For anyone who wants to get creative with cupcakes, this book is for you. Whether it’s for a birthday party or a special occasion (i.e. Baby Shower, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween) or you simply want to have some fun with your children in the kitchen, this book gets great reviews. I love that no baking skills or fancy pastry equipment is required so that anyone can give these imaginative designs a try. The problem will be trying to choose what to make as there are so many creative ideas.

Donna Hay is one of my all-time favorite cookbook authors. It’s nice to go back to the classics when cooking and this book does just that, however Donna updates the recipes with modern ingredients and techniques. There are step by step how to guides for many cooking methods so for anyone wanting to perfect classic dishes such as roasts, pies, risottos and lamb shanks, this book is for you too.

The beautiful styling in Donna’s books make them an absolute joy to read. This is the sweet version of her Modern Classics 1 book so it contains all of those yummy sweet classics (think Pavlovas, Pies,Puddings). Most recipes are quite simple and only contain between 5-8 ingredients . I purchased this book about 3 years after I got the first version so I am still testing and tasting my way through the book.

For anyone with fussy eaters, this book has lots of useful tips throughout the book about how to “hide” fruit and veg in your meals by using purees. It also includes many quotes and tips from other mums about what works for them when feeding children. It’s by no means just for toddlers so I can see myself referring to these family friendly recipes for years to come.