In The Art of French Pastry award-winning pastry chef Jacquy Pfeiffer, cofounder of the renowned French Pastry School in Chicago, gives you just that. By teaching you how to make everything from pâte à choux to pastry cream, Pfeiffer builds on the basics until you have an understanding of the science behind the ingredients used, how they interact with one another, and what your hands have to do to transform them into pastry. This yields glorious results! Expect to master these techniques and then indulge in exquisite recipes, such as:   ·      brioche ·      napoléons / Mille-Feuilles ·      cream puffs ·      Alsatian cinnamon rolls / chinois ·      lemon cream tart with meringue teardrops ·      elephant ears / palmiers ·      black forest cake ·      beignets   as well as some traditional Alsatian savory treats, including:   ·    Pretzels ·    Kougelhof ·    Tarte Flambée ·    Warm Alsatian Meat Pie   Pastry is all about precision, so Pfeiffer presents us with an amazing wealth of information—lists of necessary equipment, charts on how ingredients react in different environments, and the precise weight of ingredients in grams, with a look at their equivalent in U.S. units—which will help you in all aspects of your cooking. But in order to properly enjoy your “just desserts,” so to speak; you will also learn where these delicacies originated. Jacquy Pfeiffer comes from a long line of pastry chefs and has been making these recipes since he was a child working in his father’s bakery in Alsace. Sprinkled with funny, charming memories from a lifetime in pastry, this book will have you fully appreciating the hundreds of years of tradition that shaped these recipes into the classics that we know and love, and can now serve to our friends and families over and over again.The Art of French Pastry, full of gorgeous photography and Pfeiffer’s accompanying illustrations, is a master class in pastry from a master teacher.

    This clearly organized resource for all levels is like having a cake decorating workshop in a book. Discover useful tips for embellishing with buttercream, royal icing, fondant, gum paste, and more. The easy-to-follow instructions and 1,000-plus photos include techniques for piping, string work, creating and shaping a variety of flowers, molding chocolate, and adding patterns with stencils. Learn every facet of baking and embellishing with clear photos on almost every page. Let cake pro Autumn Carpenter show you how to create striking florals, borders, and accents with silicone molds, hand modeling, pastry tips, cookie cutters, and more. Take your skills up a notch and wrap a cake in chocolate, make decorations with isomalt, and use gum paste for quilling. Try new techniques with confidence, and get inspired by a gallery of colorful ideas for holiday cakes, birthday cakes, children’s cakes, wedding cakes, and special occasion cakes. This detailed book includes:Cake preparation and baking basicsRecipes for fillings and icingsIdeas and instruction for decorating cupcakesPiping techniques for making lifelike and fantasy flowers, eye-catching borders, distinctive lettering, and moreInstructions for creating appealing accents like beading, ropes, and lace using fondant and gum pasteKey decorating tools and how to use themTechniques for incorporating airbrushing, edible frosting, and chocolate molding for one-of-a-kind designsWith this comprehensive guide you can get started today making your own unique cakes! The Complete Photo Guide series includes all the instruction you need to pursue your creative passion. With hundreds of clear photos, detailed step-by-step directions, handy tips, and inspirational ideas, it’s easy and fun to try new projects and techniques and take your skills to the next level.

    The best news of all is that they're actually easy to make at home. And really, is there anything more scrumptious than a fresh doughnut? In Doughnuts, prepare to be tempted by more than fifty recipes, including Chai, Huckleberry Cheesecake, and Red Velvet. Of course, the cookbook is also full of traditional recipes for favorites like Old-Fashioned Sour Cream and Chocolate Raised doughnuts, as well as vegan and gluten-free recipes. The mouthwatering photography and tasty recipes will leave readers and home cooks drooling and dreaming about doughnuts.

     The world of Sweetapolita is sparkly and sprinkly and charming as can be, with 75 recipes for everything from pretty homemade cookies to decadent layer cakes. But what really sets these treats apart are interactive designs that let everyone in on the fun of decorating: Painted Mini Cakes are served with edible "paint" for guests to personalize at the table, the fondant-covered tiered Chalk-a-Lot cake is paired with homemade edible "chalk," and Rainbow Doodle cookies are made for kids to go to town on with edible markers.  Rosie Alyea, the creator of the Sweetapolita blog, frolics in flour and frosting, and she loves to get her two young daughters involved, too. The pages of her debut book are full of playful ideas that will inspire creativity in bakers of all levels—including a recipe for making sprinkles at home and numerous ways to showcase them, such as the Sprinkle-Me-Silly Pizza with rainbow jimmies and nonpareils galore.  With 75 full-color photographs of cookies, cakes, and more plus step-by-step technique tutorials, The Sweetapolita Bakebook will change the way bakers decorate, while entertaining every kid—and kid-at-heart.

    Nigella's deliciously reassuring and mouthwatering cookbook demonstrates that it's not terribly difficult to bake a batch of muffins or a layer cake, but the appreciation and satisfaction they bring are disproportionately high. At last, a book that understands our anxieties, feeds our fantasies, and puts cakes, pies, pastries, breads, and biscuits back into our own kitchens.

    This collection of dessert recipes comes from Chez Panisse and includes a chapter on dessert foundations with sabayon, marmalade, caramel sauce, frangipane and pate a choux as well as the simpler ginger cake, coconut tapioca and black-and-white cookies.

