Customer Reviews

Classic Southern Desserts: All-Time Favorite Recipes for Cakes, Cookies, Pies, Puddings, Cobblers, Ice Cream & More

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CLASSIC SOUTHERN DESSERTS is quite simply the best cookbook I have seen in a long time on Southern desserts-- perhaps the best ever-- and is destined to become a classic. Published by the editors of the magazine "Southern Living," it contains over 200 recipes that according to the writers were selected from more than 10,000 recipes over the past 40 years. And there are almost as many color photographs as there are recipes. The pictures which are breathtaking will make your salivate. Unlike many of recent cookbooks of Southern Desserts this one makes no attempt at nouvelle cuisine, whatever that means, and offers recipes as traditional as a family reunion. And if you are looking for "cooking lite," look someplace else. For the most part these recipes are heavy on butter, sugar, nuts, flour, coconut, etc., etc. There are few cake recipes, for instance, without icing-- piled high and deep-- cream cheese frosting, praline frosting, chocolate marshmallow frosting, milk chocolate frosting, vanilla buttercream frosting, caramel frosting, coconut cream cheese frosting, nutty cream cheese frosting, 7-minute frosting, luscious lemon frosting-- you get the picture.

The chapters of recipes are as follows: "Luscious Layers & Other Cakes," "Crunchy Cookies & Chewy Bars," "Cheesecakes To Die For," "Old-Fashioned Pies, Cobblers & Tarts," 'Sweet Breads & Coffee Cakes," "Bread Puddings, Custards and More," "Ice Cream & Frozen Desserts." There is also a chapter on tips for successful baking with 13 tips on baking the perfect pound cake, the most tempermental of cakes as far as I am concerned.

A big fan of both baking and eating cheesecakes, I thought there were no more recipes to be had on the subject. I was wrong. Eleven cheesecake recipes are printed here including the New York Style South Cream-Topped Cheesecake similar to the one I bake often. But also included are Key Lime Cheesecake with Strawberry Sauce, Uptown Banana Pudding Cheesecake-- looks interesting-- and Irish Strawberry-and-Cream Cheesecake.

The editors outdo themseselves, however, on the chapter of the rest of the cakes: the traditional Lane Cake, Black Forest Cake, Caramel Cake, Chocolate Layer Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting, Coconut Cake, Italian Cream Cake, Carrot Cake. There is the obligatory Red Velvet Cake without vinegar but with 2 ounces of red food coloring and the Triple-Decker Strawberry Cake-- the reason I bought the cookbook-- that appears to be the only cake in the collection made with a mix. But as a friend of mine would say, if you add several other ingredients-- in this case strawberry gelatin among others-- you are essentially baking from scratch. What the editors called an "Updated Hummingbird Cake" makes the cut as well. By that, they mean less sugar (1 3/4 cups) and less oil than the original. And they also inform us that this recipe first appeared in "Southern Living" in 1978, was submitted by Mrs. L. H. Wiggins of Greensboro, North Carolina and is the magazine's most requested recipe. By my counting there are 22 or more of these layer cakes and 10 or so pound cakes and some sheet cakes thrown in for good measure. Conspicious in its absence, however, is that country cousin of cakes, the Fruitcake, for which we can all say a little prayer of thanks at the family reunion.

While I'm not big on pies, the offerings here look great. Included are Key Lime Pie (it has to be made with condensed milk to meet my requirements and is), Lemon Meringue Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Pecan Pie and the obligatory Sweet Potato Pie, to name a few. Even the artsy Grasshopper Pie is here as well. The editors let us cheat and use refrigerated piecrusts. By far the best cook I ever knew swore that you couldn't tell the difference in piecrusts done from scratch and the refrigerated ones-- not the frozen ones-- you buy at the supermarket, and he was seldom wrong about baking.

Bread Puddings, Frozen desserts, Rice Puddings and Cobblers (Sweet Potato Cobbler, which is one of my favorite cobblers and one that I had never seen published before) get their place in the sun as well-- Coffee Cakes, Scones, Cookies-- you name it.

CLASSIC SOUTHERN DESSERTS is a must for anyone who believes that desserts should be showy and outrageous and that lean cuisine should be reserved for the rest of the meal. My only complaint-- and it is minor-- is that the individual recipes are not listed in a table of contents page at the beginning of each section.

