Homemade is Best – IKEA’s visual cookbook with picture recipes

That is the recipe for these cinnamon rolls:

Toxel had people arguing and criticizing about how useless it is, but I really think a lot of people missed the idea of it being photographic art and less of a “real cookbook” replacement. It could be used as a real recipe, but if you’re someone who lives by very specific measurements with detailed instructions, you’d definitely have a harder time with these visual guidelines.

Here’s another example, using a berry cake:


From IKEA, here’s a bit about their inspiration and motivation for creating a book like this:

We wanted to ensure a connection between IKEA’s kitchen appliances and one of the best things you can do in a kitchen, some great baking. So the main attraction in the campaign became a 140 page coffee-table baking book presented in a very visually unique and spectacular way.

90% of all the photographs taken in baking books look extremly alike. We wanted to try something different and present the recipes in a totally new fashion.

We let ourselves be inspired by high fashion and japanese minimalism. The idea of the book became to tone down the actual cake and put the ingredients in focus. The recipes are presented as graphic still-life portraits on a warm and colourful stage. And when you turn the page you see the fantastic result.

The baking book contains 30 classic swedish baking recipes everything from small biscuits to large cakes.

I think they did a pretty good job at what they were aiming for. This site actually has what looks to be all (or most) of the recipes.

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