Beatrix Bakes: Another Slice

The second book from Australian baker Natalie Paull demonstrates the same combination of rigor and imagination which made her earlier Beatrix Bakes a hit with serious bakers. (Who is Beatrix, you ask? Beatrix is the feminine form of “beater,” that essential baker’s tool.)

If you’re wondering if you are a serious baker yet, we’d say that Paull is very happy to support you in that ambition. The book is rich with advice on technique and ingredients. Even simple recipes look long because instruction is abundant.

There’s a section called “cake coaching,” and another called “caramel control.” And a chapter entitled “Day-off baking projects” for those times when you really want to immerse yourself in making chocolate prune babka or sumac blackberry shortcakes with kefir cream.

For days with less time on your hands, you’ll have plenty of other options. For example:

• Salty sweet lime crisp sandwich cookies

• Vanilla malted milk custard tart

• Hazelnut layer cake with roasted cherries

• Apricot, pineapple, and vanilla jam

Fresh, with very little that we have seen before.

Measurements are by weight (metric and Imperial).

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.