Chocolate, A Love Story 65 Chocolate Dessert recipes from max brenner's private collection- TopCookbooks .com

Top Cookbooks .com cook book review:
Chocolate, A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes from Max Brenner's Private Collection is a coffee table art book that doubles as a chocoholic's kitchen companion. Any Max Brenner fan will want to have this book in their collection.

The stories and artwork that make up more than half of this cookbook are interesting and the recipes are quite indulgent, as a chocolate love story should be.

I'll give this one 3 spatulas. It's a good book, but for a very targeted audience. If I were a visitor to the restaurant, or a die-hard Max Brenner fan, I would want to have this book as a keepsake.

My lost childhood chocolate birthday cake (Yield: 8 to 10 servings):

Cake:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Sprinkles for decoration

Ganache:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
20 ounces dark chocolate, chopped

Syrup:
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 tablespoon Cointreau

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour and butter a 9-inch round ake pan.
2. Make the cake. Ina small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a seperate bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric beater until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined.
3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the crust is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Set to cool on a cooling rack.
4. Make the ganache. Bring the cream to a simmer and pour over the chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Let sit until the chocolate begins to melt, about 1 minute, then beat with an electric mixer until the ganache is fluffy and smooth. Let cool to room temperature.
5. Make the syrup. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a heavy0bottomed saucepan. Lower the heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 10 minutes. Stir in the Cointreau and remove from the heat.
6. Cut the cake horizontally into 2 layers. Brush the still-warm cake with the syrup (do not soak). Once the syrup is absorbed, spread the cooled ganache frosting generously over the top of one round. Top with the second layer of cake and cover with the remaining ganache, using an offset spatula to smooth the ganache down and around the sides of the cake.
7. Sprinkle liberally with multicolored sprinkles.

Free Chocolate Birthday Cake Recipe courtesy of:
Chocolate, A Love Story: 65 Chocolate Dessert Recipes From Max Brenner's Private Collection
By: Max Brenner and illustrated by: Yonatan Factor
ISBN: 978-0-316-05662-5
www.maxbrenner.com

Optimistic Musings: Morning Chocolate Variations
Dependable banana cupcakes
Bohemian French toast chocolate sandwiches
Dreamy warm Danish
The American dream panake
The Belgian street Waffle
Intimate Hungarian crepes
My one and only cocoa Crepe Suzette
Veg-out chocolate cornflake TV wraps

Chocolate Therapy: Comforting Pastries
Control freak chocolate spread
Intimate scones
Plain Jane sweet chocolate rolls
Parisian new life chocolate dream cake
Modest carrot cake
Lipstick banana chocolate cake bonbons

Soft Decadence: Chocolate Cream Cake Creations
Nostalgic dark chocolate cheese crumb cake
Handsome tirmisu
Soap opera chocolate cappuccino roulade
Politically correct Sacher torte
Spy-thriller chocolate Black Forest cake

Cozy Option: Chocolate Pies
My very own honey pie manifest
Mon cheri chocolate cherry pie
Heaven-on-Earth cocoa tarte tatin
A therapeutic chocolate pot pie

Happy Addiction: Concentrated Chocolate
My lost childhood chocolate birthday cake
A philosophical highly concentrated fudge brownie
Such a beautiful chocolate soufflé
A high school bonfire chocolate melting heart cake

Simple Luxury: Street Food and Gourmet Chocolate in Harmony
Enticing sugar churros
Love and hate doughnuts
Guilt-free fried chocolate truffles
Painful white chocolate truffles

Texture Experiments: Chocolate Mousses, Custards, Creams, and More
Max and Moritz profiteroles
Forever young white chocolate custard
Alternative milk chocolate mousse
A mannered white chocolate creme brulee
Eco-friendly chocolate bread pudding
Revolutionary rice pudding
Military porridge
Pretentious white chocolate panna cotta
Kinky Pavlova
Controversial cherry soup
Tacky double chocolate fondue
All-in-one crackling coconut sugar tortilla chips
Overwhelming Oriental white chocolate malabi

Serious Stuff: Some Fun Chocolate Games
A forever toffee apple
All-the-way confiture of figs
Unfulfilled candied orange peel
Bad boy chocolate pizza
The adult and child chocolate burger joint venture
Unforgettable punch banana ice cream
Banana Split
Innocent meringue kisses
Meaningless sweet spaghetti
Home industry chocolate cheese pockets

A Nostalgic Homage: The Chocolate Cookie Jar
Jealous almond and pistachio marzipan balls
Well-disciplined ladyfingers
Once-upon-a-time small almond cookies
Contentious chocolate chip cookies

A Sugar Rush: Straightforward Chocolate Drinks
Wannabe French hot chocolate
Shanti white chocolate chai image
Colorful milkshake
The eternal chocolate bliss Indian lassi
Consensus American chocolate cookie shake
Frozen very hot margaritas
Anonymous white chocolate cosmopolitans