• robm on August 17, 2013

  Lots of delicious French baked goods in sensible recipes for the home cook! So many books on patisserie look fascinating, with photos of pastries to drool over, but when you read the recipes you realize that your results may not be be so great if you aren't already a skilled baker. With Will Torrent the recipes sound doable. He's simplified things, looking for ways to cut steps, and his directions are clear and straightforward. There are numerous recipes in this book I want to try, now that I can see that many of these desserts don't require that you be a Lenôtre or Ladurée to make them!

Notes about Recipes in this book

• Pâte à choux

  • Astrid5555 on December 27, 2015

    Made excellent choux buns, howver baking time is completetly off. Recipe states to bake for 10-15 minutes, mine needed a little more than 30 minutes to be nicely browned and done.

• Chocolate and beer cake

  • PatriciaScarpin on January 15, 2014

    This is one of the best chocolate cakes I've made - the beer adds depth of flavor but doesn't interfere with the chocolate flavor. Delicious.

• Raspberry and pistachio financiers

  • Astrid5555 on December 28, 2013

    Complete baking disaster which started out very promising. The browned butter smelled heavenly and the finished batter had this delicious "green" pistachio look. I used my silicone financier mould as suggested as substitution for the mini loaf pans. The tops browned too quickly, while the insides were still underbaked. Apart from being difficult to unmold, the finished financiers - despite omitting the glaze - turned out way too sweet and were inedible. What a disappointment!