Customer Rating: 
Summary: A very sad update.
Comment: I loved Mr. Desaulniers Death by Chocolate, frankly it's my chocolate bible always winning me heaps of praise. Thinking that this newer improved book would be better I was shocked how wrong I was. Most of the recipes are nearly the same yet lacked the wow factor. Rather than having that classic boulangerie look to the chocolate cakes, cookies ect.. It had a new unappealing/modern look. Frankly most of it looked so bad I wouldn't served it if you paid me. Most of the recipes had changed but none for the better. The only "new" recipe I could find in the book that wasn't 85% something in Death by Chocolate was good. That said, it wasn't worth the price of the book for one recipe. Stick to "Death by Chocolate" and you'll be happier!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful!!!!
Comment: This is the best book on chocolate cakes. When I am entertaining I reach for this book. The directions are many but they are helpful. It is well written, funny, and the recipes are wonderful!!! The pictures are great too!!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Delicious but difficult for beginners
Comment: The recipes are outstanding, and include a large variety of desserts beyond chocolate. The book presumes that basic cake baking techniques are understood. Although not a problem for any seasoned baker, a beginner will likely make errors. Now that I have learned more (from other sources) this book will be an excellent source for phenomenal recipes. Good luck.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The most luscious cakes you'll ever taste!
Comment: Marcel Desaulniers is the most consistently amazing dessert cookbook author I've ever come across. Take, for example, Martha's Chocolate Freckles Fresh Blueberry Ice Cream Cake. It's based in a "Chocolate Freckles Cake," which is a non-chocolate cake with finely-chopped or grated chocolate mixed into the batter. A homemade blueberry ice cream fills the space between the layers - this is honestly one of the best ice creams I've ever had, with a tart flavor created by the sour cream, cream cheese, and lemon juice. The topping is sweetened, vanilla-flavored whipped cream, and further fresh blueberries are ringed around the top.Next we made Marcel's First Birthday Chocolate High and Fluffy-on-Top Cake. This is a chocolate cake with a vanilla frosting. It sounds so simple, but it's so delightful! This is truly the ultimate icing: sweet, not too buttery, and remarkably fluffy. I have never had such a fantastic icing before, and intend to use it on cake after cake in the future.
You'll find everything in here from Chocolate Rocky Road, to Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Cake, Chocolate Caraway On-the-Rocks Trifles, Chocolate-Dipped Orange Fry Cakes with Coffee and Cream, Uncle Sam's in the Black Cake (with a toasted oatmeal raising topping), Chocolate Tender Passion, and much more! Each recipe comes with a gorgeous picture. The recipes are inventive and of consistently excellent quality; the directions are thorough without being labyrinthine. They're several pages long for each recipe, but I never feel lost. Marcel repeats the amounts of the ingredients in the instructions so you don't have to flip back and forth to the ingredient amounts.
You'll probably not want to get this book unless you have a stand mixer--the key to many of these delights is loooong mixing times, sometimes of stiff batters. Other than that, however, Marcel tries to limit himself to common household equipment and time-scales. In short, if you like to cook and love chocolate cakes, buy this cookbook!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Talk About "Have Your Cake!"
Comment: You won't find such creative stuff anywhere else, trust me, one who's a cookbook addict collector and searches many sources for great recipes. Marcel is truly creative and stand alone in his relentless search and publication of such collections, all geared not for restaurant or competition but for us home chefs. Ingredients, equipment and techniques are all tried and prepared with us in mind.This volume on cakes is divided into five groupings: Baby cakes, Mom's cakes, Celebration cakes, out-of-state cakes, and sky-high cakes, with the common theme of chocolate. This guy really knows how to get to my sweet tooth, with nuts and fruit and decadent chocolate.
Try the likes of: "Chocolate Porto Enchantment Cake"; "Milk Chocolate Peach Pecan Upside Down Cake with Peach and Bourbon Ice Cream" or "Chocolate Mai Tai." Truly, there is too many good ones, but feast your tastebuds on: "Martha's Chocolate Frecles Fresh Blueberry Ice Cream Cake" "Chocolate Caraway On-The-Rock Trifles" "Chocolate Tender Passion"
As with each of his cookbook offerings, there is the super photos, Chef's Touch section with its fascinating background and prep and serving tips, and section on sources, ingredients and techniques, one especially awesome here is a Table of differing chocolate melting times using both double broiler and microwave methods.
This one does take the cake
