[.ca] Celebrate with Chocolate: Totally Over-The-Top Recipes (ISBN 0688162983)

From Amazon.com:
Don't let the relatively diminutive size of Marcel Desaulniers's Celebrate with Chocolate fool you. In this age of coffee-table cookbooks, the 45 recipes and 16 pages of color photographs in this book might lull you into thinking that these desserts are simple. But look carefully at the cover and see the important subtitle, Totally Over-the-Top Recipes. The almost 20 pages of clear, easy-to-follow information on equipment, ingredients, and techniques give the confidence needed to tackle projects like the five-page Dancing Gingerbread Men Peppermint Fudge Cake: super-spicy, mildly chocolaty, moist sponge cake layers are separated by voluminous white chocolate mousse mixed with mini chocolate chips and crushed peppermint candy, and then enveloped with a smooth chocolate glaze and topped with dancing gingerbread men. Not exactly child's play. For those not easily intimidated, Desaulniers has a seriously decadent recipe for Granny's Chocolate-and-Walnut-Covered Coffee-Cocoa Marshmallow Squares. When you finally unstick your kitchen, the dense, richly flavored, chewy marshmallow bites will elicit groans of pleasure. There are also a few less complicated concoctions such as Bob's Big-Ass Chocolate Brown Sugar and Bourbon Birthday Cake, Double Chocolate Pecan Tart, and the surprisingly easy Cocoa Berry Yogurt Mousse, which comes together in just a few minutes. For the most part, the cakes, cookies, frozen desserts, mousses, candies, and other chocolate treats in Celebrate with Chocolate are not for the faint of heart or the kitchen novice, but if you're seriously into chocolate, and are up for the challenge, let Desaulniers be your guide. --Leora Y. Bloom

Whimsical Desserts:
I use the word "whimsical" in the negative sense, as something amusing, unusual, or humorous that most people will not be interested in. So it is with Desaulnier's recent cookbook of "totally over-the-top recipes" (to be fair, though, they are not as outrageous as in some other books). In the end, I suggest that you steer clear of it. One can criticize this book on several grounds, but the most serious involve the recipe instructions. Almost all of them contain at least a few parts that are either incomplete or downright wrong. This is rather disappointing, as the author has a facility dubbed "Ganache Hill" that is devoted to testing recipes for his cookbooks. For example, his instructions for making an Italian meringue ("Honey, I'm on Cloud Nine" Icing) are too vague for this rather tricky procedure. The eggs for Schnappy Chocolate Cake did not whip properly. The cake layers for his version of Black Forest Cake should be soaked with syrup just before you assemble the cake, not just before you store it the refrigerator (they will get soggy and impossible to handle, I think). The author also states that the flour is "pre-sifted", yet he calls for the flour to be sifted after measurement; he also makes the mistake of not giving weight measurements for flour. One of the cookie recipes ends up as batter rather than a dough, and spread too much on the cookie sheet. Another objection involves his use of non-standard baking pans: you will need a bewildering array of them, and it is unlikely that you will have any of the; you will have to purchase them specially for a specific recipe. You will also need 2 ovens to bake off the three half-sheet pans (10 x 15) for "Chocolate Hazelnut Christmas Tree Stump"; all the batter must be baked off right away, and cannot be stored while you bake one or two sheet pans. You will also need a true jelly roll pan, and three 9-inch cake pans, rather than the usual two. You will also need some disposable gloves, as some recipes require you to manipulate doughs that are very sticky. Also note that a large stand mixer is required. There are no alternate instructions for either hand-held mixers or using a plain hand whisk. The times given for the mixer are also rather problematic, as he gives just an amount of time in minutes, which is fine if have the same mixer he has. There are insufficient indications in the recipes as to what to look for when executing a step using the mixer; "until soft" is not an adequate instruction. Another problem I encountered is that some of the recipes are either time consuming or difficult to execute properly, as many of them rely on expert decorative touches. There are no indications in the recipes to alert you to this. The unwary home baker can easily stumble into a recipe that is either beyond his/her scope or available time. On the plus side, there are a couple of recipes that are valuable to have. "She Ain't Heavy" Chocolate Cake is one of the richest and chocolate-laden I have tasted, and plan to keep as part of my repertoire of standard recipes (although it shrinks quite a bit when it cools). You will also find a recipe for a whole-egg butter sponge cake, also known as a genoise, flavored with chocolate: Old-World Cocoa Sponge Cake. While this is a standard professional recipe, it is also a valuable recipe for the home baker. There is also a rare recipe for homemade marshmallows; I found the flavor a little too intense compared to the one I usually use (the one in the old version the Joy of Cooking).

