• patsy_h405h9 on February 21, 2026

  If you were only allowed one cookbook for baking....this is the book you should choose! This book covers techniques and lots of different recipes. Everything I've made from this book is fantastic.

• Linds on July 27, 2010

  A fantastic combination of primer and continued education....Martha combines the basics and the advanced skill set in a very good way. Covers everything from crackers to pies to wedding cakes. So delicious.

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Cream cheese and chive biscuits

  • rionafaith on July 23, 2016

    Martha warns that this dough is "a bit sticky", but I found it so incredibly sticky that it was very difficult to work with. I made this in the food processor, and as I was adding the buttermilk I could see that it was very wet so I didn't add the last 1/4 cup... I can't imagine how sticky it would have been if I added the listed amount of milk. It was almost impossible to knead and I ended up incorporating quite a bit more flour, and chilling it before trying to start the turning process, which made it much easier. Once baked though, these are delicious!

• Blueberry muffins

  • BethNH on September 10, 2017

    Searching for a blueberry muffin recipe that used only ingredients I had on hand proved to be much more difficult than anticipated. I used some wonderful hand picked blueberries but the muffins were lacking in flavor. Perhaps that's why most of the recipes used sour cream, buttermilk, or citrus. We all ate them and enjoyed them enough but I'd use a different recipe next time. The next morning the muffins were quite delicious split down the middle, buttered, and grilled in a pan.

• Banana-nut bread

  • vickster on November 17, 2020

    My favorite banana bread and I have made it many times. I toast the walnuts and add chopped semi-sweet chocolate and coconut.

• Pumpkin bread

  • Rachaelsb on April 18, 2020

    Not as strong in flavor (pumpkin and spices) as would have liked but still satisfying bread.

• Cornbread

  • stef on May 29, 2016

    A quick cornbread. It was nice and moist. I omitted the corn.

• Cherry-streusel coffee cake

  • kitchen_chick on November 23, 2019

    I’m giving it four stars with modifications. One cup of tart cherries is not nearly enough. I used two cups. I also substituted full fat lactose-free yogurt for the sour cream. I reduced the sugar in the cake by 25%. This resulted in a mildly sweet cake that we really liked. (And I didn’t use the glaze, which also adds sweetness.) People used to sweeter deserts will want to use the full amount and/or use the glaze. The batter was really gloppy and hard to spread and seemed insufficient for the pan, but it did rise a lot. With the additional cherries I put the first cup as the recipe describes and the second cup on top under the streusel topping.

• Classic crumb cake

  • Salt on July 16, 2011

    Outstanding! I added a layer of chopped strawberries before the streusel. It doesn't get better than this one. Have made several crumb cakes and this is the keeper. Highly recommended.

• Pear-spice bundt cake

  • Jane on August 10, 2014

    According to a comment I saw online, this takes 65 minutes to bake at 350, not the 35-40 minutes in the recipe.

• Classic pound cake

  • spencercooks on June 27, 2020

    I made this recipe exactly according to the ingredients and directions and it did not turn out. After the stated baking time and temperature I checked it with a cake tester (came out clean) and the center was almost completely liquid. Had I baked it longer I don't think the center would have finished baking before the outside was completely burned. If you do decide to try this recipe, place a sheet pan on the shelf below your loaf pan. The entire cake was swimming in butter while it baked.

  • kshell on August 09, 2024

    Having just made a perfectly acceptable pound cake from another book, I was reminded of this failure of a recipe and feel oddly gratified to see that someone else struggled with it. I was gifted this book soon after it came out, when I was an inexperienced baker. In my recollection there was too much batter for the pan, and it stayed very liquid while burning on the outside. I had to throw it out. Tears were probably shed. I assumed I was the problem, and a few years later, still on a student budget, spent another small fortune on butter and gave it another go. I was more confident in the kitchen but had an identical experience and tossed the inedible end result. This recipe does not work.

• Marble cake with white-chocolate glaze

  • Sparkles75 on March 31, 2019

    Saw elsewhere this recipe had good reviews so took a chance and baked it for father-in-law's birthday. Everyone loved the cake and it was almost gone within 20 minutes. The birthday boy had 4 slices which says it all. It's not a grand showstopper of a cake but the flavour and texture is just lovely. The only change I made was to add a tsp of vanilla to the white chocolate glaze.

• White chocolate-butterscotch cookies

  • Francesca71 on November 23, 2014

    Good but a bit too sweet for me.

• Jam crumb bars

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 122 -- These were super yummy, but I would use a bit more jam next time as it ended up being a pretty thin layer.

• French almond macaroons

  • Rachaelsb on May 04, 2020

    Great treat with yummy almond chewy llavor!!! Used the strawberry filling.

• One-bowl chocolate cupcakes

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 168 -- I've made these a couple times. Great base choc. cupcake recipe of the light and fluffy variety. Should really sift the flour -- I was lazy last time and didn't, and there were a couple visible white lumps on top. (Not really an issue once they were frosted.)

  • kitchen_chick on May 28, 2017

    One of my go-to recipes for chocolate layer cakes.

• White cupcakes with strawberry buttercream

  • kitchen_chick on May 28, 2017

    I've made this as the layer cake version. Great cake.

