Lomelino’s Pies: A Celebration of Pies, Galettes, and Tarts, by Linda Lomelino

Format: e-ARC, 144 pages

Publisher: Roost Books

To Be Published: 7 November, 2017

ISBN: 9781611804560

Genre: Arts & Photography, Cooking, Food & Wine

Back cover blurb: Perennially popular pies get a fresh and indulgent twist by social media superstar and cook, food stylist, and photographer Linda Lomelino.

Making pie is pure magic. From pinching butter into flour to make dough to preparing a wonderfully sweet filling and seeing the raw dough become a beautiful golden crust in the oven, every stage represents a certain kind of alchemy. In Lomelino’s Pies, the beauty and romance of baking pies comes through in her enchanting photos and delicous recipes. From Peach and Strawberry Pie with Burnt Butter to Nut and Caramel Pie to Hand Pies with Pear and Ginger; Fig Tart with Mascarpone, Rosemary, and Walnuts; and S’mores Pie, Lomelino offers a rich variety of pies, galettes, tarts, and more.

My review: The photographs in this book, and its accompanying book trailer, are like pie porn. You feel like you could almost reach out and touch the whipped cream, berries, and crumbly pastry. As for the recipes, well, the ideas here are mind-boggling, from combining chocolate with blackberries, to making a fig and mascarpone pizza. Whoever would have thought you could squash cinnamon rolls together to make a pie crust? Or put mini pies on sticks to make pie pops? I’ve bookmarked several recipes to try, and am sure to come back to them again and again. I’ll also be looking out for other books by this author. Just yum!

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

Food52 Ice Cream and Friends, by the Editors of Food52

Format: e-ARC, 176 pages

Publisher: Ten Speed Press

To Be Published: April 11, 2017

ISBN: 9780399578021

Genre: Cooking, Food & Wine

Back cover blurb: A friendly collection of recipes, riffs, toppings, and serving ideas for ice creams of all styles.

In Ice Cream & Friends, the editors of Food52 unearth 60 recipes for everyday and special occasion frozen desserts—like coffee frozen custard, cinnamon roll ice cream, and grilled watermelon cremolada—and put their own spin on enduring favorites: spiced fudgesicles, cherry-mint snow cones, even a modern baked Alaska. There are also tips and tricks for reviving melted ice cream, getting even creamier scoops, and spiffing up the store-bought stuff, as well as homemade versions of cones, mochi, sprinkles, Magic Shell, and more.

My review: My daughter and I love making homemade no-churn ice cream, so this book was perfect to give us a few new flavour suggestions. As well as some old favourites, the editors of the Food52 blog have come up with some unusual combinations, including black pepper and feta or butternut squash and tahini ice creams, and tomato, peach and basil sorbet. I think we’ll definitely be trying the carrot cake ice cream, yummy baked alaskas, chocolate tacos, and the Brooklyn Blackout Semifreddo Cake, and will attempt to make our own Magic Shell, cones and sprinkles from their recipes. There’s even a genius tip for curing brain freeze, which will certainly come in handy!

The photographs are gorgeous and make your mouth water, and the instructions are clear and written in a chatty manner. I’m now keen to check out the authors’ other cookbooks and blog.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 4/5

Amazon

Layered: Baking, Building, and Styling Spectacular Cakes, by Tessa Huff

Format: e-ARC, 288 pages

Publisher: Stewart, Tabori & Chang

To Be Published: April 19, 2016

ISBN: 9781617691881

Genre: Cooking, Food and Wine

Back cover blurb: It’s time to venture beyond vanilla and chocolate and take your baking skills up a notch. We’re talking layers—two, three, four, or more!

