The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us

by Rosanna Pansino

The long-awaited first cookbook from the creator and host of the Internet’s most popular baking show, Nerdy Nummies: a collection of Rosanna Pansino’s all-time favorite geeky recipes as well as sensational new recipes exclusive to this book.

The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook is quirky, charming, and fun, featuring the recipes behind Rosanna Pansino’s celebrated, one-of-a-kind creations, as well as beautiful, mouthwatering photographs throughout. It is the perfect companion that you’ll turn to whenever you want to whip up a delicious treat and be entertained all at once. And best of all, these treats are as simple as they are fun to make! No need for costly tools or baking classes to create these marvelous delights yourself.

The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook combines two things Rosanna loves: geek culture and baking. Her fondness for video games, science fiction, math, comics, and lots of other things considered “nerdy” have inspired every recipe in this book. You’ll find the recipes for many beloved fan favorites from the show, such as Apple Pi Pie, the Chocolate Chip Smart Cookie, and Volcano Cake; as well as many new geeky recipes, such as Dinosaur Fossil Cake, Moon Phase Macarons, and the Periodic Table of Cupcakes. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook showcases Rosanna’s most original and popular creations, and each recipe includes easy-to-follow photo instructions and a stunning shot of the finished treat in all its geeky glory: a delicious confection sure to please the geek in all of us!

Genres: Cookbooks, Nonfiction, Cooking, Food, Reference, Adult, Foodie

256 pages, Hardcover

First published November 3, 2015

About the author

Rosanna Pansino is an American baker, actress, and YouTube personality. She is best known for her nerdy-themed cooking show Nerdy Nummies, one of the most popular baking shows on YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/user/RosannaP...

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 5 out of 5]

A few years ago, my son introduced me to Rosanna Pansino's YouTube cooking webshow called Nerdy Nummies and we have been logging in to watch every week since. Rosanna is the cutest little chef you will ever see and she makes fairly simple-to-follow snacks and treats that are themed with all things nerdy. Over the years, my son and I have recreated several of her recipes with fun success! When I saw she had a cookbook coming out, there was no doubt we would be adding a copy to our kitchen. And... she went on a nationwide book signing tour in the U.S. so we were able to catch her for a meet and greet! To say my son was in heaven is an understatement and after it was all over the excitement continued as we devoured her cookbook. The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook: Sweet Treats for the Geek in All of Us is super cute, it has gorgeous photos, and the recipes will have youth, adults, and families all excited for the next opportunity to cook!


If interested, you can find Rosanna's YouTube channel HERE. Also, she has filmed two holiday-themed shows for the Cooking Channel called Ro's Tasty Treats so keep an eye out for reruns or any future shows. Enjoy!

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 3 out of 5]

In theory, I love this book. It has the cutest sweet treats I've ever seen. Some of them are too pretty to eat, but that wouldn't stop me.

But in reality, this book makes me angry because never in my life would I make any of it. I don't have that kind of time. And as nerdy as I am, when it would come time to actually assemble everything, I know I would suddenly just stop caring.

So essentially: Cute in theory, time-consuming and tiring in practice.

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear instructions with lots of photos, the foods look delicious, and it just feels kind. No backhanded stabs at other types of nerds, or jocks, or people who aren't up on the latest memes. Just fun cute delicious nerdy baked goods.

[Sammie 💖 · Rating 2 out of 5]

The recipes in this book looked very ascetically pleasing, but the recipes were actually very complicated and involved. This book seemed to focus more on the look rather than the taste. I would describe this more as a decorating book, not a cookbook.

[Patrixia Lansangan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yum yum yummy in my tummy! ❤️💙💕

[Karina · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cookbook is filled with the most nerdy and creative treats of the whole cookbook history. Sometimes, I just wanna eat the whole book. Yes, it's that delicious.

[Kari · Rating 1 out of 5]

So not what I was expecting. I really thought it would be a lot of recipes inspired by geekery things and shows... not a whole bunch of complicated decorated normal food. Disappointed. :(

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great cookbook with cool, geeky, treats.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a cute cookbook to look through, but it will only be really useful if you've got a very specific need to make a nerdy dessert. The cake that looks like a computer's motherboard and the apple pi pie were my two favorite recipes that I think I might actually make some day.

