Baking and the Meaning of Life: How to Spread Joy in 100 Recipes

In her hotly anticipated debut solo cookbook, Yotam Ottolenghi pastry chef and recipe developer Helen Goh draws on her rich multicultural heritage to deliver more than 100 of her favorite recipes

No one knows the ＂why＂ or ＂how＂ of baking better than Helen Goh, recipe developer with Yotam Ottolenghi for more than a decade and co-author of New York Times bestselling books Sweet and Comfort.

With the debut of her first solo cookbook, Goh shares her distinctive approach to baking informed by her multicultural heritage with 100 delicious desserts of all kinds as well as savory bakes.

Drawing on her upbringing in Malaysia and Australia, her acclaimed work with Ottolenghi where she specialized in Mediterranean and Middle Eastern flavors, and even her active psychotherapy practice, Goh not only shares her favorite baking recipes, but also reflections on life, sharing how baking can bring us together and add meaning and joy to both significant and everyday moments.

With recipes like Chocolate Tahini Cake with Sesame Brittle, Plum and Pistachio Bars, and Pandan and Coconut Chiffon Cake, and more shareable treats that offer both tried-and-true and creative flavors, this book is a celebration of community and pleasure through baking. Goh’s Champagne and Blackcurrant Celebration Cake is perfect for a graduation party or New Year’s Eve, and a batch of Perfect Vanilla Cupcakes or Red Plum, Almond, and Lime Baby Cakes for a charity bake sale could be small but powerful building blocks of connection and solidarity.

All of her desserts are impressively sweet ways to celebrate milestones reached and connect with family and friends. After your sweet tooth has been satisfied, there are more than 15 savory baking dishes, from a Puttanesca Galette with Lemon Ricotta to Potato, Garlic, and Rosemary Focaccia.

With inventive flavor combinations that showcase Goh’s creativity, a wealth of time-tested bakes, and her philosophies on living and baking well, Baking and the Meaning of Life is a one-of-kind companion bakers will return to again and again to spread joy, one cookie, cake, or cheese puff at a time.

Helen Goh was born in Malaysia and migrated to Australia at age ten. After studying psychology, she combined psychotherapy practice with a cooking career, becoming head pastry chef at a landmark Melbourne restaurant before moving to London and joining Yotam Ottolenghi’s team. Co-author with Ottolenghi of Sweet and Comfort, she has developed recipes with him for more than 10 years, drawing on Asian, Western and Middle Eastern influences. Helen is a food columnist whose recipes appear in the The Sydney Morning Herald, The Guardian, and The Observer. She lives in London.