Bake Anime (2022)

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I don’t know about you, but when I see Japanese food, snacks, and desserts in the anime shows I watch (I’m looking at you Food Wars), they tend to make me wish I could pull them from the screen and chow down. While I might not be able to do that, I can do the next best thing…make some, thanks to the Bake Anime cookbook, aka Bake Anime: 75 Sweet Recipes Spotted In and Inspired by Your Favorite Anime, that guides you to making all sorts of awesome treats.

As that long title states, this cookbook features 75 recipes for all kinds of treats, from Japanese to anime inspired, and even non-Japanese goodies. Author Emily J. Bushman makes each treat entry fun and approachable for any age, as some of the anime inspired ones made me laugh and smile, such as the My Neighbor Totoro Apple Cream Puffs which you can view in the image gallery at the end of the review.

The entries are also educational thanks to Emily giving backstories for each treat, what inspired her to include them in the cookbook as well as how she came up with them, tips when making the treats, and more. As someone who enjoys cooking, I also loved and appreciated the easy, step-by-step instructions and the awesome, high quality pictures throughout the book.

From classics such as the Nerikiri from Cardcaptor Sakura, the Pocket Monster Swiss Roll from Pokémon, to more recent fare such as the aforementioned Food Wars inspired Queen’s Tart, there’s a delicious goody for all occasions as it also contains traditional desserts such as cakes, pies, and more you can whip up.

To keep this review nice and sweet, like the goodies contained in the book, I’ll stop here and recommended you pick up the Bake Anime cookbook, especially if you’re an aspiring chef and/or a dedicated anime fan. It’s nice to finally make a lot of the awesome treats I constantly see in anime thanks to a fellow author/anime fan that truly understands and gives us the joy of knowing what these goodies taste like at long last. Bon Appetit!