Celebrate with Chocolate

October 21, 2002
There are two kinds of chocolate obsessives: purists, who like their chocolate unadulterated, more black than brown, more bitter than sweet, and would inject it if they could; and decadents, whose jaded palates can be tempted only by chocolate follies of increasing complexity and sophistication. Desaulniers (Death by Chocolate; Death by Chocolate Cakes; and Desserts to Die For) has emerged from the morbid fascination of his previous books with his obsession intact, taking chocolate machismo to new heights. Many consider his first book to be a certifiable chocolate bible, and may wonder where else Desaulniers can go. Whereas Death by Chocolate
overpowers (with Chocolate Devastation), his newest amuses (Chocolate-Banana-Rum-Raisin Ice Cream Cakes with Rum and Almond Twinkle). Desaulniers is famous for his ambitious recipes, but this latest book is really most successful at is simplest. Cocoa Yogurt Mousse cannot take more than five minutes to prepare and tastes like a million bucks; Chocolate Madras Cake thrillingly combines dark chocolate with orange zest and a deep cranberry coulis. And despite Desaulniers's almost militant chocoholism, 40 years in the business have given him a voice more humane and interesting than most of the bad-boy cookbook authors in vogue.

November 15, 2002
Desaulniers is the author of an earlier series of "Death by Chocolate" cookbooks, as well as several other dessert books. Here he returns to that favorite ingredient, with indulgent, often extravagant recipes ranging from Dancing Gingerbread Men Peppermint Fudge Cake to Chocolate-Peanut Butter Fusion Brownies. Many of the recipes are complicated, but the instructions are detailed and clear, and there are mouth-watering color photographs of selected showstoppers. For all baking collections.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

November 15, 2002
Chocoholics never have enough cookbooks to satisfy their appetites, even if they peruse the books not to cook but to fantasize. Marcel Desaulniers's "Celebrate with Chocolate "provides the stuff of dreams in recipes for elaborate desserts that explore chocolate's myriad culinary expressions. Home bakers will find few challenges in a honey-infused chocolate "Just the Two of Us" birthday cake. On the other hand, Rolf's Old-World Black Forest Cake, with its cookie base, cocoa sponge cake, sour cherry filling, chocolate butter-cream frosting, and chocolate-flecked whipped cream topping, requires some serious kitchen logistical planning to execute successfully. Chocolate-banana-rum-raisin ice-cream cakes with rum and almond twinkle would be nearly impossible to produce if it weren't for some very sound advice from the author on proper equipment and technique. Admirers of Desaulniers's earlier books will no doubt want to add this one to their collections. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)