[.ca] Death by Chocolate: The Last Word on a Consuming Passion (ISBN 0847825574)

extraordinary:
The pulsing beat of chocolate decadence continues. Although the new edition features only 4 additional recipes, these additions are chocolate masterpieces. If you are like me and own the first edition, it is probably in shameless condition due to excessive usage. So I suggest that you add this to your collection.

Without a doubt, a wonderful book:
I have had this cookbook for a few years now, and the edges are tattered, the pages bent, and smudges of flour and chocolate throughout. One of the reasons this book is so great is that in addition to having solid recipes, Desaulniers does an excellent job of explaining how to make each dessert, as well as how to cope if your kitchen is not equipped with some of the more extravagant baking utensils. This is a problem that many cookbooks fail to address, but not this one.

Lots of work! BIG PAYOFFS!:
I love this book. I first got it in college and have been steadily expanding the recipes I'm brave enough to try as the years go by. These recipes are complex, to say the least. This is All-Day cooking here, and no fooling. But, the ingredients are all readily available. This is a big plus for me. Nothing annoys me about a cookbook more than impossible to find, obscure ingredients. Unlike another reviewer, I didn't notice the photograph quality. My stuff *never* looks like the pictures, but that's just fine by me. It's the taste that ultimately counts. But if you're like me, and really *love* being able to have an excuse to spend all day in the kitchen, this is a great book. The recipes make fabulous, impressive desserts. My favorite, by far, is the Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Cheesecake, which has replaced pumpkin pie on the Thanksgiving dessert roster in my house. I also really love the caramel banana chocolate chip ice cream, the white chocolate ice cream, and I have even dared to make the chocolate wedlock, even though it took me two days. It was worth it. Every last second. If you love cooking, and love chocloate-- this is for you.

Did Marcel Make a Deal with the Devil?:
Given the sumptuousness of the desserts found in this cookbook, the photo of slim, trim author Marcel Desaulniers found on the back cover flap simply astounds. What's that old saying? Never trust a skinny chef? Well Marcel must have diabolical connections, because after trying this cookbook I trust him completely when it comes to the kitchen! When I first bought this cookbook I was in a lamentable phase where chocolate just seemed to be "too much" if it wasn't tempered with other flavors. Despite that I found much to love in this cookbook: Sliced Blood Oranges with White Chocolate Sauce and Caramel Banana Chocolate Chip Ice Cream are fabulous. Fresh Berry Tulip with White Chocolate "Ice Cream" is spectacular, strewn with strawberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Chilled Orange Cappuccino Cream with Grated Chocolate could melt you straight into a puddle. No matter what your dessert fetish, you'll find something for it here. Each recipe comes with a delectable photo that will leave you reeling with choices. Do we make the Dark Chocolate and Pumpkin Cheesecake this weekend? Or the Tipsy Chocolate Pecan Crunch Ice Cream? We'd make both if it weren't for the fact that these are *not* light dishes by any stretch of the imagination. At first the recipes may look daunting. Don't let this worry you, though. While some of these recipes are indeed complex, many of them are simple. And most of the long pages of directions are a result of the author's wish to detail every step with precision so that you *don't* get too confused or overwhelmed. Few of the recipes call for unusual ingredients (the blood orange recipe is one of them), and any equipment from the lists that you don't have you can probably substitute for (although it really helps to have a stand mixer). Besides, how can you possibly resist recipes with names like: Danielle's Temptation. Caramel Rum Delerium Ice Cream Cake. Chocolate Demise. Chocolate Devastation. Chocolate Phantasmagoria (yum!). Double Mocha Madness. And of course, Death by Chocolate.

As good as it looks:
I bought this book six years ago, and it hasn't failed me yet. (In fact, when I visited the US, I put Williamsburg on my itinerary just so I could eat some of Marcel's creations in his own restaurant!) The white chocolate and pistachio buttercream chocolate cake is a crowd-pleaser every time (and worth the three days it takes me to make it). Yes, the recipes are time-consuming. Being someone from the metric majority of the world, I find the metric conversions are a bit silly (they are done better in the later books). Some of the instructions are overly pedantic - I don't have the same kitchen equipment so instructions like 'beat for 3 minutes' don't always work. But with a bit of commonsense you can work things out. The other comment I'd make is that the suggested number of serves are extraordinarily generous: whenever the book recommends 12 serves, I know I'll get 24. I own a couple of Marcel's other books - but this is by far the best. As a friend of mine said after looking at the book: 'I want to lick the pages . . .'