Product Description

Gina DePalma, the pastry chef at Babbo, New York's most famous Italian restaurant, has created a cookbook of the most scrumptious and easy-to-make desserts."Follow the seasons. Keep the flavours pure and straightforward. Use proper yet simple techniques." Applying this aesthetic to the Italian tradition, from her imagination spring desserts such as Sesame and White Corn Biscotti, Little Grappa Soaked Spongecakes and Chocolate and Tangerine Semifreddo. Recipes for classics like Cassata alla Siciliana join new interpretations of traditional desserts such as White Peach and Prosecco Gelatina.More than just a cookbook, Dolce Italiano reveals the ten ingredients readers need to know to make Italian desserts, along with wine to accompany the recipes. Never before have cooks been given such a chance to experience the full variety and subtlety of Italian desserts.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #294615 in Books
• Published on: 2007-11-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 384 pages

About the Author
GINA DEPALMA has been nominated for the James Beard Outstanding Pastry Chef Award.

Customer Reviews

Decadent and delicious
I bought this book a few weeks ago and have since began to experiment from it...problem is that now I can't stop! After wonderful bakes such as the pine nut tart and the ricotta poundcake I have tried various biscuits, tarts and cheesecakes and they're all mouthwateringly tasty. Some of my other favourites are the courgette and olive oil cake (if you like carrot cake you are going to love this wonderfully moist cake), the most lemony ever lemon tart, the Greek yoghurt and mascarpone cheesecake, and a bluberry and coconut pie. I always look forward to the evenings and weekends when I can try another delicious treat and have yet to be disappointed. Even ordinary almond biscuits are lovely. I have quite a few baking books and this one is the one I use fearlessly when expecting company - it's wonderful when you can trust a recipe book and know that you won't fail if you're expecting guests. This is one of those books that gives you this confident comfort. A firm favourite and I have only had it a couple of weeks.

Like all Italian dessert books it does contain a few recipes for ice-cream and sorbets, but even if you don't have an ice-cream machine, this book is worth buying for the tarts, cakes and biscuits alone. For some strange reason us Europeans seem to fear the American cup system (which is used in this book) but I honestly don't see what all the fuss is about. Is it really that difficult to fill up a cup with flour or sugar and put it into a bowl? I personally think it is far easier and less messier than weighing. I use ordinary 220 ml cups or 250 ml mugs, and everything always turns out fine even without proper measuring cups...but if you're still worried that your measurements might be wrong, a set of measuring cups costs about a pound at Sainsbury's.

a passon for perfect desserts





Cookbooks have never topped my reading list. Truth be told, they've never been anywhere on the list. However, having a fully functioning sweet tooth, I was drawn to this repository of tasties by the mouth watering full page full-color pictures. Then, I was intrigued by famed chef Mario Batali's description of the author's ability, "From a nearly criminal situation, with lack of space to store products, lack of burners to cook on, tiny ovens, a room often as warm as 118 degrees, and a walk-in fridge shared with the entire savory kitchen, Gina is miraculously able to produce one tasty treat after another."

Readers of this cookbook will agree that is not all DePalma is able to do for her descriptions of the sweets she loves literally sing, and her written candids of life not only at the acclaimed restaurant, Babbo, but also on the streets of Brooklyn where she lives and the markets she frequents are as tantalizing as any travelogue. DePalma's description of being awakened in the middle of the night by dreams of "dolce past" brings smiles, as does her depiction of an American supermarket where fruit "bears the indignity of a numbered sticker smacked onto it." Her standards are high, yet she appaently continues to raise the bar.

Of special help to this reader was the chapter devoted to Italian ingredients that we should know. Of course, when you read DePalma's definition of mascarpone you want to rush out and buy it. Or, once introduced to Amalfi lemons, none other will do. DePalma is a Scherazade, tempting you with every page.

The recipes included cover the gamut of sweets from cookies to cake to spoon desserts to tarts. Then, DePalma moves on to my personal favorites - ice creams and sorbets. "All Things Fried" offers a heavenly Neopolitan Doughnut with Warm Chocolate Sauce, and "Ways With Fruit" presents not only fresh fruits but also marmalades.

Whether you're an experienced cook with a love for Italian sweets or a newbie to the kitchen, you'll find much to enjoy in Dolce Italiano. DePalma writes skillfully and clearly, offering step by step directions as she shares her passion for perfect desserts.

Enjoy!

- Gail Cooke