Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts [Hardcover]

Elinor Klivans (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 2, 1997

Turn your freezer into the hardest-working appliance in the kitchen with 120 recipes for delicious chocolate desserts using Elinor Klivans's award-winning bake and freeze techniques.

No time to prepare your favorite chocolate desserts?  Elinor Klivans begs to differ.  In her first cookbook, Bake and Freeze Desserts, this busy pastry chef, cooking teacher, self-confessed chocoholic, and mom devised a method for preparing desserts ahead of time, freezing them, and defrosting them so they taste just as good as the day they were made.  Now she's at it again, this time using her foolproof techniques to create 120 luscious chocolate cakes, cookies, brownies, puddings, and mousses ideal for baking and freezing, or just eating.

Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts fits into the needs of today's busy cooks.  By planning ahead, chocolate desserts can be prepared weeks in advance to be ready and waiting for dinner parties, holiday entertaining, last-minute guests, sudden chocolate cravings, and late-night freezer raids.  Of course, most of these desserts don't have to be prepared in advance; they can be enjoyed as soon as they're ready.  But Elinor's time-saving techniques teaches you how to prepare desserts when you have the time--they can be frozen immediately or prepared in parts for assembly into full-fledged desserts.  Her mouthwatering recipes include Double Decker Mocha Brownies, Hot Chocolate Mousse, Chocolate Chestnut Satin Torte, Pear and Chocolate Tea Bread, and Mochaccino Cheesecake, as well as a host of recipes for dessert basics, like easy-to-make cookie crumb crusts and sauces.  And, for those in need of immediate chocolate gratification, there's a selection of recipes that can be made in thirty minutes or less, such as Chocolate Cream Pie, Nutella Ice Cream Torte, and Mocha Marble Mousse.

Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts also features Elinor's tried-and-true suggestions for baking with chocolate, a short history of chocolate, and an indispensable mail-order guide for ingredients and equipment.  With eight pages of glorious color photographs, step-by-step instructions, and helpful hints on preparing, freezing, and serving, Elinor guarantees that novice as well as experienced bakers will turn out perfect chocolate desserts.  From cheesecakes to pies, sundaes to brownies, cookies to layer cakes, this wonderful cookbook will satisfy even the most voracious chocoholic.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This follow-up to the author's Bake and Freeze Desserts (LJ 10/15/94) is filled with irresistible chocolate desserts of all sorts, from Peanut Butter Pie with Fudge Topping to Coconut Macaroon Brownies to Pure Chocolate Mousse. Although it's nice to know that they can be prepared ahead and frozen, it seems likely that many of them will be devoured before they ever make it to the freezer. Recommended for all baking collections.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Americans' appetite for chocolate flourishes undeterred by the latest dietary proscriptions. Klivans appeals to both this chocolate craving and Americans' obsession with time-saving efficiency by presenting 10 dozen chocolate desserts designed for being made ahead and then frozen until needed. But before offering the recipes, Klivans makes sure that her readers know exactly what is in store for them. She comprehensively details both ingredients and techniques to answer all possible questions so that readers achieve the same results as her own. Most of Klivans' recipes are rich, loaded with cream cheese or filled with whipped-cream mousses. Since fats generally freeze well, this approach makes sense. Original steamed puddings offer something unique among current desserts. Chocolate cake, mousse, and glaze combine for Klivans' ultimate chocolate experience, but those who like their chocolate complementing other flavors may prefer the author's chocolate-covered raspberry mousse mountain. Mark Knoblauch

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1st edition (September 2, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767900138
• ISBN-13: 978-0767900133
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,490,145 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Elinor Klivans is a notable cookbook author and food writer who has published articles for Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking, Cooking Pleasures, and the Washington Post, among others. A former pastry chef, she is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals and lives in Camden, Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Hey, It Really Works, April 17, 2003

By 

jerry i h (Berkeley, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts (Hardcover)

When I first ran across this book, I was skeptical. The positive comments on the dust jacket that the recipes really work convinced me and I tried them. I was surprised when all of the recipes worked (the ones I tried, anyway). I now regularly make chocolate desserts from this book and freeze them. Being able to just take something rich and chocolaty from the freezer, thaw, and eat is something not to be missed.

Cookbooks written in the 1960's and 1970's used to routinely include instructions for saving and freezing the recipes. This is not true of recent cookbooks. This is a shame, as it a great labor saving technique. The home cook would make a spectacular dessert on a lazy Sunday afternoon or in lieu of a cancelled weekend activity, and freeze it for later use, mainly during the weekdays, when there is no time to properly bake a nice chocolate dessert (not to mention midnight raids for a snack). It is also an excellent way of preparing for parties and such. This book happily brings back this old-fashioned tradition our mothers used to practice regularly.

I find 2 factors in this book rather quirky. First, the author recommends melting chocolate in a warm oven, then turning up the heat for the baking. Better methods are the microwave (the author states that she does not have one) or in a double boiler. You also must have a large stand mixer; there are no alternate insturctions for doing the recipes manually.

There are some curious errors. This book should have been vetted by a test kitchen. Some of the recipes should involve the use of tempered chocolate (chocolate curls), yet no mention is made of how to temper chocolate or the use of vegetable oil based "summer coatings" (I skip these recipes; there are better ones for making and using tempered chocolate). Some of the recipes involve a dramatic visual presentation (chocolate-covered raspberry mousse mountain), yet there is no picture of the finished product. The instructions for freezing are not a part of the recipes, but are mentioned in sidebars, leaving the cook to guess as to how include the freezing instructions into the recipes. For the most part, this is not a problem, but it can lead to confusion in some recipes. They should have been integrated directly into recipes.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Easy, elegant, and delicious!, August 9, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts (Hardcover)

Elinor Klivans has a way of leading you through the process of baking in such a way as to convince you that you, like her, can have any chocolate dessert come out deliciously every time! Like good travel directions, Elinor's instructions both within the recipes and in the margins of the pages throughout the book give you guidelines that encourage and enlighten you every step of the way. I learn something every time I prepare one of her recipes. It is really a pleasure to take the little time required as I have it to produce entire desserts or components in order to eat some and freeze the rest to compile later. Everything I've made from "Bake and Freeze" has turned out beautifully - and to pop something out for guests or to contribute to potluck dinners at a moment's notice is heaven -- and impressive to all. I have satisfied many a chocolate craving with Elinor's desserts and highly recommend to expert chefs and new kitchen users alike her book! which makes simple, impressive, and highly satisfying chocolate desserts a breeze.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A "must have" chocolate dessert cookbook!, November 9, 2001

By 

Rosey - See all my reviews

This review is from: Bake and Freeze Chocolate Desserts (Hardcover)

As the holidays loom nearer, there's nothing like having a few desserts in your freezer on hand for those unexpected guests!

The recipes are well written and easy to follow. And the freezing/thawing directions are very helpful, too. Plus, the author gives very good descriptions of specialty ingredients and where to find them.