The most ridiculous was the Periodic Table of Cupcakes, because no one in their right mind is going to tackle a project that requires you to make 8 dozen cupcakes, like 8 different colors of buttercream frosting, plus 80+ white chocolate tiles on which you have to pipe each of the (unique!) element symbols. In the words of Sweet Brown, "Ain't Nobody Got Time For That!" Not even the most talented of all the Pinterest Mavens.

But she gets props for creativity and colorfulness and a dead easy recipe for fondant made from marshmallows that I will use forever!

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

So cute!! Only 4/5 because the purpose of this cookbook is more to just look at all the cute recipes, but none of them are feasible to make. A solid 75% of these recipes (easily more) all deal with fondant, like I have the time to fuck with that? And every single one uses tons of food coloring, which is really not healthy and is super annoying if you've got food coloring allergies. Would've been cool if she added a blurb about natural food coloring options, like beet juice or turmeric, etc.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was absolutely adorable. I love Ro's Youtube show, and this cookbook is just as awesome as her show. The recipes look great, and the cookbook itself was a joy to read. I can't wait to make these recipes. I also think a lot of these would be great for kids to make (I'm thinking about making some of these with my niece!).

[Brianna Sours · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorite cookbooks!

[Stefanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Got this as a Christmas gift for my 13 yr old niece who has started to enjoy baking. I think this baking cookbook appeals to kids teens and adults. She has basic cookie and cake recipes at the beginning. Then she has these really creative bakes that takes those basics with some decoration to turn it into something spectacular. She sticks to a nerdy theme, that the decorations turn into something to do with science (brain cake) or astronomy (constellation cookies) or fantasy (unicorn poop cookies), etc. Her bakes can range from easy to difficult. Some require special tools and planning, but would be a fun way to plan to spend a Sunday afternoon.

[Arooba Amar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book ever😍😍👐

[Cynthia Dorantes]

It is about deserts that are yummy my favorite one is NEW YORK SYLE CHEESECAKE

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think it's quite poetic that I chose to read Rosanna Pansino's The Nerdy Nummies Cookbook on Pi Day. The nerd in me is squealing. I have, occasionally, seen Pansino's YouTube channel, Nerdy Nummies, and have enjoyed her bubbly personality and her sheer imaginative genius with her cake skills.

This cookbook is pretty amazing. It made me jealous that I do not have the patience to such works of art. The Periodic Table of Elements cupcakes, the Earth and chessboard cakes, and the Motherboard cakes are just few examples of the recipes here.

Pansino does a good job explaining the process and it was very smart of her to include basic recipes in the beginning like rich chocolate cake and butter cake. There's even a recipe for royal icing.

This is the perfect book for people who love baking and science or video games.

[Curious Madra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Pretty useless if you're not a baking person ...

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 Stars.

I think this book is absolutely adorable. So many awesome ideas for nerdy and geeky stuff! My only complaint is some of it looks like it would be so time consuming, but that’s more of a bother for me personally. If you have the time to make everything in here I think that’s great! Although not everything is hard, many of the designs are easier. Definitely one to have in your baking library.

[Erin Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's execution is a masterpiece, but still only gets 4 stars. I think that if you're a Pinterest master or capable of Sugar Rushesque, television-quality cakes and whatnot, this book will be mindbogglingly easy for you. For the rest of us, this is filled with unattainable, lofty gastronomic creations that tease you. Read at your own risk, but prepare to have your dreams dashed. Maybe 10% of these will actually end up like the pictures, methinks.

[Erin · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first, I was extremely disappointed. The first chapter? Nothing new. Nothing special.
Oh duh, she's giving the tools to make the cool things later.

Some clever ideas. Lotta time required for everything. Don't know if I'll ever make anything, but I really liked the Geode Cupcakes.

[Correen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun food projects. She has some very interesting ideas. I sent this to my granddaughter thinking she might enjoy making a volcano or other science type cake for her budding four year old science enthusiast.

[Ben Biddle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great ideas! I appreciate the photos with every step. There are some good STEM desserts too!

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the recipes are well beyond my baking abilities (which admittedly are not great anyway), but my daughter loves this cookbook and the recipes we've tried to date have been delicious!

[Kia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Many recipes require manufactured mixes and frosting.

[Jenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun to look at and read, but actually trying to make these would likely give me a stroke.

