There were so many good cookbooks this year, but as a baker at heart, I had to admit this one was my favorite. I also include 3 shoutouts to the ones coming in just a little under, one a big surprise.
The Winner: Everyone Can Bake. Anytime a master like Dominique Ansel tells me I can bake and opens up his recipe book to me, I will be there.
Honorable Mentions: Procrastibaking, for when you bake to make the world go away. Also, I absolutely, unexpectedly fell in love with Big Love Cooking, which made me feel like I was there in New York, dining with everyone else in Little Owl; and to Old World Italian, which was like taking a trip to Europe during a time when we couldn’t even go to our local Italian restaurants in person.
There are cookbooks that help you bake a better tasting cookie or a more beautiful cake or a pie with a crispier crust. And I love those cookbooks. That is not what this is. Dominique Ansel is one of the finest pastry chefs working in America today, and his latest cookbook is the book that will teach you how to become a pastry chef in your own kitchen.
His first cookbook (The Secret Recipes) is just that—recipes for pastries and desserts, like his imaginative and inspiring Cronut that took the country by storm many years ago. This is is chance to take us all by the hand and walk us through the recipes and techniques you need to become the kind of chef who could invent your own Cronut. Everyone Can Bake is a primer for taking your baking game up a notch, to learning the basic building blocks of baking and mixing and matching the bases, fillings, and toppings that will make you a master of the baking craft. You know, with enough practice.
Ansel understands that not everyone knows the basics of good baking, and with that I’m talking about more than the recipe for a certain yellow bag of chocolate chips or using the boxed mixes to create a “homemade” cake or pan of brownies. He gets that baking is about exact measurements and quality ingredients and precision. He explains that it will take time and patience. You have to be careful and pay attention to the details. But when you do, when you learn the basics, you can create desserts that are unlike anything else you may find at the school bake sale.
He starts with the basics: a basic cookie or a brownie. You can make that and eat it as is. It will be delicious. But with each basic recipe, Ansel includes a couple of alternatives you can try to take it to the next level. And when you get comfortable with that level, you can take his suggestions to turn it into a showstopper. Here’s an example. You can start with Ansel’s Go-To Vanilla Pound Cake. You can make that, and it would be exquisite all on its own. But you can take his suggestions to take it to the next level, and you could add his Earl Grey Italian Meringue or use two layers of cake with his Creme Fraiche Whipped Ganache between the layers and put fresh sliced peaches on the top.
As you master the basic recipes (the tart shell, ladyfingers, a meringue, pate a choux), you can let your mind wander trough possible flavor combinations as you move on to mastering pastry cream, lemon curd, dark chocolate ganache, jams, compotes, mousse, and caramel before moving on to the buttercreams, glazes, ice cream, and roasted fruits that bring your desserts to an entirely new level. With enough practice and a burning curiosity for how to pair flavors, you can learn to make pastries that could rival any French bakery.
Everyone Can Bake is not just a collection of recipes. It is an inspiration, an entryway to a world of creativity that can only be reached through flour, sugar, and eggs. It is filled with gorgeous photographs that motivate your brain and trigger your taste buds to help you think about what you want to bake next. Whether it’s a batch of Linzer Cookies for a quiet Sunday afternoon or a Mousse Cake for a 25th wedding anniversary or a glossy fruit tart that will make Instagram kneel before you, this is the cookbook that can take you from baking fear to baking triumph. Bakers of all skill levels will appreciate this as a gift (and that could lead to all sort of sweet thank-yous from the recipient!).
Galleys for Everyone Cake Bake were provided by Simon & Schuster through NetGalley, with many thanks.