Create sky-high, bakery-quality treats at home with Tessa Huff’s 150 innovative recipes, which combine new and exciting flavors of cake, fillings, and frostings—everything from pink peppercorn cherry to bourbon butterscotch, and pumpkin vanilla chai to riesling rhubarb and raspberry chocolate stout. Including contemporary baking methods and industry tips and tricks, Layered covers every decorating technique you’ll ever need with simple instructions and gorgeous step-by-step photos that speak to bakers of every skill level—and to anyone who wants to transform dessert into layer upon layer of edible art.

My review: It’s clear Tessa Huff is a food stylist and photographer as well as a pastry chef and blogger, because the photographs in this book are glorious. Not only do we get to see the sky-high creations with all their pretty icing and decorations, but there are also separate photos of each cake sliced up, giving us a glorious view of the magnificently layered interiors. If it were possible to gain weight by just looking at cakes, I would have gained at least five kilos reading his book!

Huff begins by outlining the basics: ingredients, tools, basic methods and tips for optimum results. Written for a North American audience, some of the brand names and shops referenced were not familiar to me, but I appreciated the thoroughness with which the author covered these topics. She even gives instructions on how to make homemade sprinkles.

Then came the cakes. Oh my! The flavour combinations were incredible, including fruits, teas, alcohol, and spices alongside the perennial favourites of chocolate, coffee, lemon, and vanilla. I’m definitely going to be trying her Lemon Supreme Cake, Rainbow Sprinkle Cake, Banoffee Tiramisu Cake, and Red Wine Blackberry Cake. Yum!

Making layered cakes is no easy feat – and I’m sure my efforts would look nowhere near as good as Huff’s – but the photographs alone make this book a worthy addition to your kitchen bookshelf. The author’s personal story and historical explanations for recipes are fun to read, and I guess my only qualm would be that very few of these recipes would be suitable for people with food allergies. They certainly weren’t any good for my diet!

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

My rating: 5/5

Amazon

No-Bake Honeycomb Crunchie Cheesecake!

Source: No-Bake Honeycomb Crunchie Cheesecake!

Jane’s Patisserie strikes again! Think I’m going to have to try this. Looks so yummy!

Nutella and Ferrero Rocher Fudge!

Yes, yes, yesssss… need this now!

Chocolate Orange Bundt Cake!

As Jane says, Chocolate + orange + cake = YES! Definitely going to try this one 🙂

Easter Fudge!

OMG, just look at this! Another one of Jane’s fabulous recipes I definitely need to try!

Ferrero Rocher & Nutella Chocolate Tart!

Another one to definitely try! Mmm, Nutella!

Baileys Truffles – St Patricks Day Recipe!

Happy St Patrick’s Day! I must give these a try – they look delicious!

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake – but where have all the chocolate chips gone?

For a few months now, I have been unable to get Cadbury dark chocolate chips at my local supermarket. I am beginning to suspect they have gone out of production. Oh, sure, there are inferior home-brand imitations, but some of those taste like wood shavings. In place of chocolate chips, Cadbury now sells these:

which are lovely and chocolatey, but sometimes in a biscuit or muffin they create too much runny gooeyness in proportion to the cake mixture.

Oh, what am I saying? There’s no such thing as too much chocolate!

On that note, at the weekend I made my recipe for Chocolate Chip Banana Cake, which I hadn’t made for a while and got eaten so quickly I didn’t even have time to take a photo!

This is very easy and moist. I don’t ice my cake, because I think the chocolate makes it sweet enough, but I will include the icing with the recipe here.

Chocolate Chip Banana Cake

50g very soft butter

1 cup white (granulated) sugar

3 ripe bananas, mashed

1 egg

1-1/2 cups self-raising white flour

1 tablespoon milk

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugar and egg together in a bowl. Stir in mashed bananas. Add sifted flour and cinnamon, then milk. Stir through chocolate chips. Pour into a 20cm square cake tin.

Bake in oven preheated to 180degC for 40-45 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely.

Icing:

60g cream cheese

30g soft butter

1-1/2 cups icing (confectioners or powdered) sugar

Beat cheese and butter together in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sifted icing sugar. Spread over cold cake.