Enter our US/UK/AU/NZ giveaway to win one of three copies of Giuseppe's Italian Bakes: Over 60 Classic Cakes, Desserts and Savoury Bakes by Giuseppe Dell'Anno.

Giuseppe Dell’Anno won our hearts while he competed in the Great British Bake Off in 2021 (and won!). In his first cookbook, Giuseppe's Italian Bakes, he shares his skill, knowledge and love of baking through 60+ new sweet and savoury recipes.

Baking is in Giuseppe's blood, he learned to cook at the side of his beloved chef-father. While he mastered classic Italian bakes, he has placed his own signature twist on these recipes. Through his step-by-step recipes, Giuseppe guides you through gorgeous desserts that will impress family and friends and make you a star baker in your own kitchen.

With stunning colour photos throughout and tips and tricks from the master of the technical challenge, this book contains approachable recipes as well as those that will require some committment such as the Celebration cake (Torta di pan di spagna) (remember it is a cake for an occasion). Italian Bakes made my best books of 2022 - pick up a copy and you will see why. It is a keeper.

Our takes you inside this beautiful book and features the following

Born and bred in Italy, Giuseppe moved to the UK in his early 20s with the plan to stay only for six months while perfecting the language… Twenty years, one PhD, one happy marriage and three UK-born sons down the line, Giuseppe has elected England as his adoptive homeland and officially crowned himself a “Britalian”.

A materials engineer and researcher by trade, Giuseppe grew up in a family of passionate bakers, where food was the prime topic of conversation. He has inherited from his dad, a professional chef, the love for everything cooked or baked. Winning the Great British Bake Off in 2021 reinforced his mantra that simplicity, attention to detail and good quality ingredients are key to delicious food.

Following the global success of Bake Off, Giuseppe quit his engineering job and focussed his efforts entirely on his ambition to share his family gastronomic knowledge far and wide. He published his debut book Giuseppe’s Italian Bakes in 2022 and he is now excitedly looking forward to combine more of the myriad of regional nuances in his Italian heritage with the British culinary register.

Q: What first triggered your interest in baking? Do you remember your first baking memory?

People often ask me which cake I baked first… in fact, growing up is a family of avid bakers and passionate cooks, I have always been surrounded by crème pat and genoise sponge, so I cannot recall a time when cooking and baking were not part of my life! Probably, the very first cake I put together entirely by myself was a tiramisu: if you use shop bought savoiardi, it does not require any baking, and it’s a robust enough recipe for even the most inexperienced baker to tackle. However, what pushed my initially occasional baking into my regular daily routine was fatherhood: I have beautiful childhood memories associated with my dad cooking for the family and I was adamant that I wanted to give my children the same experience.

Q: If you had to describe your baking style, what would it be?

While on the show, Paul and Prue have often described my bakes as simple and effective. In hindsight, I can see why: I do like simple bakes and I tend to avoid overcomplicated flavours. When I scan a recipe for the first time, anything with an ingredients list that includes too many elements immediately puts me off. I like bakes where it’s all in the method, where you can transform very basic ingredients into something really delicious. For the same reason, I am typically drawn towards rustic bakes, those that are inherently beautiful and do not need a thick coating of buttercream or fondant to look great.

Q: Are you a cookbook collector? If so, tell us about your collection – number of books, favorite genre, favorite author? What you look for in a cookbook.

I buy cookbooks the same way I buy clothes: I go for quality over quantity. I don’t have a huge collection, but there are a handful of titles that have become almost a constant reference point for my everyday baking. My technical mind needs understanding and facts to digest the process, so I like books that are very thorough and systematic. For breads, pizza, focaccia etc I always refer to the Modernist Bread, and for patisserie I refer to authors like Christophe Felder and Melanie Dupuis: they cover the basics brilliantly, are very accurate and explain the ‘why’ as well as the ‘what’.

Q: What is the best part of your job? Do you sometimes feel like working with food all day keeps you from wanting to get creative in the kitchen?

I have always had jobs that required a high level of creativity. I get bored very easily, so even in my engineering career, I have always picked positions in Research and Development departments, or in roles where inventiveness and ingenuity were staple ingredients for the daily tasks. So, the move from engineering to baking for me was not as disruptive as it may sound: in both jobs I relish the diversity, having to tackle different challenges everyday: I just do it with pastries now, rather than with aircraft wings! And I find that having to think of possible flavour combinations on a daily basis does not stop me from trying new things in the kitchen, it’s quite the opposite: I get inspired by all the recipes I read and find in my daily research, and often find myself testing them for dinner with the family.

Q: What is your go to for a quick dinner – quick dessert?

Pasta aglio e olio (garlic and oil) is the easiest, cheapest, and most underestimated dish ever. My grandmother used to cook it often, adding fresh chillies and black olives to the sauce. It takes literally 10 minutes to make and I can hardly think of anything more delicious for a quick lunch. I don’t have a sweet tooth, so I can survive without dessert, but if I have to whip something up and have little time, I always go for a panna cotta. The flavour combinations you can think of are endless, it involves no baking and it’s a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.

Q: Tell us about this cookbook and any future projects you are working on?

I have always wanted to tidy up my dad’s lifetime notes into a family heirloom that I could pass on to my children, so you can imagine my excitement when I realized that there could have been a much broader audience for that book! Going through the stack of notes I have at home, of recipes jotted down on old calendar pages or napkins has been a personal journey through memories, places and special moments. So, for me this book is much more that a simple collection of recipes: it’s a way to offer people outside of Italy a glimpse of my own heritage, my cultural background and my family traditions.

The last 12 months have been packed with very exciting opportunities for me; it’s been mad, with high-profile events, TV appearances, interviews - I have enjoyed it greatly, but I still have no idea what the future holds for me. I have stopped making plans long ago, and I am committed to ride this wave for as long as it lasts. My dream is to keep conveying more and more of my passion for food, and export it as far and wide as possible, whether through more books, TV screens or social media. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Please follow Giuseppe on his social media channels:

@giuseppecooks on Instagram, Twitter and YouTube
@giuseppe.dellanno on TikTok

Special thanks to the publisher for providing three copies of this title in our promotion. Entry options include answering the following question in the comments section of this blog post.

Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?

Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Once you log in and enter your member name you will be directed to the next entry option – the blog comment. After that, there are additional options that you can complete for more entries. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on March 13th, 2023.

a Rafflecopter giveaway