Customer Reviews

Baking for All Occasions

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Years ago I stumbled upon Braker's first book and immediately contacted her about where to get almond paste. This was the first time I had encountered such a heavy usage of almond paste, and it made an almond paste lover out of me. Since then I keep a food service size tin of the stuff on hand as does she. In Baking for All Occasions, Braker, stays true to her love of almonds and almond paste and contributes a good amont of recipes with them included in the book. But if your are not an almond lover, don't be turned off, there are many delicious recipes in this book that don't include it. I had been waiting for this book for over a year and so when I got it I immediately starting baking from it was and was pleased as usual. First off, I love that she included cups, ounces and grams, which is true to her style.

I also loved some of the really different recipes. The Zebra Cookies, which are called "chocolate-Vanilla Swirl are so cute along with the Chocolate-Dipped Cheesecake-sicles. Many of these could be served at an A-list event but they are easy. There is the Red Velvet Cake Roll, that is visually stunning and the Dark Chocolate Baby Cakes with Coffee White chocolate Ganache. There is a really nice variety of recipes and if you are not familiar with her work after baking from this book, you will likely go and try and find her older books. A nice set of 23 photos is included in the book as well as two indexes. One index is by recipe categories. Therefore looking for tarts and crostatas or yeast cakes, you'll find them more easily in this index. She also includes the standard index, just in case you are looking for all the almond paste recipes. These are not your grandmother standby recipes but they are so good you won't care with recipes to choose from like Old World Braided Coffee Cake. My advice to those who do like almond paste, try the Bundernuss Torte. Its a buttery tart pastry with a almond macaroon filling and hazelnut caramel topping. It is labor intensive and requires an overnight rest so be warned.

I am a baking book collector and own dozens of books on the subject. This one stands out from the pack in many ways. First of all, the book is very well laid out with good clear large-enough print, excellent directions and photographs of many of the recipes. The recipes themselves are most interesting and include some very original ones that I haven't found in any other books. So far, I have made the Banana Bottom Pineapple-Swirl Cupcakes (Banana cake and pineapple cheese cake baked together). What a heavenly combination! I also tried the Banana-Poppyseed Cake with Lemon Icing drizzled over, another smash hit. If you are looking for a spectacular bar cookie to add to your Christmas goodies, try the Neapolitan Bars (pastry bottom, almond filling with a layer of raspberry jam and topped with a chocolate glaze). Wow! I also made the Heavenly Brownies on Shortbread Bars. Another delicious and original treat. None of the recipes were difficult or even very time-consuming but the results were just wonderful. I also appreciated that there was a choice of measuring cup quantities and weighed measures. I find weighing things like cake flour much more accurate than just sifting and measuring in a cup. I intend to bake my way through most of the book. All of the recipes are worth a try. You won't regret buying this book, I assure you.

I tried the signature chocolate cake in the last chapter of this book, and I managed through this recipe with some puzzles:
1) this recipe calls for 85g choclolate,melted, however, after I read and read and read through the recipe 6 times, I still can not find on which step i should integrate this chocolate into the mixtuer.so I just added it into the butter cream, and then fold in the flour. I guess this is what Flo wants.
2) baking time, it said the 6 inch cake needs 55min to bake and 9 inch one just 35min, I guess (again)it should be opposite.
I am sorry for these small mistakes, though I corrected them by myself, I still feel very dissapointed because it is Flo's book, she spent many words reminding scrach down the sugur or flour after each load, but how can she forget such important steps!

whatever, the cake turns to be the best chocolate cake I have ever baked! I like it very much!

I've been baking for 45 years (scares me to think about it!), and I have found the recipes Flo Braker publishes to be consistently of high quality. If a recipe intrigues me, I can pretty much bet I am going to love the results. As in all of her recipes, she provides plenty of instructions for those who might require a bit of guidance in the kitchen, and I can't imagine anyone going wrong following her recipes due to getting confused about the directions.

One of the sections that I really enjoyed (simply due to the quality of those recipes) was a section on some tried-and-true basic cake and pastry recipes that then become the basis of some of the more detailed recipes that precede it.

While the organization of the recipes -- by "occasion" -- may not be to everyone's taste, there is an index at the back that organizes the recipes in a more conventional way by category (which I appreciate, although I also enjoyed at least perusing her categorization as well). I also appreciate the fact that quantities are provided not only by what have been conventional measures (i.e., by cups), but also by weight, including metric measures.

I would have given the cookbook 5 stars instead of 4 had it not been for one frustrating element: the typeface. While it works for alphabetic characters and integers, I have found it very difficult to read when it comes to fractions in the list of ingredients. My eyes aren't as great as they used to be, but no cookbook should require ANY reader to pull out a magnifying glass or open the cookbook under a bright light and hold it just so to make out the amounts. I blame the publisher for not having more sense -- there are easier typefaces to read, and even boldface would have worked better.

If you are looking for baked goods that will "wow" your friends and family, this book is for you. Everyone will pile on the praise after they've tried these treats. The book provides a wide range of recipes, from simple apricot scones and fruit pies to more complicated multi-tiered special occasion desserts. I've prepared quite a few of the recipes in here, and none have been difficult to make, though all are delicious. The author provides a special twist on old time classics -- like lime coconut bars with milk chocolate glaze or shortbread brownies -- making everything you prepare stand out from the usual sweets. I will warn you that many of the desserts are time consuming to prepare, but if you enjoy baking, you will love working your way through this book.

The person who designed this book has done a horrible disservice to Flo Braker, who is a baker extraordinaire. Although the recipes per se might have earned five stars, the layout is marred not only by a dearth of photos (who doesn't want to browse the content to be tempted, or to check the appearance of the finished product?), but also--and especially--by the choice of font used throughout.

Even people with 20/20 vision will find this typeface too small and too light to read without a magnifying glass, as noted by Jay, another reviewer. Furthermore, the ingredients/measurements appear in ALL CAPS, which any proficient designer/editor knows makes text more difficult to read. It's as though the designer intentionally took steps to sabotage the saleability of this book. Obviously, s/he has never actually put a cookbook to use.

Sadly, I don't have the patience to weed through the entire tome with a magnifier, so it will languish on my bookshelves. What a waste of Flo Braker's talent!

I can only hope that a revamped edition of "Baking for All Occasions" will be released in the future to keep these recipes from being lost entirely.

I don't really know what to say about this book other than it is everything I expected and more. I have wanted to get this book for awhile and was so excited when it came in the post, I spent ages going through it and have been pleased with everything I have so far made from it.

Love the book! Great instructions and descriptions and every recipe has been devoured in my house!

This book is filled with techniques and tips, not to mention delicious recipes. This is one of my top 3 baking cookbooks.

This book is fantastic. Everything I've made has come out absolutely delicious. I can't think of enough superlative things to say about this book. A must for any serious baking book collection.