Customer Reviews

Perfect Chocolate Desserts

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Want to really impress someone? Try this book. It offers clear directions with plenty of photos. Some of the recipies are time consuming, so be sure to take note of Anne's time estimations before you commit to the recipie. If you are newer at cooking, it will probably take you longer to fix these impressive deserts the first time. The deserts are chocolate to the extreme. Very popular with my co-workers was the Speckled Chocolate Cake. The meringue based cake covered with chocolate required nearly 2 hours of work time to complete, but was impressive. Not for everyday cooking, but a good chice when you have a little time and a crowd to impress!

This book is wonderfully laid out. Not only is there the standard ingredients list, with the measurements and such, but there is a pictoral list, as well. That is, there's a picture of each of the ingredients that you'll need (and a picture of each utensil you'll need, too). It makes it very helpful when doing your shopping. No more missing items that are "hidden" in the ingredient list.

The author doesn't assume you know anything (which is great for me!). She has lots of "asides" where she'll go through how to load an icing tube, for example. If you already know, it's easy to skip, but if you don't, it's wonderful! Also, she gives pictures as the recipe is supposed to look at important points in the process (and sometimes a picture of what it's NOT supposed to look like!).

Anne Willan is the master of look and cook instruction. This book is the next best thing to having her in the kitchen with you while you bake. Beginner cooks/bakers will appreciate that each recipe has a list of not only the ingredients, but also of the equipment needed to complete the dish; further, photos of each piece of equipment are provided as well. The desserts range from simple to ambitious, but Willan makes them all approachable.