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A Collection of Fine Baking

by Young Mo Kim


Review
by Jennifer A. Wickes
Other articles by Jennife A. Wickes

A top notch baking book that fuses European pastries with Asian ingredients: Imagine the richness of French desserts mixed with ingredients like green tea and ginger? This is a cookbook like no other.

Young Mo Kim began his adventures in baking when he was 17 years old. His passion brought him to pastry arts school. Before he was 30 years old, he opened his first bakery in Seoul, Korea. Currently, he has four bakeries and one cafe. Not only does he teach baking at culinary schools as well as to home bakers, he is also a celebrity chef on television. He is currently the president of the Korean Bakers Association. This is his third baking book, and the first one in English.

Not only are there fantastic photos of the finished product for each recipe, but also photos of each stage of creation, totally over 1000 photos! I find this extremely helpful when trying a completely new recipe.

Young Mo Kim's experience at teaching home bakers is quite evident. He explains the method to each recipe so well, anyone can try these recipes.

Chapters included in this book are: Simple Delights (cookies, pound cake and more); A World of Bread (croissants, scones, bagels and more); Fantastic Desserts (tarts, souffles and more); Cakes for Special Occasions (genoises, sponges, cheesecakes and more); Valentine's Day (chocolate); Holiday Treats (yule logs, fruit cake and more); ingredients; and equipment.

One of my favorite recipes is: Pumpkin Cake. It is very different from what we usually see. The cake is a layer cake with the cake part made of a pumpkin genoise. Instead of a cream cheese frosting, the cake is filled with a pumpkin mousse. It is topped with chantilly cream. The entire outside of the cake is covered in genoise powder and then utilizing a jack o lantern stencil and cocoa powder, there is a jack o lantern on the top of the cake!

Another tidbit about this book is that there are Dream Character characters that offer tips and ideas throughout the book. It's like getting a tiny bit of anime on each page!

For the home baker that is wanting an easy-to-read book that offers new ideas to baking your repertoire. This is a wonderful book!

"A Collection of Fine Baking"

Young Mo Kim
Dream Character, LLC (May 30, 2005)
Paperback: 240 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 11.2 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
ISBN: 0976554305
Original Price: $35.00
 
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Jennifer A. Wickes is a freelance food writer, recipe developer and cookbook reviewer. She has written five eBooks, and has had numerous articles, reviews and recipes in printed publications, as well as on-line. Her work can be found in The Library Journal, Cook's Country magazine, Ernest & Julio Gallo's Turning Leaf Wine brochure, Bon Appetit, Better Homes and Garden and much more. She is working on her first cookbook. For more information about Jennifer or her work, please visit her home page:
http://home.comcast.net/~culinaryjen/Home.html