NAOMI TOILALO, HARPERCOLLINS, $50
Fans of The Great Kiwi Bake Off will know Naomi Toilalo as the TV presenter turned baking whizz who charmed us with her 3D-biscuit selfie. WhānauKai is a book version of Naomi’s online baking show that uses kai as a tool to teach the beauty of te reo Māori. Not being a te reo speaker I wondered if the format – the recipes are bilingual with instructions given in alternate sentences of English and te reo – would be distracting or difficult to follow, but I didn’t find it so. True, there’s nothing here that you can’t find in myriad other baking books, but Naomi’s presentation elevates the likes of cheese scones, lemon meringue pie and banana cake from everyday bakes into something more, and makes short work of feeding a hungry family without fancy ingredients. I liked that most recipes are broken down into steps, so you can bake a luscious chocolate cake topped with ganache and stop right there with great results, but if you have the time and talent you can go next level and make a showstopper with chocolate petals and torched swiss meringue. Even the fanciest of cakes don’t look unachievable, if you can find your way around a piping bag and blow torch. I did note that some of the recipes have already been featured on the channel, but if you prefer a book to a video then jump in. TRACY WHITMEY
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