Gorgeous cakes are not the sole preserve of professional chefs. In this book you will find over 100 ideas for beautiful cakes, all of them easy to make at home without the need for fancy equipment or specialist skills. It means you need never be short of a fuss-free recipe for the perfect cake, whatever the occasion.

The choice includes gloriously girly cakes-as-fashion statements, comforting favourites and essential classics including tempting little mini-cakes and cupcakes, the most wickedly indulgent chocolate cakes, and sublimely creamy cheesecakes. There are inspired ideas for festive occasions, from traditional and modern cakes for Christmas and Easter to pretty Valentine's Day cakes and yummy creations for children's birthday parties. There's a stunning selection of dream cakes, as fabulous to look at as they are to eat, meringues, patisserie, old-fashioned standbys and tea-time treats. There are even suggestions for those of us who, perhaps because of food intolerances, normally say no to a slice of cake.

Behind all the recipes is a recognition that baking a cake is something special. For most of us it was our first experience of cooking, and it remains a satisfying one, conjuring up the innocent pleasures of childhood. It's a lovely, giving thing to do, and this book is as much about the rewards of making cakes as of eating them. The only decision now is to choose which one to go for first.