I was never compelled to teach my son how to bake a cake when he was young—the kitchen disaster that awaited was beyond my ken. However, if Lotta Nieminen’s Cake: An Interactive Recipe Book (Phaidon) had been published in the 1990s, I might have felt otherwise. Nieminen, whose “Cook in a Book” books are illustrated and produced in a delightfully engaging manner with pull-tabs and other tactile techniques, does a satisfying job of bringing the art of cooking (and cooking as art) to young and old.
Describe your motivation for developing the Cook in a Book series.
I was approached by Phaidon in 2016 to illustrate a series of interactive cookbooks for younger children; the pitch was that novelty elements would be used in order to provide children with the experience of “cooking” in the book as they turn the pages. I loved the idea, and we started developing the visual approach from there. At that point, I’d been primarily illustrating densely detailed landscapes, and I was eager to explore a different visual language. This project offered me the opportunity to work with simplified forms and place greater emphasis on color and composition.
The illustration style for this series ended up being quite minimalist, so I’m always striving to find the balance between elements reading as what they are and leaving room for imagination through a level of abstraction. I like the process of translating something familiar into a simplified, abstract form that still feels recognisable. I want the images to spark curiosity, not just depict something literally; while it’s about clearly conveying the steps of a recipe, I want to create images that invite play, and make kids want to look closer.
Tell me how you translate recipes into physical books.
Once the recipe is selected and I receive the first draft from the editor, I begin by mapping it out visually on a book layout. The pacing of the steps plays a big role—it helps determine where the interactive elements will go. Sometimes, I’ll suggest slight adjustments to the recipe in order to better align with the mechanisms.
Color is central to all my work and plays a key role in this series as well. I begin each book by developing a palette that sets the mood, reflects temperature, and visually expresses the flavor of the food at hand—so creating that sensory experience through color.
I work digitally, but work in handmade textures once the base illustrations are approved. I have a library of textures I’ve made over the years that work for a lot, but some books require creating custom ones (such as the marbled swirls for cookie dough).
Do you have a specific passion for cake? And is the book an accurate representation of your sweet tooth?
I do love cake! And making this one specifically about birthday cake was especially fun, because it offered so many playful details to work into the book. Birthday cakes are full of celebration by nature—piped icing, candles, colorful sprinkles (and the slight chaos that comes from any good party).
I find that there are cake people and pie people (like dog or cat folk). Do you favor one over the other?
While I love cake, is this a bad time to admit I might be slightly partial to pie? But from a visual standpoint, I definitely prefer drawing cakes, so here we are!
What were the challenges in creating and producing this book?
After establishing the style through the first book, the challenge lies generally in the mechanisms and how to have each new book feel both new, as well as part of the series.
With pull tabs, the die-cut holes can never overlap on opposing sides of the page, so this can affect positioning of illustrated elements—and each still needs to look good and dynamic. While it’s fun to come up with new mechanisms, I find that the more complex interactive elements aren’t always the most striking—I like finding ways to create maximum impact with simple mechanisms, and especially love it when a straightforward pull tab can be used in a satisfying way. When it works well, it feels like magic.
Finalizing the cover color is generally one of the last, but also most discussed phases of the process.
This book is aimed at children 2–4 (although I feel I fit into your demographic). What is the strategy to get them into baking mode?
I think this series is great for building confidence in the kitchen by creating a safe and playful space to get familiar with cooking tools and basic steps. For little ones (and, honestly, grownups too!), cooking can sometimes feel overwhelming or intimidating. I hope the books break the process down into manageable steps that encourage kids to explore and eventually feel comfortable in the kitchen. By turning cooking into a hands-on experience through the book’s mechanisms, children get to “practice” and build excitement about baking before they start mixing ingredients in real life.
What other delicacies do you have in the book pantry?
Each new book in the series begins by discussing potential food ideas with my publisher. A food can’t be too simple or too complex to make, as it has to fit nicely within the page count (the same for each book in the series). I also try to avoid repeating similar steps across books, so we look for recipes that feel distinct—and to have an even distribution of sweet and savory dishes as the series grows. The next book is already chosen—but I can’t tell which one it is just yet!
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