Customer Reviews

The Craft of Baking: Cakes, Cookies, and Other Sweets with Ideas for Inventing Your Own

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Even before this book was released, I was a big fan of Karen DeMasco's baking and approach to sweets. A recipe of hers - toasted almond semifreddo - appeared in the online version of Food & Wine magazine earlier in the year and I used it as the basis of a dessert course for a dinner party. It has since become my signature dessert.

This elegant, abundantly photographed and descriptive cookbook is a must for anyone who enjoys the sweet side of the kitchen. There are basic recipes for everything from cakes, cookies, pies and quickbreads to ice creams, sauces, candies, marshmallows, brittles and everything in between. Though I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable in the kitchen, I picked up some new tricks from the book - how to bake in soup cans, making marshmallows without egg whites, and, most exciting to me, making fruit jelly candies.

Written with Mindy Fox, the book contains a helpful and very explicit guide to the sweet pantry and ingredients and how to improvise on a recipe to make it a signature dish.

This is going to be one of my top holiday gifts this year. Love it.

I am a beginner chef and I just finished making the cashew brittle . I am so proud and so excited to start working on other recipes. It was probably the simplest thing to do and it looks and tastes gourmet. I think a batch of brittle and this book is going to be my gift for many this year. I made the gingerbread, and although it has lots of ingredients it's very simple and you can make a few batches to share. I love the simple ingredients and the fact that it's really made me love learning a new "craft".

I am already putting in my request for a volume 2 !!

This is an excellent cookbook, for a number of reasons. First, the directions are clear and accurate in all of the recipes I have tried. Second, the recipes are not, for the most part, fussy; they are do-able if you have any experience in the kitchen. If you've never rolled piecrust before, a more basic book, like Dorie Greenspan's "Baking" or Marion Cunningham's "The Fanny Farmer Baking Book" might be more useful. Third, some of the recipes will make you see old things in new ways; the jasmine rice pudding (especially with the added rum raisins) is simple and brilliant. You can put it together while you're making dinner. Fourth, the recipes are well chosen and, thank heavens, limited in number. There's no need to contemplate a whole bunch of chocolate cakes, wondering which one is REALLY good, as you must do with a more extensive volume, like Greenspan's "Baking" (an excellent book in its own right). Finally, the recipes are delicious. I certainly haven't had a chance to make all of them (although I can speak for the trifle, which speedily disappeared from the Christmas dinner table), but it's easy to see that it's the kind of book I'll want to work my way through. It's worth adding that "The Craft of Baking" includes recipes that never see an oven, like the wondrous cashew brittle or the ones in the chapters on puddings (the lemon steamed pudding!) and ice creams. Even if you are as guilty as I am of owning too many cookbooks, you will want to get this one.
M. Feldman

I just received the book as a gift and decided to make the gingersnap cookies. They are truly delicious. The use of freshly grated ginger and blackstrap molassis really makes an impact on this little treat. I can't wait to bake more from this masterpiece.

I am an enthusiastic, experienced amateur dessert maker. I've read over 100 dessert cookbooks, and am always seeking high quality tastes, whether I go out to eat or cook at home.

A pastry chef at a high-end restaurant has to be creative, and execute extremely well to create desserts that customers will willingly pay a lot for. DeMasco shares a lot of detailed knowledge that has helped her do that. Her careful instructions will help you succeed and enjoy your desserts. You never get the feeling that this book was whipped out just because the publisher thought it would sell a lot because the chef is famous.

This book avoids several common pitfalls. It is not the big encyclopedic cookbook filled with recipes, the majority of which you know you're never going to make. It is not the umpteenth cookbook of gooey-sweet-nostalgic recipes for blondies or cupcakes that you feel you could easily outdo with a stroll on [...]. (but there are are recipes for cupcakes -- just carefully chosen and best-of-kind recipes). If I were to cook my way through a cookbook J&J style, this might be the one, because every recipe I read I want to make.

There is a nice mix of ambitious desserts with sophisticated flavors to wow the dinner party guests with, and desserts that you are going to eat while standing up, primarily off your finger, with no one but your whining dog looking.

Claudia Fleming's influence shows - this book is like a "more of" sequel to the superb "The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern". Today that out-of-print book is going for $400 on Amazon.com. That should tell you what a special cookbook it is. You will be getting a similar experience buying DeMasco's book. Cook with flavor in mind and you will be so happy with the results.

Hello to anyone who is reading this!

Just wanted to post about The Craft of Baking. I purchased the book a couple of weeks ago and am loving it. I have a pronounced sweet tooth and believe that any proper dinner ends with a delicious dessert. The problem for me with desserts cookbooks, though, is that so many of them go for the sugar jugular: recipes for frou-frou items that might look pretty but don't have much of a flavor profile beyond SWEET. For me, the best desserts are cooked with a savory sensibility--layering flavors and textures on top of one another, showcasing seasonal ingredients, complementing/responding to/riffing off the preceding meal. Karen DeMasco has always taken this approach, and it's why I've long thought she's one of the most genius pastry chefs in the country (yes, in the country, not just in New York City). The fact that I can now crack open this book and, basically, pick Karen's cooking brain at will is one of the most exciting things that's happened to my kitchen in recent memory. And the recipes are all clear, straightforward, easy to follow.

If you have any interest, passing or intense, in cooking desserts and sweets, then this volume should really be in your library! I cannot recommend it highly enough.

And I'll be putting wrapped copies under more than one Christmas tree this year.

Enjoy, and happy baking!

Meeghan

This is a stunning book -- instructive, beautiful, and most importantly, packed full of delicious recipes. DeMasco's suggestions for improvisation make this the perfect book for anyone who likes to put their own stamp on their baked goods, and her basic recipes are top-notch. If you've been lucky enough to visit any of the Craft restaurants, you know she's got a knack for combining sweet and salt -- a winning combination in every case, to my mind. I've already baked three cakes (each of them a big hit with dinner guests) from this book and am looking forward to experimenting with the pies and crumbles for Thanksgiving.

Required reading for bakers everywhere!

I have far too many cookbooks. Far too many choices when I need a recipe. Yet, I've worked my way almost completely through this book.

While I haven't battled with the brioche, I've tried almost every other recipe in the book. I served the butterscotch cream pie, brown butter pecan pie, and pumpkin ice cream sundaes for Thanksgiving. The pecan muffins have become a staple in our house and all of the cookies became gifts over the holidays.

I can't say enough good things about this book!

Before buying this book i flipped through it and found so many of those recipes I've been looking for all under one cover- graham crackers, raspberry granola bars, those french jellies I've always loved and good icing to go with some very good cupcake recipes. Out of the many cookbooks i have, this cookbook for me is clearly one of those "go-to" books for baking ideas. The recipes are simple and accurate and so far every one has been a success. The author was right on target for keeping the directions simple. I highly suggest this book for anyone who wants a compact book of recipes on baking-good kitchen companion that won't gather dust.

I'm an avid home cook, but I've always been a litle intimidated by baking as you need to be so meticulous and careful with measurements. Plus, I don't have much of a sweet tooth. But I received The Craft of Baking as a gift and have already used it multiple times. The recipes are elegant without being intimidating. And so far, the recipes I've tried have been delicious and not too sweet for my taste. The Pumpkin Spice Bread is fantastic and great for weekend guests. The Carrot Cupcakes with Mascarpone Cream Frosting were a huge hit at a birthday party.

I also had a friend make the Spicy Caramel Popcorn for a party and it was the perfect balance of zing and sweet. It's next on my roster to make.

I highly recommend the book and it will become a staple in my kitchen.