07.08.2008
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Chocolate & Baking  Print E-mail
Book Reviews Cooking, Food & Drink
Description
Books
Author: Parragon Publishing, n/a
Price Paid for Book (and Currency): $14.99 CAD
Book Obtained From: Chapters
Book Length: About Right
Influence for Reading this Book: The price was good, there were a lot of pictures, and I was interested in the recipes for the crème brulee tarts, chocolate apple pie and chocolate fruit tarts.
Pros: A diverse collection of easy recipes, and there are over 240 of them in this book, all of which are accompanied by a full-page color photograph!
Cons: Many recipes required the use of self-rising flour and the pie crust/dough recipes lacked flavor (i.e. sweetness).
Do You Have a Spoiler in Your Comments?: Yes


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Average user rating from: 1 user(s)

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0 of 0 people found the following review helpful

Appetizing pictures, but only average results, 07.31.2007

Written by Kevin   -   View all my reviews   -   #1 Reviewer

Overall Rating
3.0
"Chocolate & Baking" contains fairly easy recipes to execute and despite the title of the book, it actually has a good range of recipes including ones for breads, puddings, candies and drinks rather than only for cakes and cookies (and some of which don't even include the use of chocolate). In addition, the fact that the book has a full-colored picture for every recipe is a scarce thing to find in any baking or cook book. Personally, I rarely even attempt a recipe unless it has a picture to accompany it, as I often need one for culinary inspiration/motivation:) I've currently made three items from this book so far (see additional pictures posted), but have found the results to be only average (i.e. Not something I would prepare for a big dinner party where my reputation was on the line). For instance, the Chocolate Apple Pie's (256) crust was too dry in texture and practically had no taste to it. In addition, the chocolate apple filling wasn't sweet enough either, leaving me with the impression that I was eating bland apples on chocolate shortbread!

On the other hand, the White Chocolate & Almond Tart (370) proved to be slightly better in that it closely resembled a butter tart or pecan pie, but with almonds. Lastly, the Chocolate Butterfly Cupcakes with Lemon Butter Cream (130) I made turned out ok, but probably wasn't anything to write home about or worth the effort required in making them.

Moreover, I didn't like how a good deal of the recipes called for the use of self-rising flour, since it's not something people normally carry on hand (even though Better Homes and Gardens "New Baking Book" says that I can substitute 1 cup of self-rising flour for 1 cup of all-purpose flour plus 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda as it's still inconvenient to do so).
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