Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook
DESSERT DRESSED TO THE NINES
 
Today’s baker faces a great challenge: With little time and a limited repertoire, she often needs to whip up a delicious dessert that’s dressed to impress. Rachel Schifter Thebault, founder and head confectioner of Tribeca Treats in New York City, knows all about making a sweet statement. Combining a confectioner’s expertise with fashion sense, she shares a scrumptious cache of popular dessert recipes that can be accessorized to fit any occasion.

What’s more, transforming a basic dessert into a masterpiece brimming with personality and flair can be easy, quick, and fun. In the same way you’d plan an outfit, Sweet Chic pieces together a Devil’s Food Cake—the little black dress of delights—with such irresistible accessories as Caramel Buttercream (think knee-high boots) for ultimate decadence, turns Vanilla Cookies (the crisp oxford shirt) into Strawberry “Shortcakes” ideal for casual or dressy occasions, and blends brownies (the cashmere sweater of confectionery) with a swirl of mint for a showstopping number.

Gorgeous and appetizing color photos throughout reveal how a change of icing here and a substitute topping there can take a simple dessert from Sunday brunch to a date-night treat. Mix and match more than seventy recipes for cookies, cakes, and confections, including Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, Brownie Sundae Parfait, Mini S’mores Cupcakes, Wasabi-Black Sesame Truffles, and so much more.
 
Whether you’re a novice baker hoping to master the basics or an experienced one looking to add a little versatility to your existing creations, Sweet Chic is a clever and practical guide for memorable desserts, a one-sweet-fits-all way to make a tantalizing impression.

Foreword by Isaac Mizrahi
1100294458
Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook
DESSERT DRESSED TO THE NINES
 
Today’s baker faces a great challenge: With little time and a limited repertoire, she often needs to whip up a delicious dessert that’s dressed to impress. Rachel Schifter Thebault, founder and head confectioner of Tribeca Treats in New York City, knows all about making a sweet statement. Combining a confectioner’s expertise with fashion sense, she shares a scrumptious cache of popular dessert recipes that can be accessorized to fit any occasion.

What’s more, transforming a basic dessert into a masterpiece brimming with personality and flair can be easy, quick, and fun. In the same way you’d plan an outfit, Sweet Chic pieces together a Devil’s Food Cake—the little black dress of delights—with such irresistible accessories as Caramel Buttercream (think knee-high boots) for ultimate decadence, turns Vanilla Cookies (the crisp oxford shirt) into Strawberry “Shortcakes” ideal for casual or dressy occasions, and blends brownies (the cashmere sweater of confectionery) with a swirl of mint for a showstopping number.

Gorgeous and appetizing color photos throughout reveal how a change of icing here and a substitute topping there can take a simple dessert from Sunday brunch to a date-night treat. Mix and match more than seventy recipes for cookies, cakes, and confections, including Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, Brownie Sundae Parfait, Mini S’mores Cupcakes, Wasabi-Black Sesame Truffles, and so much more.
 
Whether you’re a novice baker hoping to master the basics or an experienced one looking to add a little versatility to your existing creations, Sweet Chic is a clever and practical guide for memorable desserts, a one-sweet-fits-all way to make a tantalizing impression.

Foreword by Isaac Mizrahi
8.99 In Stock
Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook

Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook

Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook

Sweet Chic: Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion: A Cookbook

eBook

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Overview

DESSERT DRESSED TO THE NINES
 
Today’s baker faces a great challenge: With little time and a limited repertoire, she often needs to whip up a delicious dessert that’s dressed to impress. Rachel Schifter Thebault, founder and head confectioner of Tribeca Treats in New York City, knows all about making a sweet statement. Combining a confectioner’s expertise with fashion sense, she shares a scrumptious cache of popular dessert recipes that can be accessorized to fit any occasion.

What’s more, transforming a basic dessert into a masterpiece brimming with personality and flair can be easy, quick, and fun. In the same way you’d plan an outfit, Sweet Chic pieces together a Devil’s Food Cake—the little black dress of delights—with such irresistible accessories as Caramel Buttercream (think knee-high boots) for ultimate decadence, turns Vanilla Cookies (the crisp oxford shirt) into Strawberry “Shortcakes” ideal for casual or dressy occasions, and blends brownies (the cashmere sweater of confectionery) with a swirl of mint for a showstopping number.

Gorgeous and appetizing color photos throughout reveal how a change of icing here and a substitute topping there can take a simple dessert from Sunday brunch to a date-night treat. Mix and match more than seventy recipes for cookies, cakes, and confections, including Peanut Butter and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies, Brownie Sundae Parfait, Mini S’mores Cupcakes, Wasabi-Black Sesame Truffles, and so much more.
 
Whether you’re a novice baker hoping to master the basics or an experienced one looking to add a little versatility to your existing creations, Sweet Chic is a clever and practical guide for memorable desserts, a one-sweet-fits-all way to make a tantalizing impression.

Foreword by Isaac Mizrahi

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780345528162
Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
Publication date: 10/26/2010
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 208
File size: 11 MB
Note: This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Rachel Schifter Thebault, founder of Tribeca Treats, spent seven years as an investment banker before transforming her hobby of making truffles for friends into a full-time career in confections. A graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education, she opened Tribeca Treats in 2007. The bakery has won honors from American Express OPEN and entrepreneur organizations, and is a pillar of the Tribeca community. A sought-after speaker and panelist, she has also taught cooking and baking to children and adults. She currently lives in Tribeca with her husband and their two daughters.

