Chocolate Master Class: Essential Recipes and Techniques

We get our chocolate fix in many ways. That snatch of something on the side at the checkout stand of the supermarket. I cookie jar awaiting a midnight raid. A Sunday spent in the kitchen fashioning cake and frosting, perhaps to receive candles for a special day. And some of us wish we could go to France to chocolate school and really, really learn how to become a chocolate master. This important book, Chocolate Master Class, helps you begin fulfilling those dreams. Edited by Frédéric Bau of the École du Grand Chocolat Valrhona, this is an intense book. It won’t necessarily make you a chocolate professional, but you could boast of having a master’s degree in chocolate. The subtitle for this volume is Essential Recipes and Techniques. That is precisely what you get. First, a set of techniques, one per page, clearing giving you directions to manage your chocolate journey: how to melt, temper and mold. How to make ganache and cake batter, pastry cream and sauces. How to do these things and, equally important, why you need to do them. Tempering chocolate is not an option but a necessity. Then, it is off to the actual recipes. And here there is a twist. The recipes are NOT organized by cakes, cookies, ice cream … No, the recipes are arranged by texture: velvety, moist, melt-in-the-mouth, crunchy, and creamy. When you think about it, isn’t that one of the pleasures of chocolate? The snap of a hard slab, the stickiness of a caramel, the utter smoothness of a mousse. The recipes here are sophisticated, even the brownies have a complicated set of ingredients: both white and brown sugar, both bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder. There’s a Chocolate Cream with Jelled Coffee that sounds a bit different — and the recipe itself surely is.. The Hazelnut Waves are a composed cookie: almond shortcrust pasty topped with hazelnut cream topped with milk chocolate ganache. Or a Walnut, Caramel and Coffee-Chocolate Tart that will pull the crowns off your teeth. And you can drink your chocolate, too. There are lovely hot chocolate recipes but I’m fond of the Café con Coco: iced espresso shaken with a chilled cocoa made with bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder. If you ever have to pull an all-nighter and need caffeine, this is your beverage. If chocolate is your passion, if not your addiction, then Chocolate Master Class will make you a better human being. And surely a happier one. For more cookbook reviews and thousands of recipes, please visit Cooking by the Book. You’ll discover how we do Culinary Team Building for corporate teams!

Great book, quick shipping. I like the information about chocolate as well as all the great recipes. Might be too basic for advanced chefs.

Amazing book for beginners, intermediate, and master chefs. I just want to keep making more and more things from it.

I was expecting this book to be more focused on confections and chocolate candies . . . which it isn't. I believe there is one basic truffle recipe and that's about the only confection, maybe two more. The bulk of the book is taken up with cakes, some cookies, plated/composed desserts, all very much in a European style (which of course makes sense knowing who wrote/edited the book!). While I think this book is probably more appropriate for someone with professional training I think a home cook could handle the recipes with a major caveat -- you would have to have a pretty extensive collection of molds to be able to recreate exactly the desserts and dessert components that are pictured in the book and this book is definitely not for a beginning baker. The pictures are beautiful and I would be excited to have just about anything from the book put down in front of me but not so excited that I want to keep this book and make any of the items in it. Recipes are given in volume and weight; the mise en place section is clearly written at the beginning of each recipe; the formula instructions themselves are well written but not detailed enough for someone who has little experience.

My daughter is an aspiring chocolatier and cake baker/decorator. I got her this book for Christmas, she is thrilled with it. was an excellent choice.

A very nice recipe book for the home baker and chocolate maker. I feel that the user must have a working knowledge of baking and chocolate world. Not really for beginners. Contains great recipes, photos and instructions but not much on technique or the ins and out of working with chocolate. I have experience and love the recipes.

This book contains a variety of chocolate recipes. From cake, chocolate milk, fondue, ganache, and also a few recipes of elegant chocolate desserts. Would recommend if your into general chocolate desserts with a variety.

Nice book, lots of great ideas to make chocolate

not a bad book

I was expecting very clear and more indepth explanation and preparation methods, it might not yield good results for novice or home bakers, may useful for experience chocolate artists or those who understand baking science but i don't think so if any expert need to buy this book, may be few recipes are good, It is good for general reading, students and those who wants to bake under supervision and need some ideas. I'm keeping it as reference.

It is an inspiring book! Very useful for holidays diners, parties or just a nice weekend desert. I recommend it to all chocolate lovers!

Si quieres adentrarte en el mundo de la chocolateria este puede ser un buen libro para ti, son técnicas muy básicas pero que sirven de mucho. PERO si ya tienes experiencia en chocolateria no vas a encontrar nada nuevo... Pongo 4 estrellas por que la paquetería maltrato el libro y venía con un pequeño desperfecto, nada importate pero a quien le gusta tener un libro nuevo con un pequeño detalle.

Awesome book