Every now and again I get invited to a press launch and I’m not quite sure whether I need to go with my Interior Stylist head on or my cake blogger one. Most of the time there’s a cross over and it doesn’t really matter. That was exactly the case with the launch of Mary Berry and Lucy Young’s latest book collaboration The Complete Aga Cookbook, Headline

When I arrived at the launch there weren’t many bloggers there, but there also weren’t many writers so I’m thinking that one of the lovely PR girls follows CakesBakesAndCookies.com and that’s how I came to be there. To be honest I didn’t really care why I was there. I was there and so were Mary Berry and Lucy Young.

I was beyond excited all day – a bit like a kid in a candy shop. I was determined to say hello to both of them – as you do. The event was in a great location – The Good Housekeeping Institute. All white walls and a bank of kitchen appliances – as you would expect. There were recipes from the book being passed around and of course champagne or was it prosecco?

The room was packed full of Mary and Lucy’s friends and family, people from Headline publishers, Aga people from head office, Georgia Glynn Smith the photographer and so many more. It was going to be hard but I was on a mission. 

Meeting Mary Berry and Lucy Young

First I thought I would say hello to Lucy. I interviewed her a back in April 2013 for the blog. I waited till she wasn’t talking to anyone then said “Hello, I’m EmmaMT from CakesBakesAndCookies.com” and before I could even say “I interviewed you a few years ago’ she threw her arms up in the air and with a big smile said “Ah Emma it’s so good to meet you!” She remembered me! I couldn’t believe it. I have been following her on Facebook since the interview as she’s so lovely and always has great things to say and she had noticed my ramblings on there. I was so flattered to say the least.

Lucy got called away and I found myself standing directly behind Mary Berry. She turned around and smiled then asked “So what do you do?” Just at that very moment Tim called. I mean timing!!! I declined my husband’s call – after all this was going to be my only chance We spoke for a few minutes before she too was whisked away to do her presentation – not before I grabbed a quick selfie. Well wouldn’t you? 

Mary and Lucy did their thank you’s and talked about the book and it was then that I realised I’d been speaking to people all night long and hadn’t even looked at the book. I headed over to the table where they were piled up and a minute later Lucy and Mary were sitting in front of me signing copies. I got one of course – Eeek! 

The Complete Aga Cookbook review

So before you switch off and think ‘but I don’t have an Aga!’ Don’t worry all the recipes in this book are suitable for ‘conventional ovens’ with oven temperatures and details of where to cook each recipe too.

If you do have an Aga and are never sure which oven to use there’s a picture of every style of Aga and what each oven is used for. Each recipe tells you how and where to cook each dish – simple stuff.

What you’ll get

The thing with Mary and Lucy’s cook books is that they are so easy to use. The ingredients are always easily available and the recipes always come out exactly as they should. This book has a lot of old favourites in it but you never get tired of them. They’re your fail safes and even though I have a few of Mary’s books I don’t think there are many duplicated recipes (I mean who minds another Victoria Sponge cake recipe? I don’t!) There’s over 150 recipes in here and as I was sitting reading through – because you don’t flick through a book like this, I found myself re-thinking what I’m planning to make for New Year’s Eve dinner. It’s mouth wateringly good.

The contents is as follows

• Breakfast and lunch
• Starters
• Main courses
• Fish
• Poultry and game
• Pork
• Lamb
• Beef
• Vegetable sides
• Pasta and Rice
• Afternoon tea
• Hot puddings and cold desserts

Normally I would skip straight to the back of a cook book and look at the cakes but I found myself looking at the preserving hints and tips first as I’m getting really into making Jam at the moment. Then I saw the French Onion soup recipe. That is my all time favourite soup after an absolutely freezing walk around Ground Zero after I did the New York marathon twelve years ago. Nothing warms you up like a big bowl of French onion soup.

There are loads of delicious looking tarts like the Lancashire cheese and rocket tart and the salmon en croute with asparagus which really looks delish. There are loads of worldly flavours throughout with recipes like pork noodle stir fry with it’s soy and rice wine vinegar flavouring and Nasi Goreng (as seen above) as well as traditionals like toad in the hole, beef lasagne and Coq au vin

The back pages

Oh yes, the best part of the book for bakers like us! Where to start? There’s tray bakes- chocolate fudge tray bake anyone? cupcakes, cherry cake, fruit cake with all the ingredients for all the sized cake tins, ‘wicked’ chocolate brownies, eclairs, bread, pear frangipane – I have to make this, double chocolate puddings (as seen below), bread and butter pudding, lime meringue roulade I could go on and on.

The Verdict

I love this book. It has everything I need in a cookbook and doesn’t duplicate what I already have on my bookshelves. It’s the kind of book that you can’t put down. The photography and styling are beautiful, light and airy – just as they should be – I just wish I could get the same effect when I take pics for this blog. I think this book would make a great addition to anyone’s Christmas list.

You can get a copy of The Aga Cookbook by Mary Berry and Lucy Young on Amazon by clicking the affiliate link below 

 The Complete Aga Cookbook by Mary Berry and Lucy Young – available on Amazon

EmmaMT x

Disclaimer: Thank you to Headline publishing for giving me a copy of this book at the press launch and a big thank you to Mary and Lucy for signing it! All words and thoughts in this post are my own ramblings.