[.ca] Room for Dessert: 110 Recipes for Cakes, Custards, ... (ISBN 0060191856)

From Amazon.com:
Baking books abound, but none presents a more mouthwatering selection of contemporary sweets than David Lebovitz's Room for Dessert. A former pastry cook at Chez Panisse in California, Lebovitz offers more than 110 recipes for cakes, curds, soufflés, tarts, pies, cobblers, ice creams, cookies, and more, beautifully depicted by color photos. He also manages, as few other baking book authors do, to provide lucid technical guidance, so even novice bakers should have success with his recipes. Readers searching for a solid collection of doable desserts, from homey to dress-up (but never too bedecked) will find the book is just what they're looking for. Featured are a number of Lebovitz's most acclaimed desserts, including Meyer Lemon Semifreddo, Butternut Squash Pie, and Orange Almond Bread Pudding. Readers will also want to try his modernized Marjolaine (chocolate-covered layers of vanilla and praline creams sandwiched between crisp nut meringues), Fresh Ginger Cake, Mexican Chocolate Ice Cream, and Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread, among others. With a chapter on liqueurs and preserves--there's a recipe for a luscious pineapple ginger marmalade, for example--and a presentation of basic formulas that includes dessert sauces (Lebovitz's soft-candied citrus peel topping is a standout), the book, wide in scope yet straightforward in detail, delivers. --Arthur Boehm

Thoughtful, Informative, Delicious, Doable Desserts.:
This is David Lebovitz' first of two books on desserts. The second is devoted entirely to desserts made with fruits. This volume is more general, including recipes for just about every different type of dessert you may think of. The collection is weighted in favor of recipes which would work well in a restaurant, so the number of recipes typical to the home are less common than you may find in a more general book on dessert baking. That is not to say this is a poor book. In fact, I am happy I reviewed Lebovitz' more recent book first, so I was able to appreciate the virtues of this book which were missing from the second volume. Lebovitz' introductory chapter on 'Essentials' is divided into three sections, each an extremely useful tool to the home baker. First, is a discussion of equipment, which seems to me to be one of the best around for baking tools. The ingredients section is similarly useful, although I wish the author, who is so careful to be precise about other items would avoid the descriptions of 'bittersweet' or 'semisweet' for chocolate and use, instead the percent cocoa grades as used by Vahlrona, a brand which Lebovitz endorses. The third section of essentials on Fruits is the star of this part of the book. The author not only gives the best season and the best properties and uses for a large number of fruits, he also supplies an extremely useful picture of each and every fruit, although the picture for coconuts is a bit puzzling. There must be varieties of coconut I have never seen in the very untropical northeast. Lebovitz must be especially fond of fruits, as this general book has a very large portion of its pages devoted to fruit, with a wealth of interesting information on various varieties. I was especially surprised to learn that the grapefruit is a human invention developed by crossing the pomelo with the orange. Who know. Lebovitz is true to the traditions of current and former Chez Panisse writers such as Alice Waters and Jeremiah Tower in that he is especially careful to note the variety names of various fruits and sometimes, like both Alice and Jeremiah, go so far as to specify the botanical species names. This is all very good, except that few markets distinguish types of fruits beyond apples and pears. I have never, ever seen any peaches labeled Carnival, Suncrest, Elegant Lady, Elberta, Flamecrest, or Cal Red. More importantly, I have never seen persimmons distinguished by variety, even though persimmon variety is much more important to the way it is used than with most types of peaches. But all of this is not a reflection on the book, only on the author's access to better than average greengrocers. Bottom line is that the pages on fruits in this book are worth the price of admission. The various types of desserts discussed, each in their own chapter, are: Cakes Custards and Souffles Fruit Desserts Sorbets, Sherbets, Ice Creams, and Gelees Cookies and Candies Liqueurs and Preserves As noted above, the author is positively in love with fruits, as they appear in virtually every type of dessert in every chapter. The chapter dedicated to fruit desserts has an especially good discussion on how to make fruit compotes. I confess the author has endeared himself to me by pointedly avoiding the pairing of fruit and chocolate. I have never liked the popular raspberry and chocolate combination, as all those gritty little seeds just seems to spoil the chocolate experience. Lebovitz does cross the line just once in combining blueberries with white chocolate in a tart. I'm good with that. The book ends with a very worthy chapter on basics which includes separate recipes for tarts, pies, and galettes where many other authors would simply give you a single recipe for all three. As other authors such as Wayne Harley Brachman point out, these three pastries simply have different requirements from their doughs. The basics also includes a section on caramelization guidelines. As this is an extremely scary topic for anyone like myself who has seen just enough Food Network shows to know what can go wrong, this section is invaluable. The book's list of sources for equipment is better than average as it gives web sites, telephone numbers, and addresses, plus a detailing of what the organization supplies. The photographs are competent and add to the attractiveness of the book. The color scheme is much better than the glaring pink and orange used in the later book. The Bibliography is a delightful addition. I wish every cookbook had one. The entries point to many titles familiar to me and many which are not, which is even better. This book is strongly recommended, especially for folks who are looking for new desserts for entertaining.

