Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top: A Baking Book

Life Is What You Bake It: Recipes, Stories, and Inspiration to Bake Your Way to the Top by Vallery Lomas, winner of The Great American Baking Show, is a joyful collection of more than 100 recipes that blends baking instruction with family history, personal stories, and lessons in perseverance. Lomas draws inspiration from her Louisiana upbringing, time spent in Paris, life in New York City, and journey from practicing attorney to professional baker, creating a collection that feels both deeply personal and broadly approachable.

Recipes move comfortably between Southern family traditions, French-inspired pastries, and contemporary American baking, with highlights including Apple Cider Fritters, Lemon-Honey Madeleines, Crawfish Hand Pies, and her grandmother’s Million Dollar Cake. Alongside sweets, breads, and pastries, Lomas shares heirloom recipes and the stories behind them, connecting baking to family, place, memory, and her own unexpected path in the culinary world.

Named one of the year’s best cookbooks by publications including The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, and Southern Living, Life Is What You Bake It is especially appealing for home bakers, Southern food enthusiasts, fans of baking competitions, and readers who enjoy cookbooks where recipes are intertwined with personal storytelling and culinary heritage.