Customer Reviews

Chocolate Passion: Recipes and Inspiration from the Kitchens of Chocolatier Magazine

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I have recently received this book and I find it an excellent book. It is not only beautiful (it has lots of spectacular photos) but also its recipes are wery good, and also its explanations of ingredients and techniques. It is true that it is elegant and you can find that many of the recipes are only for special ocasions (however you can adapt them!), but not too sophisticated (as it is Torres' book, which I find extremely sophisticated). I find this book beautiful and useful.

One of the authors is the head recipe tester for Chocolatier Magazine, and the recipes in this cookbook are similar to the ones you will find therein; it has the same advantages and drawbacks. Specifically, it is a productive resource for the professional or the veteran amateur pastry chef. The recipes are probably too ambitious and the instructions too vague for the average home cook.

The introductory chapter is a mixed bag. The essays on types of chocolate, tempering, and tools are exemplary. On the other hand, the sections on non-chocolate ingredients and various techniques and procedures (such as whipping egg whites or proper batter folding technique) are virtually absent. It also has the obligatory and disposable information on chocolate history and manufacturing.

Interestingly, the book has three main sections, one each for milk, dark, and white chocolates. Here, you will find recipes mainly for cakes, cookies, and confections. In a rare moment of honesty, the authors admit that milk chocolate has such a weak chocolate flavor that it is easily overwhelmed in a recipe. There are slightly more than 50 recipes, and they are all listed and cross referenced in the table of contents.

The recipes themselves are problematic. The main error here is the listing of ingredients in volume (e.g. cups) with no equivalents given in weight. This is a major problem for professionals who will try to multiply the recipes, and also for any recipe that has flour. They all list prep times, but never the cooling or baking times. Many of the recipes are complicated affairs that have several components. The result is a recipe that takes up several pages, but even so the instructions are quite scant; they are sufficient for professionals, but not detailed enough for the inexperienced. There is no advice on how to coordinate the execution of a complex recipe with several different sub-recipes. Each recipe has a picture, which is a good thing, but the presentation and decorating instructions in the recipes sometimes do not match the food styling in the photos. These problems will not be a hindrance for the experienced, but will be major trouble for the average home cook.

The most interesting feature of this book is the variety of truffle recipes. Each one has detailed instructions from A to Z for using the fancy, plastic truffle molds that can be bought on the internet in a bewildering array of different types and shapes. There is also a recipe for using chocolate transfer sheets.

This cookbook is to die for. I have been a subscriber to chocolatier magazine for years and every time I make something from the magazine, people think I've had it catered. The recipes are not as difficult as people might imagine and the photos make your mouth water to the point that you can barely contain yourself until you try every single recipe!

When even someone whose idea of "difficult" cooking is cake and brownies from a box picks up a cookbook and says "I have *got* to have this book", you know it is a great book.

Granted, this person is a chocoholic, not a reformed cook who will consider tackling these challenging recipes. And the recipes are challenging.

This book does offer some excellent recipes, and we tested quite a few of them with excellent results...but they are very time and labor intensive. The vast majority of the recipes in the book require over an hour of active preparation.

The book is still worth buying however, even if you couldn't possibly imagine taking 4 hours (plus chilling, cooling, etc. time) to make the decadent caramel rum kisses. The very generously sized book is filled with useful information about chocolate, chocolate history, suppliers, and cooking with chocolate. The book is very well written, and while some recipes span over six or more pages, the recipes are written in exquisite detail making it easy for the inexperienced cook to tackle even the most complex of recipes. But the real reason you should buy this book? Definitely the photos. I occasionally use this book as a coffee table book and to quote a guest the photos themselves are "orgasmic". Her word, not mine. They are incredibly styled and just brimming with chocolate. Be careful though, they have been known to launch chocolate cravings of gastronomical proportions.

If you do purchase the book, there are some recipes you *must* try. The Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Pie is relatively easy to prepare and is by far the best version of this common restaurant staple. If you make only one dessert this year, their Flourless Bittersweet Chocolate Cake with Milk Chocolate Drizzle should definitely be the one. It is incomparable.

