Dessert Course

Benjamin Delwiche, AKA Benjamin the Baker, is a maths teacher by day and a renegade baking scientist by night. His obsession with sweets began in childhood, when he could be found devouring any cookbooks he could find. His keen interest led him to working odd jobs at local bakeries throughout his teens and college years, observing as much as possible about the craft.

In 2021, Benjamin began posting content that focused on the whys and hows of baking. For the past two years, he's grown an engaged audience on TikTok (1.2M), YouTube (1.1M), and Instagram (596k). Like his classroom teaching, his videos centre around explaining how baking works by offering specific examples and demonstrations. Most notably, what separates his content from other baking and baking science videos is that it shows what happens when an ingredient substitution or a procedural step goes wrong—whether it's because a creaming step was executed incorrectly or a meringue wasn't whipped properly. He goes beyond simply repeating the same explanations without the procedures to back them up.

In his debut cookbook, Dessert Course, Benjamin applies his trademark scientific approach to home baking, offering a sort of "bake your own adventure" experience for readers. Beginning with the fundamentals any baker should master, Benjamin then encourages readers to take those skills and run with them. The bulk of the book focuses on the recipes, which are presented to encourage the reader to consider the techniques and science behind the recipe to help them customise for their desired flavour and texture outcome.