Warm Bread and Honey Cake

September 29, 2009
Netherlands-based food writer Pagrach-Chandra (Windmills in My Kitchen) returns with a global collection of home-baked favorites. This elegant volume is dominated by expected regional classics like Mexican Tres Leches Cake, Chinese bean cakes, Baklava, strudel, Dutch apple tarts and Spekkoek, as well as riffs on American classics like sticky rolls (filled here with chocolate and hazelnuts instead of caramel and pecans). Welcome surprises for jaded bakers include Caribbean Black Cake, a rich and sugary cake studded with dried, rum-soaked fruit; the petit-four-like Lamington Slices; and her rich Deluxe Chocolate Cranberry Cake. Novices will appreciate that Pagrach-Chandra explains not just the hows of dishes like Paratha, a flaky Indian flatbread, but the whys (all the better to ensure home that cooks' finished product resembles its photo counterpart). Those with a love of cardamom, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg, walnuts and cloves will get the most out of the book; they're all staples of Pagrach-Chandra's Dutch heritage. Besides that, the book promises plenty of culinary trips to awaken tired palates and inspire bored bakers of any nation.