Ann Reardon Books in Order

If you want her main cookbook: How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations
If you like showpiece desserts with clear steps: How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations
If you want baking science along with recipes: How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations

Ann Reardon grew up in Perth, Western Australia, in a home where sweets were not exactly free-flowing. Her parents leaned more toward carob than candy, and her mum taught her to cook young. That mix of curiosity and sweet tooth stuck. Long before YouTube, she was collecting recipes and trying to work out why desserts behaved the way they did.

She later studied food science and completed postgraduate training in dietetics at Curtin University. After that she worked as a consultant dietitian in the food industry, then in community and public health. Those jobs helped shape her style: clear explanations, careful testing, and no patience for fuzzy kitchen advice.

She has always cared about the why, not just the wow.

Before the internet turned her into a familiar face, Reardon also spent time as a youth pastor. Her house was busy with dinners, guests, and baking for groups, and people kept asking if she could show them how to make things themselves. After writing out the same recipes again and again, she decided to put them online.

The real turning point came in 2011 after the birth of her third son. He was unwell, and she spent months awake for round-the-clock feeds. To stay awake, she started typing recipes one-handed and built the first version of How to Cook That. It began as a blog, not a grand media plan, and then the videos started pulling in an audience.

It took off.

Viewers came for the giant cakes, chocolates, and visual surprises, and stayed because Reardon explains things in plain English. Showpiece desserts, tiny creations, and playful food illusions all became part of the How to Cook That mix. Her documentary series The Sweetest Thing carried that same spirit. What readers and viewers tend to like most is that she makes impressive work feel learnable.

Then the internet got stranger, and Reardon changed with it. Alongside pastries and cakes, she became widely known for testing viral food hacks and pointing out the ones that were fake, wasteful, or dangerous. That part of How to Cook That feels very in character. The food scientist checks the claim, the dietitian explains the risk, and the teacher walks people through what really works.

Her cookbook, How to Cook That: Crazy Sweet Creations, brings those strengths onto the page. It mixes quick desserts with bigger weekend projects and slips baking science into the process without making it feel like homework. If you like knowing what happened when a cake sinks, why chocolate seizes, or how structure changes a dessert, this is very much her lane.

Reardon now lives in Melbourne and still makes How to Cook That with the calm style that helped it grow in the first place. She is still baking, still explaining, and still willing to test the weird thing from the internet so other people do not waste their time, money, or ingredients.