I haven't tried to bake anything from this but just the intro about how baking helped her deal with depression and the instructions are worth five stars, never mind how anything actually turns out.

From "Chocolate, Chili, and Cardamom Tart": "[flatten] them with the blade of a wide knife and then [chop] them as though they insulted your mother."

If the recipes work out that'll just be gravy...or ganache.... ( )

I haven't tried to bake anything from this but just the intro about how baking helped her deal with depression and the instructions are worth five stars, never mind how anything actually turns out.

From "Chocolate, Chili, and Cardamom Tart": "[flatten] them with the blade of a wide knife and then [chop] them as though they insulted your mother."

If the recipes work out that'll just be gravy...or ganache.... ( )

I haven't tried to bake anything from this but just the intro about how baking helped her deal with depression and the instructions are worth five stars, never mind how anything actually turns out.

From "Chocolate, Chili, and Cardamom Tart": "[flatten] them with the blade of a wide knife and then [chop] them as though they insulted your mother."

If the recipes work out that'll just be gravy...or ganache.... ( )

I love Marian Keyes and I love baking - a winner off the bat for me. But never before have I sat down and read a cookbook cover-to-cover. Even if you never make any of the recipes, this book is worth picking up. (But the recipes are awesome too.) ( )

I love this book! I waited so long for it come out. Very different recipes. I have made a few, they are well received. ( )

If you've got this book in your hands then I'd like to make this recommendation: Go to Marian's website and watch some of the amusing baking demonstrations. That way you'll have Marian's delightful irish voice in you head when you follow her witty baking instructions.

Apart from the humour I'd also recommend this book for its wide variety of recipes. It is not an all encompassing baking manual, although it does include lots of useful tips and instructions aimed at beginners. If you haven't been baking recently, you are likely to feel inspired and might want to rush out to invest in cooky cutters and edible glitter.

What a wonderful book this is. From a frightening bout of depression came something so beautiful and lovely. In the introduction Marian gives a chilling description of her dark period during which she stumbled upon baking as a means of distracting herself. It is hard to imagine that someone who seems to have such a zest for life could be suffering from depression. May her personal account bring consolation and hope to many others in the same boat.

I would give this book 5 stars but feel that I cannot do that until I've actually tried out some of the deliciously looking recipes. However I feel qualified to review it because I somehow managed to read this book cover to cover! Yes, I didn't only look at the delicious pictures, I even read through many of the recipes. (I meant to buy this as a gift to someone else, but now I'll have to go and buy another one.) ( )

Saved by Cake is how Marian Keyes pulled herself from depression to somewhere a bit better. She's the first to admit that she isn't "cured" per say but in a better place than she was before she discovered that baking was a way of concentrating her mind and making her focus on what was in front of her and it helped. She also says that before baking she had tried other things that didn't work, but that this was what worked for her and that that's what you should do for yourself if you find yourself in her shoes, find something, drugs, therapy or activity that works for you and use it.

The recipes are very readable, yes, readable, the intros are often hilarious and the way she has of writing the recipes is more like a friend telling you how to cook or bake something rather than a dry clinical average recipe. I loved them. Even the heavily chocolate one (yes, I'm not all that into chocolate, yes I'm female)

I haven't tried any of the recipes, yet, but the book is heartwarming.

Gluten Free recipes in the book that caught my eye (because this is really important to me!) Apart from the fair few in pastry cases that could be converted by using Gluten Free pastry or the chapter on Cheesecakes that could be easily converted using gluten-free biscuits instead of standard biscuits there is:
Fridge-Set Honeycomb Cheesecake p91 (using home made honeycomb or Crunchies for the base)
Green Tea Panna Cotta p104
Blueberry Mess p140
Shirely's Ginger and Pineapple Pavlova p143
Zagina Reform Torta p144
Basic Cranberry Macaroons p151
Tiramisu Macaroons p155
(actually pretty much the whole chapter on Meringues and Macaroons is littered with Gluten free goodies)
Sean's Rosemary Truffles p213

And if you do want to bake for a gluten-avoiding friend (Coeliac or gluten sensitive like me) please be careful of flour and crumbs of flour in baking trays and pans.

And her twitter feed is hilarious! ( )

This book works on a number of levels: as a baking book, it contains a variety of recipes suitable for the novice baker right through to the more experienced and adventurous cook. As a 'book' book it's hilarious! The recipes are peppered with anecdotes, hints and tips, written in Marian's inimitable style. I would not go so far as to recommend 'saved by cake' as a self-help manual for someone suffering from depression (as Keyes herself was and which prompted her to write the book) but I would absolutely give it to a friend who was feeling down, or reach for it myself on one of the darker days, as either the yummy recipes (which work by the way) will give me something practical to set my mind to, or the humorous anecdotes will give me something to smile about. A great feel-good read with the added bonus of a fab recipe collection :) ( )