The Best Baking Recipes I Keep Coming Back To

I adore baking, and this is my personal record of the recipes I keep coming back to. These are the ones I’ve tested again and again, the ones I’d confidently call the best version of that particular thing. Some are classics, some are South African, some are borrowed from people I admire. All of them are worth making.

One of the big missions in my blogging life has always been to find and publish the best version of a baked good I love. I’ve hung up my apron on quite a few already, and this list is proof of that. There are still a few I’m searching for, and that quest keeps me motivated to carry on doing what I’m doing.

Biscuits, Cookies and Bars

My grandmother Betty’s legendary crunchies

One of the most popular posts on Drizzle and Dip, and for good reason. This is the best and only South African crunchie recipe you will ever need.

My ultimate shortbread recipe

I bake my shortbread longer for a delicious, darker bake and use toasted milk powder to amplify the browned-butter flavour. This is the one I’ve been chasing for years.

Whipped vanilla shortbread

Melt-in-the-mouth shortbread biscuits that are fun to make with kids and completely addictive to eat.

Alison Roman’s salted butter choc chip shortbread cookies

Everything it’s cracked up to be. My best-ever chocolate chip cookie uses macadamia nuts and follows this recipe as the base.

Easy ginger and honey biscuits

Made in one bowl, by hand, with no fuss. You can make them soft or crunchy depending on how long you bake them.

Sbrisolona

A classic Italian almond and polenta crumb cake that you break into shards to serve. Hints of orange and vanilla, a very crunchy texture, and so moreish you can’t stop going back for more.

Apple pie crumble bars

These taste like shortbread and apple crumble got together and made a love child. I’ve added fruit mince to the apple, but jam and apple work brilliantly too. The crunchy flaked almonds on top are the best part.

Decadent chocolate brownies with Nutella

My favourite brownie recipe. The Nutella topping takes it over the edge, but they are perfectly good without it too.

Cakes and Cupcakes

Maybe the best chocolate cake by Ina Garten

Widely regarded as the best chocolate cake in the world, and I’m inclined to agree. A cup of coffee in the batter intensifies the chocolate flavour, and the firmness makes it easy to frost beautifully.

My best spiced date cake with maple cream cheese frosting

My ultimate date cake paired with my best maple cream cheese frosting. A combination I will make forever.

The best tres leches cake

This well-known South American cake has a sublime, almost impossibly moist texture. I ended up using six types of milk instead of three, so it should really be called a seis leches cake.

Hummingbird cake with cream cheese frosting

One of my all-time favourites. Pineapple, banana, and my go-to cream cheese frosting. You can also make this as a hummingbird sheet cake which makes feeding a crowd much easier.

My best carrot cake

The carrot cake I keep returning to. Moist, well-spiced, and finished with cream cheese frosting.

Victorian sponge cake with strawberry jam

A classic and utterly delicious cake. Simple, perfect, timeless.

Orange cake with orange buttercream

This is one of my favourite cakes of all time, and I adore orange-flavoured cakes. I have also made. it using naartjies (mandarins). This is an excellent basic sponge formulation to adapt with other flavours.

Red velvet cupcakes

The recipe comes from Magnolia Bakery in NYC, the mothership of cupcakes. I use my own cream cheese frosting on them.

Fruit cupcakes with spiced vanilla buttercream

I have taken my best vanilla cupcake recipe and added a little fruit and spice to make these delicious cupcakes, lovely for the festive season or any time.

Olive oil chiffon cake

If there was ever a cake designed to eat for breakfast, this is it. Serve with fresh ricotta, sliced stone fruit and a generous drizzle of honey.

Purple plum torte

This famous torte, which I first spotted on Smitten Kitchen, is one of the easiest and most delicious baked treats you can make when plums are in season. It’s Marion Burro’s famous recipe, originally published in the New York Times. They bake into the batter, forming gorgeous jam-like pools. Perfect served with whipped cream. I have also made it with apricots when they are in season, which was also delicious.

Easy madeleines with lavender and lemon sugar

A fantastic recipe for madeleines, and the easiest I’ve found. Play around with the flavours to suit your taste. A riff on this is the lemon and poppy seed madeleine with a lemon glaze.

Easy stout fruit cake

Dug from my maternal grandmother’s recipe book and adapted with stout instead of water. Everything is mixed by hand and it could not be simpler.

Loaves & Muffins

Possibly the best banana bread ever

Made with overripe bananas and topped with a crunchy sugar-and-walnut crust.

Banana bread with pecans and sultanas

Since I can’t choose which of these two banana bread recipes is best, I have added this one. I also love the recipe with cranberries & walnuts that I published in my first cookbook.