[Hazel Leu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second book was much better.

[Karalee Shotola · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cookbook features geeky-themed recipes based on math and science, space, fantasy and sci-fi, gaming, and tech and web. The cookbook starts with basic recipes for various pies, cakes, and cookies, which I liked because even if I do not follow one of the geeky-themed recipes, I could still use the basic recipes. The geeky-themed recipes themselves are over the top and not something I would normally do. For example, the first recipe is for Apple Pi Pie, and it requires you to slice the apples and use a cookie number cutter to make the apple slices into numbers. Then, you also use the cookie number cutters for the dough to write out the number for pi.
The cakes are also over the top and there are cakes for everything from a volcano and the earth to a castle and a chess board complete with chocolate chess pieces. The cupcakes and cake pops seem fine enough to make, but the decorations at points are excessive. There is a cupcake recipe to make the whole periodic table or geodes made from fondant and sugar syrup which needs to sit for 12 hours then an additional 2 hours!
The least over-the-top recipes are the cookies as it is easy enough to use a cookie cutter for the cookie dough, but I do not want to take the time and effort to make royal icing of different colors to make rockets or video game controllers. Besides cakes, cupcakes, and cookies, there are recipes to make Petri Dish Jellies (which honestly looks like the easiest nerdy recipe in this cookbook), Moon Phase Macarons (I have made macarons before and they are tricky!), Robot Brownie Pops, Fantasy Sweet Rolls, Hard Candy Rupees, and Wi-Fi Cheesecake, among others. Even though the recipes in the cookbook are fun to look at, they are mostly impractical besides the basic recipes at the beginning. They do take more ingredients, time, and effort and oftentimes require special molds and decent decorating skills, which the everyday person including myself does not have.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a geek with a sweet tooth, so this one definitely scored with me. I've never seen her show, but I'm not much of a YouTuber, nor much of one for cooking shows. As much as I like cooking and new recipes, I tend to like cookbooks more. Seeing this book, though, I might be willing to give her a try.

Admittedly, this is one of those cookbooks where you look at the gorgeous photos and drool over the finished projects, and then step back and honestly ask "would I *reeeeeeeally* spend all that time decorating a cookie?" Most likely, no. For me at least. Several of these recipes fell solidly into the "Ain't nobody got time fo' that!" end of the spectrum. Doesn't mean they're any less pretty to look at though! But that is why it's 4 stars from me instead of 5.

Knowing that I am one of those bakers who'd prefer to get to the end product, there are several recipes here that actually aren't super detailed and time-intensive, but still pack a nice geeky punch. You know, ones that lazy ol' me would actually make for a party. (Yes, for myself, I'll stick with cookie dough - because really, who wants to wait that extra 10 minutes when the dough is honestly the best part?)

From a practical point of view, this is a good cookbook. There are templates and sources provided, plus plenty of pictures on the decorating how-tos. The recipes themselves aren't that hard; it's all about the decorating. If you're geeky and into sweets, it's at least worth a look. If you're the type who enjoys the decorating part of the baking process (not just the end consumption!), then this is definitely not one to miss.

[Phantoma · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a birthday present and I love it. some recepies are a lot easier to make and decorate but it's a really nice cook book. I discovered for myself how much of a pain making marshmallow fondant actually is xD
me and my boyfriend made the Brain Cake from this. it took us a few times working out the best way to use the fondant to get the shapes we needed but I do feel that there was far more fondant than necessary. there was also far more cake batter than necessary as well, since I also made brownies with the rest of the mixture as well as making another mini brain out of brownies and leftover fondant. also far more 'blood' than needed as we drowned the brain, the mini brain and the brownies with SO MUCH spare even after using a lot of it.

[Raquel (Silver Valkyrie Reads) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was visually interesting enough to be fun to look through whether you intend to do any of the baking projects or not. I haven't tried out any of the recipes, but while there are a few basic cake recipes and such in the beginning, the main point is taking whatever recipe you want and decorating it to look amazing, and the looks definitely succeed.

There's a nice range of difficulties too. I can't see myself making an entire castle out of cake and rice crispie treats any time soon, but I can totally see throwing some gummy candies in petri dishes full of jello for the right occasion.

It was also cool that the nerdiness felt genuine, and the book included some thoughtful touches nerd would appreciate, like QR codes.