Features
The dessert cookbooks you need in your kitchen
by Malou Herkes
published on 3 January 2024, last updated on 23 September 2025
From Mary’s classic sponges to Ottolenghi’s stylish bakes, and from to rainbow-hued meringues to avant-garde ice cream flavours, these are our favourite dessert cookbooks to reinvigorate your recipe repertoire. With books dedicated to lighter bakes and vegan desserts too, there’s something for everyone in this collection.
75 laid-back bakes from the author of The Roasting Tin series
From traybakes to tarts, cupcakes to cookies
With recipes for every season, occasion and skill level
The Sweet Roasting Tin
From the author of the bestselling Roasting Tin cookbook series comes The Sweet Roasting Tin a collection of one-tin cakes, cookies, and bakes. Expect exciting flavour combinations, ingenious kitchen hacks, and clever store cupboard tips. With Rukmini’s signature ethos of “minimum effort, maximum flavour”, The Sweet Roasting Tin will do for baking what her previous books did for weeknight cooking.
A whirlwind tour of the wonders of fresh ice cream
Recipes for ice creams, sorbets, granitas and more
Fresh fruity flavours and decadent creamy delights
La Grotta Ices
Witty, playful, and accessible, Kitty Travers’ La Grotta Ices is as much a book you could read in bed as it is an authoritative guide to ice-cream making. With fun and truly innovative flavour combinations, from sea salt, rosemary & pine nut to papaya, green chilli & lime, this is ice cream as you’ve never enjoyed it before. Time to get some gelato in your life.
Ottolenghi’s cakes, bakes and desserts
Inspiring ideas for edible gifts
Dinner party and occasion showstoppers
Sweet
Yotam Ottolenghi and Helen Goh’s Sweet is everything you’d expect from an Ottolenghi cookbook: intricate recipes, stunning visuals, and inspired flavours that you just know will work. Packed with sumptuous ingredients like fig, rose petal, saffron, orange blossom, star anise, pistachio, cardamom and cinnamon, Sweet is a cookbook to inspire.
Meringue Girls: Everything Sweet
Meringue Girls: Everything Sweet is the second cook book from Alex Hoffler and Stacey O’Gorman, the duo behind the London-based pop-up bakery, a familiar sight at the city’s street food festivals. Expect unusual edible gifts, delectable confectionary and sweets in all colours of the rainbow.
A perfect guide for new bakers
250 foolproof baking recipes
The ultimate cakes and bakes from the nation’s favourite baker
Mary Berry’s Baking Bible
For something more classic, who better to turn to than the Queen of Cakes, Mary Berry. Her Baking Bible is the one-stop shop for popular bakes, from classic Victoria sponge and fudgey chocolate cake right through to muffins, scones and bread and butter pudding.
Delicious vegan versions of classic cakes
Failsafe vegan recipes for everything from bread to pastry
Show-stopping vegan desserts and sweet treats
Vegan Cakes and Other Bakes
Beautiful recipes from Claire Ptak, baker of Megan and Harry’s wedding cake
Delicious sweet and savoury bakes
Inspiration for everyday baking and special occasions
The Violet Bakery Cookbook
Open this book and you’ll soon see why Prince Harry and Meghan Markle chose Californian baker Claire Ptak to create their wedding cake. The Violet Bakery Cookbook is as beautiful as it is packed to the brim with inspiring recipes. Our favourite? It’s a toss up between the butterscotch blondies and the bakery’s famous cinnamon buns.
Feast your way through these authentic Cypriot recipes
Family favourite dishes for weekend feasts
Fresh and inspiring ideas for weeknight cooking
Taverna
While it’s not technically a dessert cookbook, Georgina Hayden’s Taverna has a sizeable section dedicated to the sweet treats inspired by her Cypriot-Greek heritage. Mediterranean-style pastries, honey-soaked baklavas, custard-filled pies and syrupy doughnuts – it’s a cookbook well worth owning for the desserts alone.
The Last Bite
Eat in sync with the seasons with recipes from Anna Higham’s The Last Bite and discover the “hows” and “whys” of dessert cooking. From rich ice creams, tart sherbets and floral syrups, Anna takes us on a journey of flavour and creativity and will keep you inspired long after you’ve finished cooking.
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