Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate by Alice Medrich

  • Bittersweet chocolate ice cream

    from Bittersweet: Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate Bittersweet by Alice Medrich

    • Categories: Ice cream & frozen desserts; Dessert
    • Ingredients: unsweetened chocolate; heavy cream; milk; sugar; eggs; vanilla extract
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Notes about this book

  • Eat Your Books

    2004 International Association of Culinary Professionals (Cookbook of the Year)

Notes about Recipes in this book

  • Classic unsweetened chocolate brownies

    • PatriciaScarpin on April 01, 2011

      Amazing! These brownies are easy to make and absolutely delicious. Gooey - I prefer fudgy brownies to cakey ones.

    • DJM on April 07, 2012

      The gold standard for brownies. The techniques developed by Alice of using an ice bath post-baking makes these brownies solid chocolate pleasure.

  • Queen of Sheba

    • Astrid5555 on January 31, 2013

      Have made several times already, and always a big hit!

  • Fallen chocolate soufflé cake

    • Astrid5555 on February 10, 2013

      Medrich calls it a "slimmer reincarnation" of her Queen of Sheba, but it is just as delicious. The torte sinks like a soufflé while cooling and thus is not as nice to look at as the Queen of Sheba, but this is actually the only difference.

    • chawkins on March 01, 2014

      If you want a pretty looking cake, this is not it, but it sure is delicious and relatively low in fat. No butter or oil was used, only the fats from the chocolate, cocoa powder, almonds and the egg yolk. I did not even attempt to invert the cake onto a plate, just served it from the base of the spring-form pan.

  • Albert's mousse

    • Lindacakes on February 05, 2012

      If I want a chocolate recipe for guests, this is usually it and never fails to impress. Easy to make, and can be made ahead.

  • Chocolate cheesecake

    • Astrid5555 on October 28, 2012

      Not so sweet and very chocolatey, thus also a very "adult" cheesecake which the kids did not like. Took 15 minutes longer to set properly and get to the described puffiness.

  • Tiger cake

    • sgump on June 15, 2010

      Delicious on its own, not too difficult, and beautiful, to boot! Freezes well; is delicious at room temperature or microwaved just a bit; also delicious toasted. Has a very dense crumb. Make sure to use good-quality olive oil--the fruitier, the better. Together with the white pepper, the vanilla, and the cocoa, the olive oil does lovely things for this dessert.

  • Warm mocha tart

    • Astrid5555 on February 12, 2013

      Incredibly rich and delicious, just like chocolate pudding over shortbread. Love the fact that the crust can be made with melted butter and is simply pressed into the tart pan. No chilling, rolling out, pricking and weighing down with beaking beans required.

  • Best cocoa brownies

    • Astrid5555 on February 10, 2013

      Absolutely delicious! Simple, quick and very fudgy, always a big hit with kids.

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  • ISBN 10 1579651607
  • ISBN 13 9781579651602
  • Published Oct 31 2003
  • Format Hardcover
  • Page Count 360
  • Language English
  • Countries United States
  • Publisher Artisan
  • Imprint Artisan Division of Workman Publishing

Publishers Text

2004 IACP Cookbook of the Year


2004 IACP Award Winner for Single Subject Category


Thirty years since she opened up the Berkeley, California, pastry shop that changed the face of chocolate desserts in America, Alice Medrich is about to do it again!

The time when home bakers had only one choice of baking chocolate is long passed. Today, we have an entire new generation of chocolates to choose from: chocolates with less sugar, more cocoa bean solids, and definitely more flavor.

These new chocolates--called percentage chocolates--beg for the creation of new recipes and a fresh take on the classics. With Bittersweet, the First Lady of Chocolate gives the new-generation chocolates and chocolate nibs--the ground-up roasted hulls of cocoa beans that are the new chocolate chip--a starring role.

Every recipe is foolproof and utterly delicious, no matter your level of expertise. You'll marvel that recipes as classic as brownies, chocolate cake, and ice cream can still surprise and that souffles, crepes, even pasta sauces can be so dramatically flavorful. Still learning, discovering, and sharing what she loves and understands about chocolate, Alice Medrich brings us Bittersweet.

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