    Among the 175 recipes featured are Blueberry-Cornmeal Cakes, Tamarind-Glazed Mango Napoleons, Truffled Rice Pudding, Chilled Rhubarb Soup, Earl Grey Ice Cream, Chocolate Espresso Terrine, and Goat-Cheese Cheesecake. 85 full-color photos.

    His methods are classical, his desserts extraordinary, and his flair for teaching the basic building blocks for all 100 of these delicious recipes makes every masterpiece completely achievable. From the first few chapters dealing with simpler methods, like roasting fruit to draw out their natural essence or rolling out classic cookies, Gordon paces cooks, step-by-step, through the more delicate pastry techniques, expanding their range with the confidence to whip souffle s that defy gravity. Desserts are never mandatory, but Gordon's mission to share his passion for flavor makes these treats simply irresistible. Since its original release in the fall of 2001, Gordon Ramsay's Just Desserts has been praised in over 80 publications nationwide, reaching a combined audience of more than 4,700,000 readers. Here is a sampling of the acclaim for the renowned chef's mouth-watering dessert collection."

    . . Cinnamon-Donut Bread Pudding . . . Double-Crumble Hot Apple Pies . . . Giant Coconut Cream Puffs . . . Here's a collection of desserts that gives more than 75 sticky, chewy, messy, gooey reasons to stock up on napkins. In addition to each sugary favorite, the author has included simple techniques and tools to help home cooks recreate each decadent treasure again and again. Sprinkled throughout are tips on using phyllo dough, toasting nuts, and making a heavenly ganache, so every over-the-top treat tastes as irresistible as it sounds. For the serious sweet tooth, pour a tall glass of milk and get ready to bite into all that's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey!

    This book includes everything you need to know to make and fill these treats, plus step-by-step photographs and recipes for sauces, toppings, and glazes. Originally from Denmark, ebelskivers (pronounced “able-skeevers”) are snacks or desserts traditionally served during holidays and at celebrations. Today, cooks offer these puffy, sphere-shaped pancakes with a wide range of sweet and savory toppings and fillings, varying them in countless creative ways. Making ebelskivers requires little more than ingredients you probably already have on hand—milk, eggs, flour—and a special seven-welled pan that forms the pancakes’ unique shape. Everything you need to know about making these treats is here: from mixing the batter; to cooking and filling the pancakes; to tips for creating perfect ebelskivers every time. Filled with luscious photographs and more than forty tempting recipes, this book will provide endless inspiration for any occasion. Served any time of day, these delicious recipes will change the way you look at pancakes forever!

    Designed in an easy-to-follow format, this chunky compilation presents all of the classic pastries in the simplest possible way, along with a collection of recipes.

    

    No fondant. No red velvet. Upscale bakery Robicelli's has become a buzzed-about, in-demand purveyor of decidedly adult cupcakes. Nixing cutesy, pastel-colored dollops of fluff for real ingredients and rich French buttercreams, the husband and wife team have reinvented the cupcake craze for a more sophisticated palate, making each a small piece of the greatest cake ever made. Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook.Now their extraordinary recipes are available to the home cook, including: The Laurenzano (fresh fig cake topped with goat cheese buttercream, fig balsamic gastrique, and crisp prosciutto flakes)The Brooklyn Blackout Cake (chocolate cake with chocolate custard buttercream, dipped in homemade fudge and rolled in chocolate cake crumbs)This book captures not only the Robicelli's unique take on baking but also their edgy, unapologetically hilarious take on life, including how they survived severe economic setbacks to launch the country's hottest cupcake brand-- a venture begun with thirty dollars in borrowed quarters.Offering both cupcake recipes and a recipe for life that calls for a stash of "emergency cake," Robicelli's: A Love Story, with Cupcakes is a baking book like you've never seen before.

    Simply Scones features more than seventy luscious recipes for scones and spreads certain to delight both traditional and adverturesome palates:Sweet Scones: Oat Current, Triple Chocolate Chunk, Jam-Filled Walnut, Pistachio Fig SconesSavory Scones: Cheese, Hearty Grain, Pesto, Tex-Mex SconesSpreads: Apple Butter, Clotted Cream, Yogurt Cheese, Chocolate Nut Butter, Raspberry Cream Cheese SpreadPlus dozens more. Special sections tell how to make perfect scones, and how to serve a scrumptious afternoon tea. If you've never indulged in a batch of fresh-baked scones, there's no reason to miss out now!

    It’s a chance to spend time with your family and friends, to laugh really hard, to let things get a little chaotic, and to eat lots of delicious baked goods. In Butter Celebrates! Rosie provides more than 100 recipes for every celebration, holiday, special event, and milestone in your life. The holidays celebrated in this book are EASTER  CHRISTMAS HALLOWEEN MOTHER’S DAY  THANKSGIVINGVALENTINE’S DAYHANUKKAHST. PATRICK’S DAYNEW YEAR’S DAYAnd there are plenty more treats for almost every other occasion you can think of, includingTHE ARRIVAL OF A NEW BABY WELCOMING A NEW NEIGHBOR A SUMMER PARTY IN YOUR BACKYARD THE BELOVED FAMILY DOG’S BIRTHDAY             Whether you’re an experienced baker or just starting out, Rosie’s straightforward recipes are easy to follow and will produce irresistible results. Butter Celebrates! takes you into Butter’s pink-and-pistachio slice-of-heaven world, where every day is worth celebrating. It will inspire you to celebrate life and to create new traditions and memories along the way.From the Hardcover edition.