Following the success of My Pokémon Cookbook, Insight Editions is back with a baking counterpart titled My Pokémon Baking Book: Delightful Bakes Inspired by the World of Pokémon. Featuring 50 recipes that all take inspiration from a different pocket monster, it winds up being a fun and colorful baking book that’ll appeal to Nintendo fans and parents looking to share their love of baking with their children.
The 144-page book is split into different regions. Seeing how there are over 1,000 Pokémon at this point, this means that each of the nine regions only has between four and seven recipes. So odds are your favorite pocket monster might not have a recipe, although the selection of characters is quite inspired. As an old-school fan myself, I would’ve preferred to see the Kanto region get more love as just having five designs from the original 151 Pokémon seems quite low, given how iconic they are, but the selection process was always going to be quite tricky.
What’s really nice about the selection is that the recipes range in difficulty from simple ones, such as brownies and Viennese cookies, to very complex soufflés. Bakers of any skill level will find appropriate recipes and have something to strive toward. All of the difficulty is plainly explained via a four-star rating system, and author Jarrett Melendez does a great job of providing detailed instructions and introducing each recipe with a fun blurb that ties the Pokémon to the food.
Most of the recipes incorporate their corresponding Pokémon in fun ways, such as recreating their markings or looking like their heads (the Doduo Chocolate Macaroons are adorable). Other recipes take inspiration from the Pokémon’s type, such as recipes based upon Fire-type Pokémon featuring cinnamon and ginger. My personal favorite from an aesthetic point-of-view is the Bidoof Peanut Butter Pretzel Tart, which recreates the goofy-looking beaver and is just as adorable as it is delicious to eat.
My only real complaint is that not every single recipe in My Pokémon Baking Book has a picture of a completed one. It seems like a strange oversight, especially when certain recipes, like the Pikachu Tropical Cupcakes or the Whismur Lemon-Lavendar bars, have multiple pages devoted to photos of the finished baked goods. Part of the appeal, at least to me, is trying to match the quality of the photos, so it is a bummer that some are left purely to the imagination until you make it yourself.
My Pokémon Baking Book Review: Final Verdict
The My Pokémon Baking Book is a great purchase for fans of the franchise, no matter how skilled a baker they are. Full of vibrant and fun recipes, the book is filled with character and charm. The baked goods are as yummy as they look and help fans incorporate their fandom into their everyday life and use it to bond with others, as baking is always more fulfilling when done together.
Disclosure: ComingSoon was sent a copy by the publisher for our My Pokémon Baking Book review.