This cookbook is gorgeous, but it relies WAY too much on box mixes and pre-packaged crusts. I was incredibly disappointed when I started reading the recipes and kept spotting ones that called for packaged-this or packaged-that. I don't understand the point of recipes that just ask you to combine box cake mixes with boxed pudding mixes and food coloring; those belong on the back of a manufacturer's box, NOT in a cookbooks.

This country relies far too much on so-called "convenience foods." Is it really that difficult to measure out a few cups of flour or a teaspoon or so of baking powder? This was not at all what I was expecting from a book about classic southern baking. Fortunately, there are some recipes that are completely from scratch in here, I just wish the whole book was this way.

The images here are lovely and they were enough to serve as inspiration for me to create my own recipes, but this is not a book that I would really recommend to any of my serious baker friends or readers.

"The Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, but something else just as sweet happened in America that year- the first ice-cream parlor opened." What follows is a history of Ice Cream in America. Just an example of how interesting and thorough Southern Living editors are. I love their books! I do believe this one is a compilation of the best Southern desserts...with one exception...Tipsy Puddin'. Living in the South is a cultural and taste experience second to none. Church socials, family reunions, Sunday picnics ALL have DESSERT..you can count on sweet and memorable.

A few recipes include: Vanilla, Peach, and Unbelievable Chocolate Ice Creams, Granitas and Sherbets. Any pie you can think of, OF COURSE pecan...AND pecan pie cookies. Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches with Rum Raisin Filling, Lemon Bars, Macaroons, and the ULTIMATE Chocolate Chip Cookie. Cakes galore from Lane, Red Velvet, Hummingbird, Mississippi Mud, Texas Sheet, Cola Cake and Pound Cakes to die for...how about Buttered Rum Pound Cake With Bananas Foster Sauce? Caramel, Decadent Banana,Black Forest and last but NEVER least, Chocolate Turtle Cake. Coffee Cakes, Bread Puddings,and Cobblers too numerous to mention..but are they GOOD!

You can't miss with this cookbook. You will be the hit of the Charity Cake Auction, Sunday Church Social, or Family Reunion with any of the recipes on the 330 pages with loads of pictures sure to make you think about exercising just so you can have a serving! My Dad used to say "Life is uncertain, Eat Dessert First!"

This book has a nice variety of desserts. I have made the lemon poundcake, chocolate pudding, rice pudding and cream cheese poundcake twice (Yes! this needed an encore). Everything turned out perfect. I intend on trying alot more recipes from this book. It is now my favorite dessert book because of the easy instructions, simple ingredients and wonderful flavors.

Southern Living cookbooks never dissapoint and this one is no exception. I love to bake and am proud to add this book to my large collection!

I purchased Classic Southern Desserts as gifts for my daughters and one for myself. What a HIT! This is an excellent cookbook every cook or beginning cook should have on the shelf. One of the best! Enjoy!!!

I love the desserts in this book. The book itself is beautiful. I keep it in my book display on my counter it's so pretty.

I just love this cookbook. I made the praline cheesecake for a dinner party and people just raved over it. It was incredible. The recipes are really clear, to the point and easy to follow. The tastes are on point.

I am really glad I bought this book. I prefer all of my cookbooks to feature a lot of pictures so that I have some idea of what the end result should look like. This book has GREAT pictures.

Another reviewer complained that there are too many recipes that call for boxed cake mixes and convenience items. It's true that there are a lot of recipes that call for these items, but there are also plenty of "from-scratch" recipes. I myself don't mind recipes that call for convenience items since I work long hours and have a small kitchen. It's nice to be able to pick up a limited number of ingredients. But if you don't like convenience items in your desserts, you will still find plenty of great recipes in this book.

There are a ton of bread pudding recipes in this book, too. I LOVE bread pudding, and there are several recipes in here that I can't wait to try. There are also a lot of layer cakes, which I tend not to make often because they are a bit more labor intensive, but I love them nonetheless. I am looking forward to baking a lot from this book! And even if I don't end up baking much, the book is worth it to stare at the pictures and imagine baking elaborate desserts that the average person doesn't have time to bake. :-]

I like this book very much. It has alot of the recipes that were in the Southern Living Mag. and had be looking for. Has lots of pictures which I love in a cookbook. Love, love love this book!