• Apricot-cherry upside-down cake

  • anya_sf on May 24, 2020

    Just delicious. This cake should not have turned out for me, as I messed up my timing with dinner, so I had to "pause" the cake right at the point of whipping the egg whites (left them partially whipped for an hour). When I finished whipping them, I forgot to add the final 1/4 cup sugar, so I just stirred it into the batter at the end. The cake still turned out great. The only problem I had was spreading the butter-sugar mixture onto the parchment; it wanted to stick to the spatula, not the parchment, and I ended up using my fingers to dollop it around. I might melt the butter next time. The cake itself was moist, tender, and almondy, with a slight crunch from the cornmeal. Even my underripe apricots tasted good.

• Lemon madeleines

  • anya_sf on May 25, 2020

    Delicious - sweet, tender, and super lemony. I didn't measure the zest, just eyeballed it - zested 4 large lemons. Made the batter a day ahead. I just own one 16-mold pan and a mini pan and got 16 regular madeleines + 14 mini ones (those baked in 8 minutes).

• Mocha buttercream

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 213 -- So good! Used on one-bowl chocolate cupcakes (from the same book, p. 168). Recipe makes enough to pipe tall swirls on 2 dozen cupcakes with a bit left over. Could maybe add more espresso powder with the same amount of water to make the coffee flavor even stronger.

• Classic apple pie

  • luolili on February 17, 2018

    I make this pie with Martha's pate brise for the crust every Thanksgiving, and it is amazing. I go easy on the lemon juice, and add a pinch of cloves. But don't use honey crisp apples or it makes wayyy too much juice in the pie and you have to pour it out! Granny Smith always works great.

• Gooseberry pie

  • Nancith on December 04, 2016

    If you have gooseberries, this is a great way to use them. The amount of sugar used left a little tartness to the filling, which was nice. Warning: don't use frozen berries, or let them thaw first. My filling using frozen gooseberries was extremely runny, even after increasing the amount of instant tapioca.

• Apple crumb pie

  • mfto on December 18, 2010

    p. 237 - this pie recipe includes a recipe for Almond Crumb Crust p. 238 which is not included in the Index.

• Pumpkin pie

  • Nancith on December 04, 2016

    This pie has a creamy smooth filling, but it lacks some zing. It is more mildly spiced than other pumpkin pies I've made, so my spice-loving family was a bit underwhelmed. Probably will make again, but add some ground cloves & allspice.

• Summer fruit tart with lavender syrup

  • PatriciaScarpin on June 22, 2011

    I've adapted this recipe a little to make a blueberry tart: http://technicolorkitcheninenglish.blogspot.com/2011/06/summer-blueberry-tart-and-nice.html

• Fruit curd tartlets

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 258 -- Made these for a party a while back with both lemon and lime curds and they went fast! Kind of a pain to get out of the mini tart shells, of course. I didn't make the meringue topping, they were fine without.

• Cherry-frangipane galette

  • anya_sf on June 01, 2021

    I made 1/2 recipe using 1 sheet of store-bought puff pastry (1/2 package). Since the pastry was rectangular, I didn't bother rolling it into an oval. Froze the pastry for 45 min rather than 15 before topping with cherries and baking; it took 5 extra minutes to bake. Delicious, not too sweet, good with ice cream.

• Sausage and feta hand pies

  • SerenaYLee on October 19, 2022

    1) Makes enough filling for 1.5x pate brisee recipe. 2) Use one fennel bulb, about 0.5 lb.

• Olive-oil bread

  • rglo820 on December 05, 2017

    This is a great recipe if you don't want to deal with kneading but you need a loaf of bread same-day. The olive oil keep it ultra moist for several days, so it's a great one to have on hand for toast, grilled bread, etc.

• Danish dough

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 334 -- Made these a couple years ago, and haven't felt the need to since... Lots of work, like any laminated pastry, but the instructions are very straightforward so it's really just a matter of time. Made the Prune Pinwheels (p. 336) and Apricot Bow Ties (p. 338).

• Chocolate babkas

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 352 -- SO GOOD. I'm a jewish girl from Brooklyn, so I've eaten my fair share of babkas, and this is the best one I know. Have made these several times... only problem is the recipe makes 3 loaves and isn't easily reduced, which is dangerous. But the loaves freeze well wrapped in plastic and foil!

• Swiss meringue buttercream

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 386 -- This is my go-to basic frosting.

  • kitchen_chick on May 28, 2017

    My go-to frosting recipe, too. The chocolate version is also great.

• Lemon curd

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 390 -- Simple, rich, and delicious. Used as filling for the fruit curd tartlets on p. 258

• Lime curd

  • rionafaith on June 30, 2016

    p. 390 -- I made this in addition to the lemon curd on the same page to make fruit curd tartlets (p. 258), and I added a drop of green food coloring to this batch to distinguish it from the lemon. BAD IDEA. Even though I used the teensiest amount the color ended up radioactive-looking. Other than that, it was delicious. Just stay away from the food color!

• Technicolor Kitchen

  ...insanely easy to make and super tasty, they were a hit with the coworkers - every time I ran into someone walking down the corridors they would say "OMG, those pistachio cookies were amazing!"

  Full review