Chocolate and Vanilla: A Baking Book

Chocolate and Vanilla: A Baking Book

<b>In this fun cookbook, award-winning pastry chef and Food Network star Gale Gand shares her favorite ways to indulge family and friends--and yourself--with sixty recipes devoted to two classic flavors, chocolate and vanilla.</b><br /><b><br /></b>Organized into sections featuring chocolate and vanilla, Gand first offers tips on buying and working with chocolate, including demystifying those ever-confusing cacao percentages, before getting down to business with more than thirty luscious, tempting recipes. Organized by type of chocolate--dark, semi-sweet, milk, and white--they run the gamut from simple treats such as Chocolate-Praline Cake in a Jar and Creamy Dreamy Walnut Fudge to impress-the-guests desserts that include Mexican Hot Chocolate Fondue and Chocolate-Almond Upside-Down Cake. <br /><br />Moving onto vanilla, Gand offers tips on working with both vanilla beans and vanilla extract, revealing which is best for what, and includes a helpful substitution guide. And then it’s on to the good stuff: recipes for irresistible sweets that showcase vanilla’s beguiling flavor. With one section devoted to desserts using whole vanilla beans--think Vanilla Raspberry Rice Pudding with Lemon-Vanilla Caramel and Late-Night Vanilla Flan--and another focusing on extract--such as Vanilla-Blueberry Crumb Cake and Boston Cream Cupcakes--these are recipes that are anything but plain vanilla.<br /><br />Accompanied by amusing anecdotes, helpful make-ahead notes, and clear, uncomplicated techniques, Gand’s creations are as much fun to make as they are to eat.