Pear and halva crumble loaf with pecans, honey and maple

I made this loaf years ago and have not stopped dreaming about it since. Insanely good, adapted from Donna Hay.

Orange and pecan muffins

These muffins are perfection. The trick is using a whole seedless orange blitzed into the batter. So easy, so good.

The best morning glory muffins

Packed with good things and genuinely delicious. The kind of muffin you feel good about eating.

Blueberry and apricot muffins

A superb fruit muffin recipe you can adapt to whatever you have. The apricot and blueberry combination is a favourite of mine.

Desserts

The best chocolate malva pudding

This is the best chocolate pudding I have ever made.

Chocolate fondant

This chocolate fondant is the best fondant recipe I know and is the perfect dinner party dessert, as you can make it in advance. It has a delicious filling that takes it to the next level.

Apple and strawberry crumble

My all-time favourite apple crumble recipe. Make the crème Anglaise yourself — it makes all the difference. I also did a rendition with mixed berries that I love.

Nectarine, blueberry and bourbon pie

The most delicious fruit pie under a cloak of crisp buttery pastry. One I will make again and again.

My best lemon meringue pie

Sharp lemon curd, crisp pastry, and a towering Italian meringue. My best version of this classic.

Cherry meringue tartlets

These made it to the cover of my second cookbook, Sweet. Perfect little tarts.

Pink swirl meringues with pomegranate syrup

More like mini pavlovas. Served with fresh cream and pomegranate syrup poured over, they are a real showstopper.

Chocolate nemesis

The famous chocolate nemesis from the River Cafe. Essentially a baked chocolate mousse, and the ultimate way to end a dinner party.

Cheesecake brownies with chocolate Romany Creams

Cheesecake is swirled through brownies to make a delicious dessert. You could omit the Romany Creams. If you wanted. This recipe is so delicious.

Cheesecake

I feel like cheesecake needs its own category, although it falls under dessert. Of all the baked cheesecake recipes, Basque is my favourite. I like that it’s a low-fuss process with no crust or water bath, and you get a really amazing result. I have made a full cake (which I think tastes better than the San Sebastian original) and a loaf cake option (which can also be made in an air fryer). I love my chocolate loaf Basque cheesecake the most (also available in oven or air fryer options). You can double the quantities of the loaf recipes if you want to make a full round cake,

My best baked cheesecake recipe is in my second book, so I need to publish it here at some point. This Instant Pot version is that recipe scaled down to fit into an Instant Pot. I think I scaled it down by a third.

Bread

Stout hot cross buns

I’m all for fruity hot cross buns being eaten year-round. Toasted with butter dripping through, they are a thing of perfection.

Easy no-knead overnight focaccia

This is my favourite easy overnight focaccia recipe and perfect for beginning bakers.

Easy ciabatta

This is the best and easiest ciabatta recipe I know, made with a stand mixer.

Easy whole wheat bread

This is a reader favourite. The recipe hails from La Motte and is their Ouma brood.

The best cinnamon bun recipe (bread part)

The dough for this cinnamon bun is the best I have made, so I am including it here in case you are looking for the ultimate recipe. It also makes the perfect amount to fit my baking tray. Often, I will bake something, and it doesn’t quite fit into the pans I have. Although I do like the frangipane filling, my preference is a classic cinnamon, sugar and butter filling. I do love these seasonal filling ideas too: Hot cross cinnamon sticky buns & Mince pie cinnamon buns.

Scones

My perfect cheese scones

My ultimate cheese scones. Light, fluffy, and very cheesy.

Butternut scones with cheese and chives

My favourite savoury scone, and so easy to make. The butternut adds a lovely sweetness that works beautifully with the cheese.

Easy raisin scones

These are definitely amongst my favourite scone recipes of all time.

Bueberry & lemon scones

I love this non-traditional scone recipe that’s packed with juicy blueberries and has a delicious sugar crust.

Pomegranate scones

Sweet scones with fresh pomegranate pearls that burst in your mouth. Pretty damn fine. I also have a roundup of my five favourite scone recipes if you want more.

Rusks

My best buttermilk and bran rusks

These are my favourite rusk and have a very crunchy and lighter texture.

My best classic South African buttermilk rusks

These taste like the original Ouma rusks (but better).

Quiche

Bacon & zucchini quiche

If you are looking for a fab savoury quiche recipe, this is it.

The best cheese and onion quiche

This is an Ina Paarman recipe, and it’s probably my favourite quiche of all time. The pastry base has cheese in it for added deliciousness.

My best cake recipes

All my baking recipes

BUY MY eBOOK COMFORT

 Find me on Instagram & Pinterest