Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: chocolate shavings, gelatin desserts, individual pastries, Cakes Without, Layer Cakes, Almost Without Flour (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

When it was first published in 1980, Maida Heatter's Book of Chocolate Desserts became a New York Times bestseller and then won a James Beard award. The book is Heatter's third, a mouthwatering compendium of superb but easily achieved chocolate cakes, cookies, pies, puddings, confections, sauces, and more. Like all of Heater's books, Chocolate Desserts balances good taste with warm, meticulous instruction that anticipates and addresses every question and concern a dessert-maker might have. Cooks at every skill level, from amateur to professional, will find Heater's recipes, and their results, a joy.

Arranged by categories like cakes, pastries, and cold and hot desserts, the hundreds of recipes are a chocolate-lover's dream come true. There are classic Heatter offerings, like her Palm Beach Brownies, the ultimate in dark, chewy fudginess, and her Positively-the-Absolute-Best Chocolate Chip Cookies (they are). Other must-make treats include Amaretto-Amaretti Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate Cigarettes, Chocolate Merry-Go-Round Cake, Chocolate Pecan Angel Pie, and 4-Star French Chocolate Ice Cream. The book begins with a comprehensive introduction to ingredients, equipment, and techniques and is filled throughout with Heatter's invaluable advice. Drawings by Toni Evans illuminate the exemplary text. --Arthur Boehm

Product Description

Chocoholics rejoice! Heatter's perennial favorite has everything for the chocolate-loving cook--cakes, cookies, pies, puddings and more. Each recipe is precisely detailed, and Heatter provides valuable advice on cooking techniques, ingredients and equipment.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 428 pages
• Publisher: Random House (August 22, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679765336
• ISBN-13: 978-0679765332
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,308,289 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 6 stars? 10 would do this book justice., March 20, 2003

By	G. Powell (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

I've had this book for 20 years and made nearly everything in it. The only recipe which I think must have a mistake in it is the "pepper" brownies. I've never been able to make them come out, and I've varied the cooking times, the tempetature, the ingrediants etc.

Ok, my favorite is the "French Chocolate Mint Truffles." You can vary this one to your heart's content. First, you can roll the results in "dipping chocolate" get a bar of high quality chocolate heat on a double boiler and use a fork to dip the cured truffle, place on wax paper to cool. Second, you can use almost any flavoring, almond, coconut, orange, lemon, peppermint, etc. Third, you can use milk chocolate, if the the mix starts to thin when you heat it, add a tablespoon of powdered sugar. Fourth you can use white chocolate although this is tricky and requres a lot of powered sugar to get it to "set" like a 3 to 5 tablespoons of powdered sugar. (With the coconut ones I mix in a 1/4 cup of grated coconut.)

Ok, then the basic brownies, ooooh you'll never buy a box mix again.

Then the flourless cakes, so rich, its incredible.

On to the "Pots of Creame" Yum, you'll have people begging for more. The trick here is to use a pan to hold the pots in, put the pan with the pots in it in the oven, then add "boiling water" and cook for exactly 22 minutes. The centers will be smooth and look runny but they'll finish cooking as they cool. Also be very careful getting them out of the oven, hot water will go right through your oven mitts. I use a canning jar lifter to get the pots of creame out of the pan. But in any case please be careful the burn you could get is bad.

I could go on and on, but if you can follow directions they all seem to come out fine.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Delicious and foolproof!, September 21, 1999

By A Customer

I've baked quite a few of the cookies and cakes from this book and they've always turned out great! The directions are always clear and Maida introduces each recipe with some background information, telling the story of how she came upon the recipe, what the finished product looks like, serving and storing suggestions, etc. These descriptions help when trying to decide which chocolate dessert to make when choosing from such a wealth of choices.

I love the orange chocolate loaf cake and since Maida says the recipe can easily be doubled I always do. This cake goes quickly and it pays to have a spare! A friend of mine gave one of these recipes to her caterer for her wedding cake -- people are still talking about that incredible cake!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Foolproof, August 21, 1998

By A Customer

I have yet to fail at reproducing a Maida Heatter recipe. She brought me from being a non-baker to a supremely confident baker. This book, as are all of her books, is a must-have for the beginner.