Claire Ptak and Henry Dimbleby's Leon Happy Baking cookbook review: 'A godsend for amateur bakers'

Henry Dimbleby, the man behind Leon Restaurants, and Claire Ptak, the baker who created the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s wedding cake, collaborated to write Leon Happy Baking (Hachette UK, £16.99, out now). The book focuses on comfort food – sweet and savoury – with many recipes free of wheat, dairy, and refined sugar. There are even vegan options peppered throughout. The recipes are simple, aimed at beginners and pros alike.

The approach

Recipes are concise and full of useful hints (how a pair of knives can replace a food processor, for example). In addition, the final 24 pages are devoted to a fantastic “Baking Basics” guide, explaining the differences between various flours, fats, or natural sweeteners, baking techniques, and even a quick custard recipe. This section is a godsend for amateur bakers, but there are recipes that will challenge experts, too, such as the show-stopping Technicolour Dream Cake and the sourdough.

The recipes

Having baked quite a few Victoria sponges before, I came to Leon Happy Baking hoping to challenge myself with something new – though, as a relatively inexperienced baker, I didn’t want anything too technical. I selected three recipes focusing on various aspects of baking: savoury, biscuits, and puddings.

Cheese empanadas

A basic pastry, mozzarella cheese, onions; glaze with egg and bake for 25 minutes. Easy. The only issue was that my pastry was a bit soggy, so I needed to add quite a lot more flour than originally instructed. Still, these came together brilliantly and were so moreish when consumed fresh from the oven that I finished half of them in one sitting.

Strawberry and blueberry cobbler

Having spent my childhood watching American television and films, I’d heard about cobblers but never eaten one. The cobbler itself is a kind of combination of the American biscuit and our British scone. Again, I struggled with the texture of my dough and though it came together eventually, it proved difficult to work with and a bit too crumbly after baking. There was actually a tip for combining butter and flour in the next recipe involving quickly raking through both with a pair of knives to combine it without melting the butter, which I wish I’d known for this one.

Elisabeth’s lemon bars

The easiest recipe to follow, but it didn’t end well. My baking tin was too small, so my shortbread came out quite thick. The lemon topping only made things worse. Rather than sitting on top of my shortbread, it seeped through, creating a soggy bottom that would give Mary Berry nightmares. Still, hacking the bottom off the tin with a knife, I was left with some vaguely lemony shortbread, which was scrumptious.

The verdict

It’s fair to say that my creations weren’t exactly a barnstorming success, but even so, I had a lot of fun with Dimbleby and Ptak’s colourful new book. The recipes are well pitched for beginners like me, many of them emphasising the importance of taking care and going slowly, without using complex terms. Even my failures showed promise and still tasted delicious, and I’m encouraged to keep trying.