What could be better...:
The book includes very good recipes and mostly the photos are gorgeous. But there are a few things that would make it a much easier-to-use book: First big problem is having to convert ALL measures into metric system. It's simply a pain! Than I would prefer to have a photo for each recipe and the photo standing next to it - not having to go back and forth in the book. Also I find it easier to follow recipes when each step is visually apart from the previous and next one - in this book it is easy to get lost in the text.

Marcel does it again...:
I'm a sucker for Marcel Desaulniers' cookbooks. Around the holidays I was in a bookstore and saw "Celebrate with Chocolate" (and oh dear, I was having a chocolate craving at the time)--I just had to bring it home. We immediately used a recipe out of it for my birthday cake (err, cakes--it produced a bunch of little cakes that look just like dominoes), and it was as superb as every other Marcel recipe I've ever had! Those little cakes were so densely fudgy that we ended up splitting them and topping them with ice cream so as to avoid falling over dead of a chocolate overdose. Sadly this cookbook lacks the gorgeous photos you'll find throughout Marcel's death by chocolate series. Normally I don't really care one way or the other, but he's so darn artistic with his food that the photos really bring something extra to his cookbooks. At least there is a small section of photos in the middle so you aren't entirely deprived. These are incredibly rich recipes, as evidenced by this note from the ingredients chapter: "My admiration and love for butter has never wavered." Like Marcel's other recipes, these come in pieces. That is to say, instead of having one continuous recipe, a recipe is put together in stages and then assembled. Take Rolf's Old-World Black Forest Cake, for example. It includes a vanilla sugar cookie base, an old-world cocoa sponge cake, glazed cherries, "just a hint of chocolate" buttercream frosting, whipped cream, and chocolate curls. This makes it very easy to mix-and-match recipe components. As usual Marcel's recipes are long, but again this is because he details every step, ensuring a wonderful result. You don't need to be an expert in the kitchen to make his recipes, but you *do* need to be willing to spend real time and effort on a dish--these are show-stoppers, not simple fare. If that isn't enough to convince you, here are a few recipe titles to get your mouth watering: Cocoa cinnamon chocolate chip shortcakes. White chocolate pumpkin cheesecakes with blackberry pixilation. Slammin' citrus squares with white chocolate-lemon balm icing. Champagne fritters with chocolate grape surprise and sparkling cream. Caramel orange-chocolate orange masquerade ice cream terrine...

Five-star cake:
I was so excited to see another of Marcel's books come out that I quickly bought it. It's one of those books that you can hardly wait to get into the kitchen and start baking. I just had to try the Pretty in Pink cake, but I discovered that you needed three 6 x 2 cake pans. So I went out and found them at Sur La Table. Then I discovered I needed Wilderberry Schnapps. I finally found that at a large wine store in the area. (It is not at your local grocery.) Everything else I had and was ready to go. Needless to say, even though it took a while for me to gather all these things, it was worth the effort. I followed the instructions exactly, and I tried a piece after waiting the hour it needs in the fridge. It was okay. The next day, I tried another piece, and WOW! It tasted like a cake you would get in an expensive restaurant from a good pastry chef. Letting the cake sit in the fridge overnight gave the cake just the right texture and the frosting looked beautiful and was delicious. I took some to my co-workers and they thought it was restaurant quality, also. If you have a special event or just want to make a fabulous cake that will impress everybody, this is the cake for you. I am just a home cook, no special training, with just a GE electric oven, but I was able to do it and get great results. I was so excited to taste such a masterpiece. I couldn't even get around to putting the strawberries on it, because it didn't last that long. Also, Marcel's instructions are like he's in the kitchen with you. I am looking forward to trying other recipes, but if I don't right away, that's okay, because this recipe alone was worth the price of the book. Way to go, Marcel. Magnifique!!

Excellent:
This book has great recipes. At first they seem complicated because some can be 2-3 pages long, but it's all the detailed step-by-step explanation that really helps. I've made about 6 recipes out of here and brought them to work, and their favorite by far are the Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookies. Buy & enjoy!