Are you a beginning baker wondering what to try first? This list of 20 baking recipes for beginners is a great place to start. It’s by no means comprehensive, but I included some of my favorite desserts that anyone can make, divided into four categories: Cookies and bars, breads, cakes and pies.
Otherwise, do you want to start with a gorgeous show-stopping recipe that’s much easier than it looks and will wow friends and family? Try my most popular recipe: Pavlova. It’s an ethereal meringue with a crisp exterior and a soft, light interior.
Before you start, I also highly recommend you make your own vanilla extract. It’s easy, fun to make, and one of the most common baking ingredients.
Or, if you’re looking for tips about a specific dessert, I have helpful guides and FAQs on a variety of topics:
Lastly, don’t be afraid to make mistakes. They are part of the fun. Happy baking!
Simple and Classic Bar and Cookie Recipes
Cookies and bars are great recipes for beginners to start with. You can easily serve them to family and friends and they are fun, classic recipes that are beloved by everyone.
These chocolate chip cookies are the result of what I learned making countless batches for decades. I also explain what the ingredients do to a cookie and how baking can change them. You can tweak your cookies to be just how you like them using my cookie guide toward the bottom of the post.
Breakfast Cookies are the answer when you need a healthy breakfast but you're running out the door! Make these ahead of time and you won't need to skip the most important meal of the day.
These are the brownies I made for a care package for my son, Charlie, and his roommates at college. I made four different kinds because each of the boys wanted their favorite brownie. It's an easy way to please a crowd!
A shatteringly thin crust and a super light and stretchy interior is the bread most beloved by my family. This loaf delivers on all of it. The simple ingredients mixed with a short autolyze (just a fancy word for making a slurry of flour and water, then a quick rest), gives the bread the beautiful interior texture.
Perfect blueberry muffins are studded with fruit, with blueberries in every bite. It should have a crunchy streusel top and be tender inside. These blueberry muffins deliver on all of these.
This pizza dough is such a simple recipe that provides wonderful results every time. High-quality ingredients are also really important to making your pizza restaurant-quality. So go for the good stuff and don’t overload your pizza with toppings!
I've spread Nutella on just about everything, but one of my favorites is freshly baked banana bread. In an "aha! moment" I decided to swirl the nutella right into the batter and bake them together. I'm not claiming to have discovered this combo, but I believe this may be the tastiest pairing ever there was.
The perfect popover is crisp on the outside, tender and airy on the inside and at its very best when served right from the oven. This is a super easy and yet very impressive recipe, that even a first time baker can master and feel like they've made magic. Recipe is from Sarabeth's Good Morning Cookbook.
Cake recipes should be in every baker’s repertoire, and even the stunners can be pretty easy to make. You can also check out my book Zoë Bakes Cakes to get more detailed tips and a whole bunch of cake recipes.
This Devil's Food Cake from Zoe Bakes Cakes (this version is just slightly different because I am always tweaking) is the best chocolate cake recipe I have ever tried and believe me, over the past 20+ years, I've tried them all. The dark chocolate cake has a texture that is smooth and rich. The flavor is not overly sweet, because of the coffee (you don't actually taste the coffee, it just cuts the sweet) and the rum (the Devil in "Devil's Food cupcakes" perhaps? the alcohol burns off in the oven.), which make it a great match for cream cheese frosting sweetened with Lyle's Golden Syrup (honey works, too, if you're in a pinch).
Bless whomever first thought to combine zucchini and chocolate. These two unlikely partners make fantastic cake together. The moisture in the vegetables translates to a super-rich cake—and all rich cakes are made even better with chocolate. I love the bittersweet edge of a darker chocolate, but semisweet works beautifully here as well.
This carrot cake is perfectly spiced, moist and unbelievably good! Using candied carrot peels as decoration (optional), cream cheese frosting and sweetened shredded coconut, this cake is simply the best — I make it all the time! Leave out the candied carrot peels to make this a truly easy recipe.
With its perfectly moist texture, soft crumb, and depth of apple flavor, this apple cider bundt cake is perfect for any occasion. I like to use a variety of apples in this cake such as Honey Gold, MacIntosh, Haralson and Prairie Spy. Drizzle with a simple honey-cider glaze and serve.
I made this Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Bundt Cake with my friend Andrew Zimmern last year. I recently made a pumpkin pie and roasted several pumpkins and squash, so I have lots of great gourd puree on hand and this is one of my all-time favorite cakes, so I wanted to share it with you.
This chocolate microwave mug cake is one of those cakes you’ll rely on when you need to indulge at midnight. Just you and a crazy-satisfying mug of chocolate cake. I added Caramel-Peanut ice cream to the top, because who eats chocolate cake at midnight without ice cream?
Flan is a creamy custard that is bound by lots of whole eggs and can be silky smooth if baked just right. The trick is to bake it in a water bath until it is just set like jello, then take it out before the proteins in the eggs cook too tight and get rubbery. It is super simple, but takes knowing what to look for.
This delightful apple Dutch baby (also known as a German pancake) is a perfect way to start a weekend morning. It is incredibly easy and requires just a few simple ingredients. Top it off with caramelized apples and you have decadent breakfast or brunch item in no time.
This apple crisp can be in the oven in less than 30 minutes and emerges bubbling, crisp and the perfect landing place for a scoop of ice cream. My topping typically has rolled oats, but this time I wanted the toasted almonds to be the clear star, so I used oat flour instead of the old fashioned oats and all-purpose flour, making this crisp entirely gluten-free (and vegan).
What could be better than picking your own apples and making baked goods and applesauce with your bounty? When making applesauce, I like to use a variety of apples, so the sauce has a mix of tart, sweet, firm, and softer apples. It makes the applesauce taste better and have a more interesting texture.
Hi Lisa! So glad to hear you enjoy Zoë’s show! Unfortunately we don’t have a way to put them all together in one PDF. Excited to hear what you end up baking!
I'm Zoë François and I love to bake. This is where I play with sugar and take the mystery out of baking everything from cookies to wedding cakes. I studied pastry at the CIA (the culinary school, not the spy agency), worked in restaurants, have written 10 cookbooks and you can find more of my creations in my Substack Newsletter and YouTube videos. More...
I lovelovelove you. These recipes are amazing, and I’ve made every single one of them for my grandma. They never disappoint.
I love ZoeBakes. Helps SO much! Thank you!
This is amazing all these recipes Well done keep up the good work
Are these beginner recipes available as one PDF document that I could print? Thanks so much! I love your cooking show!!!
Hi Lisa! So glad to hear you enjoy Zoë’s show! Unfortunately we don’t have a way to put them all together in one PDF. Excited to hear what you end up baking!