Troyano - Bake it Great: Tips and tricks to transform your bakes from everyday to extraordinary

For Louise, my very patient and loving wife (and chief taster).

A special thank you also to my small army of testers and taste advisers: Mum, Craig, Janine, Zara, Amy, Katie, Rita, Roy, Wendy and Barry.

Annie, Emily and the team at Pavilion: thank you for making my publishing dream come true.

I absolutely love baking. Its a creative outlet that also gives you something to eat.

But, for me, its not just about the baking. I think its true that you really do eat with your eyes first. When you are in a bakery, cake shop, supermarket, or just flicking through a recipe book looking for a tasty treat, your eyes make the first decision, closely followed by taste preferences. Secondly, bakers enjoy giving. My baking obsession allows me to do just that. The feeling when I reveal a bake to my family and friends simply cant be beaten. I want it to look great and create a wow factor. Equally it must taste good, and provide a memory that lasts. Bakes make the perfect gift.

I want to show you how easy it is to bake. This book eliminates guessing when bakes are ready to come out of the oven. And every recipe has been chosen to show theres no need for a vast amount of equipment or shop-bought decorations.

Im on a mission to demystify baking science, finishing and decoration. Whether its a simple loaf or a complex layered cake, lets make it look fabulous. Ill show you techniques that can take a bake from everyday to showstopping. But ultimately I hope youll let your creative juices flow and put your own stamp on your baking.

Im a graphic designer, beekeeper and baking obsessive. 2014 was an amazing year; I was fortunate enough to be a finalist on series five of The Great British Bake Off. I became known for my designs and being different. To be honest, though, I just baked my way through, had a ball and made a really great new group of friends.

My parents moved to the UK from Spain in the 1960s. Being brought up in a Spanish household meant food has always played an important part in my life. My father was a waiter in restaurants. At about the age of twelve, to earn pocket money, I worked in the restaurant after school. My job was to wash the glasses. I eventually progressed to working behind the bar and waiting on people; it was a thorough grounding, and in combination with my Spanish background gave me the passionate love of food I have now. Im a self-taught cook, and about seven years ago I realized I was in awe of bakers who could create wonderful baked things. It was something I had never explored. So I set out on my baking journey with a mission to figure out the mysteries of how flour can be transformed in so many ways.

Thinking about it, Im constantly blown away by how many things can be made from four basic ingredients: flour, eggs, sugar and butter. Combine that with the pleasure I get from baking for family and friends, and life doesnt get any better. Baking is a relaxing pastime that should allow the baker to be creative and forget any worries. Its probably the little boy in me that enjoys the chemistry part of mixing all the ingredients together and seeing what happens. The artist in me enjoys perfecting the look and decoration of a bake.

Its pretty simple really: leave nothing to chance. And thats exactly what Ive done when writing this book. Ive made no assumptions about the readers knowledge. Theres no abbreviated recipe speak; everything is explained in detail. I dont like bakes failing, so why should I expect it to happen to anyone else? Baking takes time, and its important that its right first time.

Ive tried to organize each chapter in terms of techniques, starting with recipes that are very achievable. Read the recipe through first and always take your time when baking, it really makes a difference to the end result. People eat with their eyes first, so presentation is important, too. Lets be honest, we all like praise and want to be told how fabulous something looks when it is brought out and presented to family and friends.

Be realistic when you want to bake something. Pick a recipe that is achievable in the time you have. I have put an estimated time on every recipe to help you decide. Dont forget, though, that a lot of bakes can be done in stages to fit around your own schedule. can be made over a couple of days, cake sponges and fillings made the day before you assemble them. You dont need to spend a straight three or four hours in the kitchen.

Theres nothing too fancy in this book. A pet hate of mine is trawling the shops trying to find that elusive ingredient that is only in stock three times a year. Every recipe in this book uses off-the-shelf ingredients. Where something is a little more specialist, I have suggested an alternative. Admittedly some ingredients are far easier sourced online, such as aniseeds or glac fruits; I buy a couple of packs at a time and they last ages.

Dont get hung up about making everything yourself. I frequently use bought pastry, jams, curds, spreads, etc. Baking should be enjoyable and not a chore.

Most of the flours I use are nothing out of the ordinary, but when I need to roll out any type of bread dough I use rice flour to dust the work surface. It has excellent nonstick properties as well as being flavourless. I buy it at my local Indian supermarket much better value than the big supermarkets.

When it comes to yeast, I always use instant. Readily available and totally reliable, I dont see the need to use any other form.

Theres a huge array of blocks of butter available in the shops. I keep it simple just buy basic unsalted. This gives you the control of adding your own salt to taste. All the recipes in this book are written to that principle.

Make sure you stick to the egg sizes given in recipes, as this can make a huge difference to the outcome of a bake. I only use two sizes: medium and large.

When I want to add a vanilla flavour to a bake, I tend to use vanilla paste rather than extract. It will give you a much better flavour.

Finally, always use food colouring gels rather than liquids. Not only do you need much less colouring, you also dont dilute the bake mixture and get a much more vibrant colour.

Baking (and cooking in general) should be accessible to everyone. Im a firm believer in that. So to that end, Ive tried to limit the amount of equipment required to make the recipes in this book.