Bake It to the Limit: Easy-To-Prepare Desserts With Showstopping Variations for Special Occasions (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Almost an embarrassment of riches for dessert lovers, here are new books from four talented bakers. Gand and her husband, Rick Tramonto, are the pastry chef and chef, respectively, of their two popular Chicago restaurants, Brasserie T and Tru. Their first book, American Brasserie, included some of Gand's delicious desserts, and now they offer a generous collection of almost 175 recipes, from Millionaire's Shortbread to Sweet-Hot White Pepper Ice Cream. The writing style is slightly precious (e.g., "Butter is a true aristocratAand a modest one"), but the recipe instructions are clear and the headnotes informative. For all baking collections. Medrich, the well-known author of Cocolat and Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts, now presents 50 delicious recipes for favorite cookies and brownies, many of them shown in mouth-watering full-page color photographs. There's a good introduction, and each chapter opens with "Here's What I Learned," a brief but informative collection of clever tips. Many of the recipes are classics, and all of them seem irresistible. An essential purchase. Purdy's A Piece of Cake and As Easy as Pie have become classics, and her two recent low-fat cookbooks, including Let Them Eat Cake, have been very popular. Her new book features recipes for all sorts of homey desserts and other baked goods, from Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pudding to Blue Ribbon Cherry Pie to Sour Cream Spice Cake. The recipe instructions are detailed and thorough, and there are many thoughtful technique tips and other useful hints, as well as variations. For all baking collections. Wilson is a baker and food writer, and her specialty is wedding cakes, the topic of her first cookbook (The Wedding Cake Book). Unlike her extravagant wedding cakes, a number of the desserts in her new book are fairly simple, although many of them feature a "Bake It to the Limit" version, an optional final step for a more elaborate presentation or variation. (The cake recipes, perhaps not surprisingly, are far more complicated than the other desserts.) With recipes for sweets like Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart and Sour Cherry Bars, this is recommended for most baking collections.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Description

Bake It to the Limit is sure to be the hot, new dessert cookbook. This full-color photographic cookbook includes rich and decadent desserts that anyone can make, following Dede Wilson's carefully prepared recipes. Not satisfied with recipes that just taste good, she offers spectacular, Bake It to the Limit variations that will really impress. Some of the variations are easy-sprinkling gold leaf flakes over a cake, sandwiching ice cream between two cookies and dunking it in chocolate ganache, or using cookie cutters to create fun shapes. Others are a little more elaborate, but worth the effort-marzipan or chocolate roses, crystallized flowers, flavored buttercream frostings, solid chocolate serving bowls, and piping fruit or chocolate sauces over desserts in decorative ways. Wilson explains all of the techniques in detail, and the gorgeous photographs show you the finished product.

A professional baker and wedding cake designer, Wilson includes all the basics you need to get started: tips on working with chocolate and other finicky ingredients, plating techniques, essential kitchen tools, and pantry staples for whipping up a dessert on short notice. With chapters on brownies and bars, breakfast treats and snacks, mousses and puddings, ice creams, cookies, pies and tarts, cakes and more, this is a book that dessert lovers will turn to again and again.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 193 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow & Co; illustrated edition edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688159729
• ISBN-13: 978-0688159726
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,192,079 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Bake it to the Limit, June 19, 2000

By A Customer

This is another one of those books with some very yummy sounding recipes, but also a lot of recipes using some rather odd food combinations the average person/family member is just not going to appreciate. To be honest, I have not tried any of the recipes, but I have read the book from cover to cover and I must say most of the recipes appear quite complicated having several "stages" you must progress through to get to the end result. After each of the recipes there is a "Bake it to the Limit" version that is even more complicated than the original as well as more "gourmet" which I can tell you right now, the novice or average baker is NOT going to have the skill to pull off or want to put in the time (some of these recipes have an entire page or more of written instructions). A lot of the recipes also require "base" recipes that are given in a chapter at the rear of book like creme fraiche, clarified butter, tempered chocolate, mint sauce, etc. that are pulled together as you go, again emphasizing the fact that you can't just whip up the recipe in one sitting, you must incorporate these "base" recipes which means you will have to flip back and forth through the book as you go. My biggest disapointment aside from the complicated nature of the recipes is the severe lack of pictures. I personally like to see the end product of every recipe. I want to see what my creation is supposed to look like not to mention that half the time it is the picture that can sell you on whether you want to make it at all! There is also an entire chapter devoted to ice cream recipes and sorbets which is all well and fine but they are all made using an ice cream maker -I don't have an ice cream maker so this whole chapter is useless to me. Anyway, if you want to make an impressive dessert and have a lot of time on your hands and don't mind a challenge then this is a good investment for you!

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book Saved the Holidays, December 15, 2003

By	Emily Boudreault (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews

I am not a baker or much of a cook and I needed cookie recipes for several functions. Thank Goodness for this book. The recipes were easy enough for me to follow and the yields were very generous. The different options for baking it to the limit encouraged me to try taking the recipe a step farther. With this book, I can bake!

5.0 out of 5 stars Dede Wilson Cooks!, September 19, 2000

By A Customer

Dede Wilson's Wedding Book is a classic, and this follow upbook has many interesting ideas and sumptuous recipes. She clearly conveys techniques that make something intimidating very easy to do. I've seen her on television and enjoyed her desserts immensely. [...] Food photography can be [expensive], and would make the cost of a book as thorough and as comprehensive as this prohibitive. Dede Wilson gets a big thumbs up from this home baker!