Desserts

I’ve only made three recipes out of this book, so far, but they’ve all turned out well. And they were delicious! The photos are gorgeous, and inspiring. The instructions are simple, but thorough. So glad I finally got my hands on this book!

Lots of great pictures (which I would expect from DK) with easy to follow recipes and interesting variations!

Excelente!!!

super book

As the editor's description says, this book contains a goodly amount of recipes for mostly European-style desserts such as crème brùlée, clafouti, tiramisú, cakes and tortes, a few pies, tarts, fruit galettes, layered trifles, fruit cobblers, puddings, a few cookies and brownies, a NY cheesecake, and more. Often a single recipe will be followed by several variations on a theme. For example, the basic tiramisú recipe is followed by a Guinness Stout variation (a “Beeramisú,” I guess), a chocolate-cherry version (like a Blackforest Tort), and one that uses amaretto instead of marsala. I'll vouch for the amaretto tiramisú: it was delicious. While tiramisús often contain raw egg whites folded into the cheese mixture to make it airier, these are cooked-egg versions, which I believe are better for food safety. Also, there are several versions of clafouti using different fruit: cherry, plum, pear. (Clafouti, for those who don't know, is a rustic French dessert, a sort of pancake batter, usually filled with fresh cherries, cooked in a cast-iron skillet until puffy.) While the recipes are often European-sounding, they are American versions of European desserts, so the instructions are clear and easy to follow. The measures are for Americans by volume—cups and teaspoons, etc., with very few references to weight or grams. Additionally, beside each recipe is a large, color photo that shows readers what the final product should look like—which is especially helpful for those of us who wouldn't know a clafouti if one came up and bit us on the butt. Plus, the pictures are enticing. Even the steps in the recipes have pictures. I believe the target audience for this book is people who are adventurous enough to explore some new cuisines, usually women who want a fancy finish to a meal for their family or guests, but guys could use it, too. The experience level looks like beginning to moderate. Even inexperienced cooks could pull off most of these recipes if they can follow directions—how hard is it to make rice pudding?--but those who know their way around a kitchen would probably feel more comfortable with the more unusual desserts—making a tart dough or puff pastry, for example. The recipes in this book aren't exhaustive—meaning you won't see every kind of dessert here. As an illustration, you may see several versions of pumpkin pie, but not many of the other kinds of pies you might want, so it has its limitations. The recipes look like they will taste better because they call for quality ingredients and don't take too many shortcuts—using real cream instead of canned sweetened condensed milk, for example, though I'm not a fan of no-bake cheesecakes with gelatin or using flour to thicken clafouti. If this were the only dessert book you owned, you could make a lot of interesting things and be satisfied, or it may be a springboard to fancier, more demanding desserts, like a Rose Levy Beranbaum book. Either way, it looks like a fun book. Enjoy what you bake!

every dessert ever awesome

Easy to follow recipes with scrumptious results!