Review: Confections of a Closet Master Baker

I've been on Goodreads for a couple of months now and absolutely enjoy the site. If you love reading, maybe you should check it out too (no, they are not paying me to say this). I am planning to share my reviews of cookbooks and food-related books here as I post them on my Goodreads profile. Here's the first one.

Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If I had waited even 10 minutes after finishing this book, I'd have probably given it a four. That doesn't mean a bad thing necessarily, just that the aftertaste of this book is just so... delicious. I had very low expectations when I started the book, I am yet to read a food-related memoir that I thoroughly enjoyed. I haven't read very many either, to be fair.

Midway through the book, I realised "Sandy" and "my sister who is an actress" that the author references now and then is Sandra Bullock! The author worked in Hollywood for a while and then moved to a small town and set up her own bakery. The promos and intros to the book hype this fact a lot. She gave it all up and moved away. But (thankfully) the book doesn't dwell on this fact too much. Yes, she's very clear she found Hollywood fake, tiresome, and boring but that's not the central theme of the book (again, thankfully).

The bits that stood out for me are the afternoon tea stories the author shared with her Omi (grandmom) and her mom who died of colon cancer. It's touching, it's a German tradition that even as a South Indian, I could fully relate to. Each time she mentions her dead mom and her memories associated with her, my heart went out to her.

Of course, all the butter, sugar, flour, and chocolate in the book appealed to the food-lover part of me. She confirms the fact that having one's own pastry shop is no cake walk, literally. I knew it, but it still helps to hear it again so that I won't feel tempted to leave my job (that I enjoy, btw) and follow that path. Some of the recipes seem delicious and I am reluctant to return the book before I have atleast taken some photocopies of those pages.

A must-read if you even remotely enjoy baking.

Want to buy your own? Here are the links: AMAZON | FLIPKART

Cookbook Find: Baking (One Step at a Time) by Marianne Moreno

Eons ago, I posted in my Facebook Page that I came across this very different yet interesting baking book in the library but had to keep it back because my loan allowance was exhausted. When I went back the next week, I had forgotten what the name of the book was!

It drove me nuts and for the next 2-3 weeks, every weekend, I would go through pretty much every book on the baking shelf hunting for this.

And finally, one weekend I was rewarded with it, again! See, persistence pays off. This is not a cookbook review but more of me sharing a cookbook find with you. This book is gorgeous, to say the least!

What I absolutely love about the book is the pictures. The recipe itself is neatly printed along the bottom 10% of the page but almost the entire page is taken up by large images of the ingredients and sometimes the preparation method beautifully captured.

Admittedly, I have never baked anything from book. I just borrow it from the library, gawk at all the beautiful images, and then return it. I will surely try something soon though, and when I do, will update the recipe and review here :)

The recipes are mostly simple and the step by step pictures definitely help. I'd highly recommend this to baking enthusiasts, especially beginner folks.

*This is not a paid review or any kind of promotional post.