Read an Excerpt

Since opening my bakery, Tribeca Treats, in January 2007, I have noticed a distinct pattern. Many of my customers rush in, harried, after work or with kids in tow, needing something last minute for a dinner party, cocktail party, or birthday celebration. They always meant to make something at home, but they either ran out of time or are tired of making the same dessert over and over. I too have experienced this feeling of frustration. Prior to baking professionally, I was an investment banker and now I am a working mother of two, so I know all about time constraints when it comes to baking and entertaining at home.
 
As the owner of a bakery that focuses on treats for entertaining or gift-giving purposes, I admit that I often benefit from my customers’ predicament. But from one busy baker to another, I have walked in your shoes, and I developed this book as a way to help those of you in need and to inspire those of you who bake regularly. My philosophy of baking is simple and comparable to the advice of many fashion experts: Use a little black dress (and a few other staples) as the foundation of your wardrobe and change the accessories to dress it up or down. In a similar way, you can master some basic recipes or techniques and create the foundation for multiple desserts. By making simple alterations to how a base dessert is finished or served, you’ll have a complete “wardrobe” of desserts to outfit any occasion.
 
Take chocolate cake, for example. Typically a cookbook will pair a recipe for the cake with a specific type of icing. You make that recipe once and like it, but then, when you need a cake for a friend who likes darker chocolate, you’ll search your cookbooks for another recipe, having no guarantee that an unfamiliar recipe will still be a success. Sweet Chic offers one base recipe for a chocolate cake batter and provides alternative baking methods and a variety of icing suggestions. You can now create anything from traditional birthday cake to whimsical mini cupcakes to a romantic cake for two without having to stray from your comfortable cake recipe. The cakes and icings in this book can be mixed and matched in over fifty delectable combinations.
 
Everything in this book is ordered by degree of difficulty. There are three main sections: Cookies are generally easiest to master because they are most resilient to mistakes (such as undercooking or overmixing). Your cakes and icings will be a success once you are comfortable with the basic mixing techniques you learned in the cookies section. Finally, chocolate work requires more finesse than both cookies and cakes, as well as some specialty equipment, so that section appears last in the book.
 
Each section is divided into chapters that are also ordered by degree of difficulty. For example, the cakes section begins with a Devil’s Food Cake base, which can be mixed by hand in one bowl, so that it requires minimal equipment. The icings are grouped separately at the end of the section, with the most simple, Vanilla Icing, kicking those recipes off.
 
Additionally, all of these recipes in the book can be made, in whole or at least in part, in advance of when you need them. Cookie doughs can be made and then chilled or frozen before they are baked. Cakes can be baked one day and then iced the next. Breaking down recipes into easy-to-follow steps can help immensely as you try to accomplish all your party planning, bits at a time, after work or after you’ve put the kids to bed.
 
Sweet Chic aims to make homemade desserts both practical and doable, despite your busy schedule.
 
LESS IS MORE
 
At Tribeca Treats, we offer smaller-size desserts so that our customers can satisfy their sweet tooth without overindulging. A plate of elegant cookies or mini cupcakes at the end of a meal goes a long way toward letting your guests linger over conversation and their last glass of wine. Everyone leaves the meal satisfied and happy—especially the successful host!
 
Many of the recipes in Sweet Chic are based on the “small bites” philosophy and are portioned accordingly. In general, the truffles are bite size, the cookies and mini cupcakes are portioned for one or two bites, and the standard cupcakes are portioned to roughly 2½ inches in diameter. Applying this same philosophy in portioning cakes, I recommend cutting them into 1-inch slices for a three-layer cake or 1½-inch slices for a two-layer cake. Using these portions, a three-layer 8-inch cake will feed twenty to twenty-four people.
 
Keep this in mind when calculating your quantities for serving: I usually recommend two to four chocolates, cookies, or mini cupcakes per guest; one to one and a half standard cupcakes per guest; or one individual dessert or slice of cake per guest.
 
USE YOUR IMAGINATION
 
Just as you wouldn’t wear clothing only as you saw it worn in a magazine, you aren’t expected to make these recipes only one way. These recipes are intended to be used as a guide. Once you are comfortable with standard combinations, you can feel free to mix and match them with other favorite recipes. Each base recipe is like a wardrobe staple that can be worn many different ways and never goes out of style.
 
I also encourage you to broaden your base of desserts. A wardrobe consists of many different basic elements, not just multiple versions of a little black dress. Similarly, we often learn several different recipes for one dessert (such as the chocolate cake, for example), when our time may be better spent learning a new but similar recipe (such as carrot cake) and just dressing up the chocolate cake differently each time it is served.
 
At Tribeca Treats and in Sweet Chic our signature flavors start with dessert fare classics but are given a sophisticated twist. You’ll find childhood favorites such as s’mores or cookies and cream packed into an array of cakes and confections, ranging from basic to more adventurous.
 
Once a year at the bakery we hold our Cupcake Flavor Competition. Customers submit hundreds of creative suggestions, and they’re surprisingly easy to put together. Past winners include the Tiramisù, Rocky Road, Berry Berry Good, and Sassy Pumpkin—all made from simple variations on existing recipes and combinations. While a certain amount of precision is involved in creating the bases for your baked goods, you can really use your imagination with add-ins and finishing touches to create endless varieties of cupcakes, cookies, cakes, and confections.
 
The recipes in this book are designed for a range of skill levels. Aspiring bakers will be able to practice basic techniques that are common to many pastry recipes and learn to apply them in creating their own dessert varieties. Practiced pastry cooks will be inspired by new ideas on ways to use favorite recipes. It is my hope that no matter what your skill level, you will create a variety of tempting treats and have fun in the process.

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