[.ca] Caprials Desserts (ISBN 1580086241)

From Amazon.com:
Caprial Pence (of Caprial's Bistro in Portland, Oregon) and her pastry chef, Melissa Carey, go for "flavor and substance" in Caprial's Desserts, a volume of master recipes and variations for the desserts that keep her Bistro customers coming back for more. These are simple desserts that don't need translation. They are mostly old-fashioned, the kind you wish your grandmother passed on to you, such as the rich and moist Chocolate Buttermilk Cake. And to ice it, her Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting is the recipe you've been looking for. Master recipes are followed by variations just to get you started. Caprial encourages us to experiment with whatever we have on hand. Their recipe for a truly crispy Fruit Crisp is followed by variations for Oatmeal-Nut Crisp and for Individual Fruit Crisps. Once we understand which parts of the recipes are safe to change, the sky's the limit. Banana Cream Pie, Caramel-Pear Tart with a Graham Shortbread Crust, Jenny's Great-Grandma's Gingersnaps, and Peach-Raspberry Scones are comfort food epitomized. Orange-Caramel Pull-Apart Bread, Chocolate Bread Pudding, Strawberry-Mascarpone Ice Cream, and Coconut Cream Cake will impress your friends and thrill your kids. These recipes are creative enough for anyone to appreciate, and are so clear, concise (most take up less than a page), and easy to follow that even pastry novices will feel comfortable diving in. --Leora Y. Bloom

Want to impress your guests?:
This is a great cookbook. I have quite a few dessert cookbooks in my collection, but this one is destined to be a favorite. Her instructions are straightforward and easy to follow. I really appreciate that she has a master recipe and then variations so you can 'customize' the desserts. For example, she has a wonderful Banana Creme Pie recipe that received rave reviews from our dinner guests. For my next party I tried the Coconut Creme Pie, again with wonderful results. My one fault with this book is that the desserts are not for the faint of heart. These desserts are labor intensive and the author does not tell the home cook that although you will need the chocolate sauce and chocolate ganache for the pie, you will need far less than what the recipe calls for. The sauces I needed for the pies was more for decoration rather than as a filling. The Chocolate Buttermilk Cake was simply divine. I used leftover ganache to fill it and it was heavenly. The desserts taste wonderful and the pictures are exquisite. It was well worth the money.

Excellent results:
The recipes in this book work! and for me that is the most important thing. The chocolate cake recipe is fantastic. I would buy this book for that recipe alone. So far, I've tried 3 recipes from this book and they have all turned out great.

Beautiful and inspirational cookbook!:
What a great cookbook! Authors Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey have created the perfect format for a cookbook that not only gives you delicious, easy to follow recipes but also gives you the tools to become your own creative dessert chef. Each recipe in the book is accompanied by some suggested variations. For example, the recipe for Sour Cream Cheesecake is followed by tips on how to turn the master recipe into Berry Cheesecake, Individual Mocha-Orange Cheesecakes and Chocolate Cheesecake. Studying the suggested variations encourages you to be creative and use the master recipe to create your own unique desserts. The book is beautifully photographed and includes photos demonstrating some of the trickier techniques. The desserts featured are comprehensive - cakes, pies, custards, cookies, ice cream and pastries are all here. A great kitchen resource!

A Caprial fan is dissappointed:
I am a huge Caprial fan. I own almost all of her cookbooks and have been to her restaurant again and again, but I am somewhat dissapointed in this cookbook. There are a lot of good things about it. The selection of recepies is fantastic, pies, cakes, cookies, breakfast sweets, it's all there. Moreover, her method of starting with a basic recepie and including variations expands the range of the book, encourages innovation, and makes it easier to get around personal dislikes and/or allergies to particular ingredients. My problem with this book is that the recepies are unreliable. I have made several of them with mixed results. The brownies and the banana cream pie came out perfectly (in fact her brownie recepie is one of my favorites), but the muffins were dry and heavy, the filling for the dreamsicle pie was way too runny (although the three nut crust was good), and the blondies required a much longer baking time than the recepie gave. The worst was the biscotti recepie: the dough came out so runny I must have dumped four cups of flour on it just to get it to hold together, and that was after it made a gloppy mess all over my counter. I've had successes with this book, but I just don't trust it anymore.

Excellent Dessert Cookbook:
This is a wonderful dessert cookbook, especially if you are looking for one main book to use. Like Caprial Pence's other cookbooks, recipes are very tasty and the directions are easy to follow. What is particulary nice about this cookbook is the photographs that show the various steps for certain cooking techniques. Whether it is a cake, cookie, muffin, ice cream, or other sweet treat that you want to bake, Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey have the perfect recipe!