Joy of Chocolate

This is one of those small books by Barron. I have made the chocolate pound cake many times. It is described as the best pound cake the author has ever eaten. I agree with her. It's extremely moist and lasts for days. I have also tried a layer cake and the sour cream marble cake and have gotten similar results. The book is well designed. Although there are not a lot of color photographs in this book, those that are included are first rate.I do, however, have a couple of complaints about the book. You are not told--at least in the recipes I've tried-- where to put the rack in the oven. Also, in the recipe for pound cake, hot water is included in the list of ingredients but you are left on your own as to when and how to include that with the other items.

I've been using this book since it was first published in 1989 and have tried nearly every recipe. All are uniformly excellent and beautiful, sucessful and extremely satisfying. Its one of those cookbooks that is so well written and researched that you keep going back to it time after time, completely sure of success. I have presented these desserts at countless dinner parties. They range from the dramatic cabbage shaped chocolate cake and chocolate sack with apricot creamand fresh fruits to the comforting: the very best, easiest brownie recipe and the simple, rich mexican hot chocolate. Honestly, The book is worth it just for this brownie recipe. If I could only choose five cookbooks to keep for the rest of my life, this would certainly be one of them. Buy it, and cook from it.

A pal of mine gave me this book as a Christmas present a few years ago; and in my intermittent waves of cooking frenzy vs. dieting I regret to say I've only tried one recipe. It is, however, so killer that it's worth what she paid for the book. It's called "Kit's Chocolate Mousse" and is the ultimate mousse for those of us who like it thick and frothy [unlike pudding, which is gooey and drippy.] You can both gain weight and salivate just reading the ingredients, including [brace yourself] 2 cups of heavy cream and 6 eggs.If I ever get around to the rest of the book, I'll start with the recipe for Mexican chocolate. The photography is excellent, the layout is charming, and the recipes only for the serious chocolate lover.