The Gooiest Book in My Kitchen:
I received this book as a holiday gift, and it is now caked in flour and dried-up goo because I use it so often. I've made about half the recipes and the only thing I struggled with was the caramel (but then, I have a \obad\c pan). Everything else was perfect, perfect, perfect. I also like that I can usually easily find the necessary ingredients and equipment. Some cookbooks require fancy pans or hunting at farmer's markets for obscure ingredients...sorry, but I far prefer to be able to make a beautiful, scrumptious dessert on a whim. Thanks David!!!

Delicious, though not unintimidating, recipes.:
David Lebowitz has done a fine job of presenting his recipes for a home cook. But most of them are reasonably complicated--things I'd like to make for a special dinner, preferably when I had someone else watching the kids while I cook. Since that's a luxury I rarely enjoy, I've only made three or four of his recipes. All have been absolutely delicious. Someday my children will be old enough that I can try some of his multi-step desserts!

Best book for dessert lovers:
I would also give this 10 stars if I could! This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever purchased. I have a big sweet tooth and have accummulated quite a collection of cookbooks on cakes, cookies, chocolate, etc. This book covers a large variety of sweets, from cookies (the best chocolate-chip cookie recipe I have ever tried) to sorbet (chocolate coconut sorbet, sangria sorbet) to ice cream (butterscotch ice cream with hickory nuts) marmalades and jams (plum strawberry), sauces (caramel, blackberry), crysalised ginger (which I can't find here, so I have to make it), to cakes (coconut, fresh ginger). I have tried a variety of things in this cookbook (cookies, ice cream, caramel) and they have all turned out DELICIOUS. I made coconut macaroons dipped in chocolate for my husband since he loves them so much and I ended up eating most of them - they were fantastic! A large fraction of the recipes are accompanied by mouth-watering pictures. Lebovitz includes some guidelines at the end for caramelisation as well. You don't have to be an expert to use this book, but you probably do have to have some experience and some tools (candy thermometre, hand-held mixer) for a few of the recipes. The ice creams and sorbets require an ice cream maker. I am extremely pleased with this cookbook and intend to eat my way through all of it. Excellent gift too, but make sure to get one for yourself!

A Five Star Cookbook!:
This cookbook certainly gets 5 stars. My requirement for a cookbook is that the recipes should be doable by mortals and that there should be at least one recipe in the book worth keeping. This cookbook meets both requirements. I have tried only the passion fruit poundcake and the ginger cake. They get rave reviews because they are perfect recipes and easy to do. I came to the ginger cake with reluctance simply because I don't care much for either ginger or molasses in anything and am not into pepper as an ingredient in cakes. Since the author says that this recipe is the favorite of many people, I took the chance and, boy, am I glad I did. In this recipe what you get is a beautifull deep brown, moist cake with great texture and subtle flavors. Mr. Lebovitz suggests fresh peaches to accompany this cake. A glass of cold milk goes well with it too. In addition to 110 dessert recipes, many of them beautifully photographed, Mr. Levobitz has a chapter called "Essentials" in which he discusses equipment, ingredients and fruits. In his introduction he gives his philosophy of dessert-making, that they be simple and that less is often more. In this instance I would say less is just right. If you like to cook unusual desserts, you will love this cookbook.