So I believe there are 2 types of baking/pastry/dessert books out there, one has the regular home baked recipes like cookies, brownies, cakes, pies, ice cream and the other are creative dessert concoctions. For the latter, I'm curious what books people here have found to be noteworthy.
Book Query
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retired baker
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for pro books, I wouldn't buy most of them.
My partner bought every pro book she saw, after she died I gave most of them away. We learn the trade working with others, there are no secrets.
One very good book I kept was the new international confectioner, a 900 page book.
My partner bought every pro book she saw, after she died I gave most of them away. We learn the trade working with others, there are no secrets.
One very good book I kept was the new international confectioner, a 900 page book.
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If you’re looking for more advanced pastry books, here are a few that I think are worth the shelf space.
From Garuharu’s four-book series, I’d say three are worth the price: Éclairs, Tarts, and Travel Cakes. The Decorations is the only one that wasn’t worth the price. Her books make you think like a pastry chef. While even novice bakers can make a choux dough, what sets a pastry chef apart is the eye for detail, an awareness of flavors and textures.
A good foundational pastry book in the basics, Ferrandi’s French Pâtisserie. When I say “basics,” I don’t mean easy home recipes, rather the classic French repertoire of doughs and techniques.
Amaury Guichon’s The Art of Flavor is a combination coffee table and cookbook. If you’ve never seen his work, google him—he’s famous for massive, life-like chocolate showpieces. The book itself is focused on smaller plated desserts, but what I like is each dessert is layers of texture that together build a unique flavor profile. It’s a great resource if you’re trying to take your pastry beyond just recipes and start thinking in terms of composition, flavor, and balance.
And then there’s CIA Baking and Pastry: Mastering the Art and Craft. It’s basically a textbook, with recipes for pretty much anything you’d ever want to bake. Think of it as the full pastry school curriculum in one book. The downside is that it doesn’t always walk you through technique in detail, so it’s helpful if you already understand the fundamentals of baking.
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If you’re unsure about investing in a particular pastry chef’s book, I recommend trying several of their recipes across different categories first. This will give you a sense of how their recipes perform with your preferred brands of ingredients, how your baking style aligns with their instructions, and how the recipes turn out in your own kitchen.
One important consideration when purchasing baking books is knowing the country of origin as ingredients vary significantly by country. A recipe developed in, say, Britain may not translate well elsewhere since the plain flour is significantly lower in protein than all-purpose flour in say Canada and the U.S.. I recall reading about an American cookbook author who encountered this problem as she prepared to release her book in the U.K.; assigned recipe testers abroad reported repeated failures. It took significant revisions before a geographically tailored edition could be published. So if you live in a different country from the pastry chef, this is another reason to test their recipes before buying the cookbook.