Gateau: The Surprising Simplicity of French Cakes (Essential Parisian Recipes)

Gateau by Aleksandra Crapanzano was not quite the cookbook I expected as I have prepared recipes from The Way to Cook or my old Gourmet cookbooks (which had a good selection of French recipes) and the recipes were a bit different than what I found in Gateau which is a good thing. Gateau's recipes seem updated and have a fresh approach to French baking. I liked how the author discussed the cooking techniques and ingredients as her writing helped explain how to use both in her recipes. Some of the recipes you'll find include:Yogurt CakePound CakeChocolate Orange Marble CakeStrawberry CakeCharlotte with Chocolate Mousse and Chestnut CreamPistachio Roulade with White Chocolate Cream and RaspberriesTomato, Mozzarella and Basil Savory LoafNote: I used English recipe names for ease of writing. The book contains both French and English recipe names.Recommend.Review written after downloading a galley from NetGalley.

The charming illustrations in this book perfectly compliment the text which is lively, informative, reassuring, instructive and most of all celebratory of friends, family and the very best food. You will want one for yourself and one to bring as a gift to every gathering you attend in the coming year.