Will most people actually use this book? Well, it depends on what you mean by "use". I actually have friends who come over to visit this book...and just happen to see me while they are at it. Just reading the book makes you feel decadent and pampered...like you are eating the best chocolate in the world. Any chocoholic will enjoy this book immensely, probably more than any other book on chocolate on the market. If you want to know how many of the recipes you will use...to be honest, the average cook probably will not use many. There is a lot of useful information and ideas for the average cook, especially when it comes to decorating ideas and techniques that you can apply to many other recipes. You may even be inspired to use some of the unique combinations of ingredients in other recipes, such as white chocolate, citrus juices, and tequila or dark chocolate and ginger. It would take a pretty confident cook or entertainer to try most of the recipes in this book. But it would definitely be worth it!

This book is visually stunning. However, as an avid homebaker, I encountered errors in some of their instructions. Some cakes, such as the "White Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Cake," had an assembly problem. I believe they never made the cake themselves or they would have realized that all the filling doesn't fit into the springform pan the way they have indicated. I instead used a 9 inch ring on a baking sheet lined with a 9-inch cardboard round, so I would have enough room for the cake layers and fillings. But the cake itself, when done was incredibly delicious and stunning to look at. I found the "Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate Pie," contrary to another reviewer to have been an awful recipe in instructions, assembly and taste. Yuk! The "Milk Chocolate and Golden Almond Cakes," were awesome. The cover cake, "Black Satin Chocolate Raspberry Cake," is prettier to look and was uninspring in taste. I was disappointed. Most of the recipes are timeconsuming and I agree with another reviewer that they lack insight in the instructions a homebaker would need. I haven't tried any of the candy recipes and will soon be trying out the "White Chocolate Opera Cake." I will say this book allows the homebaker to dream and succeed in many recipes to create stunning preparations. I find it is unique that it gives the homebaker a chance to try some challenging recipes that are on par with those one would find in pastry shops and five-star restaurants. Most baking books I find are uninspiring, insipid and about as challenging as opening a cake mix box. I think this book is a great one to add to your collection, because there are enough keeper recipes to make it worth your while.

I love this book.

That pretty much sums it up. I was looking for a book to unseat Desserts by Pierre Herme as my favourite high-end, spare no expense baking book, the kind you use for dinner parties and other events to just blow your guests away. And after being disappointed with Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme, I thought I would remain searching...

The search is over. The desserts in this book fall into the "enthusiast" category, so don't expect the recipes to be quick or easy. Some will be irritated by the lack of mass measurements too.

But if you're willing to put in the time and have at least a medium level of experience, these recipes are going to blow you away. The white chocolate strawberry cake, for example. Visually, it's just spectacular; every time I make the thing, people are just in awe. I've even stolen the great spiral design with the chocolate triangles for other cakes, and the results have never failed to disappoint. Oh yeah, and did I mention that these cakes taste great too? Well they do. Have you tried Pierre Herme's Meringue? This is one of the most complicated and difficult recipes I have ever done, but damn was it fun to make. Even the humble white chocolate cheesecake recipe tasted sublime, and was easy to make at that!

This is the kind of book that makes me want to get up at 6:00 a.m. and just bake for 10 or 12 hours working on the elaborate masterpieces contained within. It's the kind of book that stimulates the imagination, as well as the taste buds. I cannot recommend it enough.

I had this book on my wishlist for almost a year and received it for Christmas. I sat down on Christmas evening and eagerly paged through the book. What a disappointment. Most of the recipes did absolutely nothing for me. Most of the recipes were time consuming and tedious. Yes, it's nice to look at, but I want to taste, not look, and this book totally put me off to trying many of the recipes. I was very disappointed. If you want truly decadent chocolate desserts, I highly recommend Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. These recipes were specifically written for the home kitchen and are truly inspiring and decadent. It doesn't get any better than Chocolate Desserts. Don't waste your time/money on this book unless you want showpieces rather than decadent desserts.

The book is good and the write up is very detail. I really like the book as the recipes are easy to follow even though some of it is very time consuming. This book suit both amateur and professional.

The first thing that strikes me when looking at this book is how appealing the many, glossy pictures look and make you want to try your own hand at the professional quality desserts.
The book has been sectionned into recipes with either white, milk or dark chocolate. The recipes range from truffles to ices cream to puddings to cakes that are built out of different cake layers and different fillings.
Instructions are detailed and clearly written. For people who are serious cooks/bakers and are willing to spend the time needed to create some of the master pieces in this book, be warned: you won't be able to put down this book because it's so beautiful and you'll be spending hours in the kitchen because you can't stop trying out one recipe after the other.

I've found that perfection is very subjective, when it comes to both chocolates and to books, and that for me, any book by Tish Boyle on chocolate is worth having and enjoying.