With recipes of glamorous by-gone desserts, and packed with history and anecdotes of famous classic restaurants and the people who frequented them, Lost Desserts features delicious and sometimes exotic favorites from the new world and the old.

Conjuring up the heyday of Hollywood are such American classics as the Brown Derby's Orange Chiffon Cake, Trader Vic's Flaming Tahitian Ice Cream, and Chasen's Banana Shortcake with Banana Sauce, while the old-world elegance of Paris and London is evoked with delightful concoctions like Escoffier's Mont Blanc and Lady Jekyll's Orange Jelly with Compote.

The seventy recipes included here, adapted for the home cook and updated for the modern palate to taste as good as they look and are remembered, are organized by type of dessert, which run the gamut from Bavarians, Cremes, Charlottes, Mousses, Puddings, Fools, Jellies, to Frozen Desserts, and Souffles, Crepes, and Custards, as well as, of course, Cakes and Pies, Tarts, and Tortes.

A lavish volume, Lost Desserts is illustrated with thirty stunning still lifes of visually spectacular confections, capturing the flavor and essence of the dessert cart era.