section, covering all ingredients, equipment and skills you will need to bake scones, muffins, tea breads, meringue, pastry, cakes and bread, including sections on how to line tins, bake blind, make a lattice top for a pie, or make a biscuit case for a cheesecake.

There is a profusion of tempting recipes, including everything from rustic cookies and traditional pies to sumptuous cakes and tortes, with traditional favorites such as Shortbread ranged alongside the more sophisticated Orange and Walnut Swiss Roll. For those wanting less calories in their diet, there is also a chapter of low fat cakes and bakes, each accompanied by nutritional information and detailed calorie counts. Rich, luxurious cakes like Nectarine Amaretto Cake or Raspberry Vacherin prove that low in fat doesn't have to mean low in taste.

If you want to bake your own bread, you'll find a huge selection in the chapters on bread making. Beginning with everyday staples like rye bread and granary baps, you can then move on to herb-flavored breads and fruit and nut breads. A section on international breads shows how easy it is to make British cottage loaf, French Kugelhopf, Italian focaccia, Turkish pitta bread and American bagels.

Fill your kitchen with the irresistible scents of baking with this guide.