Babycakes Cookbook Review

Is The Babycakes Cookbook Right For You?

Ask Yourself These Questions Before Buying This Cookbook:

1. Do you love to bake?
2. Do you like alternative baking and/or are committed to learning how to bake alternative treats?
3. Are you willing to invest in the ingredients? (The first couple things that you make are the biggest investment...other than that, once you have most of the flours and starches, your biggest cost is going to be keeping your coconut oil and agave nectar in stock.)
4. Are you willing to follow instructions explicitly and read the information in the beginning of the cookbook before getting started? Many of the negative reviews online have made substitutions and are then frustrated when things have gone wrong. I'll admit, on occasion, I do make some substitutions on my own when I'm cooking out of Babycakes. So far, I haven't experienced anything close to a disaster and have had good success even when I've subbed. However, especially the first time, it's important to make the recipe as is.

Cooking Through the Babycakes cookbook

My Experiences with the Recipes

• Zuccini Muffins
  These muffins came out nice, with good flavor and texture. Would I make them again? Yes. They may not be my next "go-to" recipe, but they are definitely worth making again. The only change I made is to decrease the amount of ginger from 1 tbsp to 1tsp. This is a personal preference as I do not like a strong ginger flavor.
• Blueberry Muffins
  Love these Babycakes muffins. This is a wonderfully easy recipe to make. They are also quick to make and consistently come out moist and with great texture. I've made these several times and always had great results. This recipe calls for spelt flour and once I did not have enough so I substituted 1 cup of Bob's Gar-Fav flour with great results. I have also substituted raspberries for the blueberries or done a mixed berry muffin. These muffins are slightly sweeter than I normally prefer, but have a more complex flavor that complements the sweetness. The batter tastes a little like graham crackers once cooked. An excellent recipe.
• Spelt Biscuits
  These have become a "go-to" recipe in our house. They are SUPER quick (think 15 minute total) and easy and always come out fantastic! The recipe calls specifically for white spelt flour. I have used both successfully, but they do come out a little tastier if you use the white spelt instead of regular. They really do taste very similar to traditional Southern biscuits.
• Raspberry Scones
  Another quick and easy recipe. I made these for some girlfriends one day and they preferred them to more traditional scones, without knowing they were gluten free. Very nice taste, the perfect amount of sweetness, and a lovely texture. For an added bonus, I like to sprinkle mine with coarse sugar on top. I think it makes them feel extra special.
• Chocolate Shortbread Scones with Caramelized Bananas
  This may have been the recipe I was most excited to make out of the entire cookbook. It's a longer recipe with several steps, but was easy to make. I was disappointed with the scones when all was said and done. I may have cooked them a bit too long so it could be that they were a little too dry. I also found them incredibly rich...almost too rich. All in all, I would say they were just ok. However, I may attempt these again at some point, especially now that I have mastered the frosting recipe.
• Johnnycakes
  Super easy recipe. Flavor was wonderful, but they were too dry...and I followed the recipe word for word. I'll make them again and add a little hot water if the batter is too crumbly or possibly up the oil just a bit to get them to hold together. These have lots of potential, just needed more moisture.
• Banana Bread/Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
  I think this is one of the best recipes in the book. I've made it with and without the chocolate chips and I prefer it without, although it was delicious both ways. I've made this one several times and when out of ingredients have made some substitutions in a pinch. Once I used turbinado and hot water instead of agave nectar (Erin McKenna give instructions for how to substitute these for one another.) I have also used coconut milk in place of rice milk and left out the cinnamon. Each time these came out fantastic. I've served this for friends who have also said it was amazing (not knowing it was gluten-free).
• Gingerbread
  I feel it's fair to say up front that I am not a huge fan of gingerbread unless it has a very subtle flavor. That said, this recipe is far less than subtle. It was edible, but not awesome. It also did not bake nearly as well as the other Babycakes goods have cooked. I split the recipe in 2 pans (although the recipe calls for only one) and I still had to cook it twice as long as the recipe called for and even after that, I still had parts of the gingerbread with uncooked batter. I didn't like the molasses flavor in the bread. I will say that it was better with a lot of the frosting spread on top, but I won't make this one again. In case you're wondering, I did not make any substitutions or variations on this recipe; I followed it to the letter.
• Gingersnaps
  These gingersnap cookies came out much better than the gingerbread recipe. I thought the flavor on these was good all around. I did cut down the ginger after making the bread and finding it too strong for my tastes, so this might be why I liked this flavor better. I did think that the flour was a little bean-y tasting, so if I make these again, I may do some flour substituting. I also liked these gingersnap cookies much better when they were flat and crispy rather than thicker and chewy.
• Chocolate Chip Cookies / Cookie Sandwiches
  OH MY...THESE ARE AWESOME! Thank you, Babycakes, for these wonderful cookies! My whole family LOVES these cookies and we make them again and again. A couple quick tips I've found useful: 1) the cookies bake better when you flatten them a little with the palm of your hand after putting them on the cookie sheet before putting them in the oven 2) I also like to add a couple more tablespoons of flour to thicken them slightly as I like a slightly thicker and chewier cookie 3) If the dough is very thin looking, it helps to put it in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes to firm it up. This helps the cookies not to flatten completely and thus crumble as soon as you take them off the cookie sheet.