Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme Review

Posted by Juanita Avenue on Thursday, March 10, 2011 · Leave a Comment

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)Contents.Cakes: Loaf cake,Suzy cake, St. Honore cake, eclair, black forest cake, chocolate meringue cake, puff pastry w/chocolate cream and with orange cream.Cookies: cigarette cookies, macaroons, florentines, financiers.Tarts: chocolate fig tart, nutella tart, pecan tart. Puddings: rice pudding, coffee/whisky cappuccino.Candies: regular truffles, caramel truffles, nut truffles, candied fruits, passionfruit/milk chocolate truffles. Ice cream: Different ice creams, banana splits, sherbet, ice cream sandwich with meringue.drinks: variety of hot chocolate.
I recommend this book.The pictures are beautiful (though not everything is photographed), and the recipes are well explained, Most importantly, all of the recipes work (Pierre's recipes always work).The binding on this bookis very strong, so you can actually use it as a cookbook.

One of the other reviewers said this book was for "novices", I see the point, but do not agree.I think this book is a little harder than "Desserts by Pierre Herme".For instance, it it asks for passion fruit pulp in one recipe ("desserts" asks for passion fruit juice, which is easier to get), some of the recipes assume you have an icecream maker, and I know of no amateur who makes St. Honore cakes."Desserts by Pierre Herme" is organized with building blocks first, recipes second, "chocolate desserts" is the other way around.To me this assumes you know the recipes and just need to check the back for reference.ON the other hand, this book is definitely easier than his other book "The patisserie of Pierre Herme" (which also has building blocks at the end).That book assumes you have nut paste (which you can make as an amateur, but a pain), are willing to make Joconde cakes to wrap your cake around, can make chocolate ruffles, and so on. If you're a professional, that's the book you want.
This book definitely gets 5 stars, but keep in mind who you are first. If you are total beginner, there are some easy recipes here but some things will be too hard.IN this case I think "cocolat" by Alice Medrich is a good, easier alternative, or even "desserts by Pierre Herme" (that book has less chocolate though).I think a intermediate-advanced amateur will get the most out of this book.If you're a pro, you won't learn new techniques.A pro would get this book if he was a fan of Pierre and wanted to see Pierre's thinking and the original way he puts together components (for instance his use of cinnamon in general, or pears in St. Honore cake).

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