Food File: Get your bake on

Delia's Cakes, by Delia Smith (Hodder & Stoughton, £25)
The first thing you'll notice about this not-so-new book – it's an updated edition of the 1977 Delia's Book of Cakes – is that the lady herself is conspicuously absent. We get cool-toned, vaguely Scandi-influenced pictures of cakes instead. But, if you need reassurance, you can watch demos, ask questions, and pick up tips at deliaonline.com. The traditional cakes and biscuits have survived the passage of time without looking dated . To suit modern dietary requirements, they've been re-tested with gluten-free ingredients and 90 per cent proved suitable. The firm hand of the matriarch is evident in an introductory chapter on equipment, including The Tyranny of Tins , which explains why, if you use the wrong size or shape, your results might not be satisfactory.