Jane's Patisserie: Deliciously Customizable Cakes, Bakes, and Treats
Jane Dunn says she’s loved baking ever since she was young, watching in awe everything her grandmother did in the kitchen. That, coupled with her interest in design and art, led to her playing around with ideas, decorations, and flavors until it transformed from a hobby into a career. After college, Dunn took the next step and enrolled in a cooking school. Her favorite subject was baking, which led her to start a blog.
At first, I just blogged about what I made,” she writes in the introduction to her book. “I would take a few photos and post the recipe, not expecting anyone to actually make the recipes I was writing. Things have changed quite a bit since then, I now have millions of blog views every month, thousands upon thousands of followers, and the ability to work for myself and I can't thank my followers enough for that opportunity. I now have hundreds of recipes, covering all kinds of bakes and I love nothing more than getting started on a new creation—well maybe the first bite when it's done.”
Dunn’s goal is not only to create tasty and beautiful looking baked goods but also to write recipes designed to be easy to implement, suitable for all levels of bakers, and so delicious you can share them with family and friends with pride.
The full-color lush photos showcase what appear to be professional-level goodies, but the recipes are very accessible. Dunn has included both recipes from her blog and also new ones she created for the book. Each recipe features a “Customize” box in the corner where she explains how to make changes and substitutions to her recipes as well as, for those more experienced bakers, how to take it to the next level. She also has other pull-out informational boxes such as “My Top Tips for Tea Time” and “My Top Tips for Breads & Doughnuts.”
Some of the recipes are fun like the Pina Colada Cupcakes with their tiny paper parasols and the Gin and Tonic Loaf Cake with half crescents of pale green limes running down the middle of the white frosting, accented with a sprinkling of lime zest. Others look more time-consuming until you read the recipe. The Millionaire’s Trifle is a beauty but much easier than it looks with the use of a jumbo chocolate Swiss roll and already-made vanilla custard and caramel as well as shortbread biscuits. Pavlova is always elegant, but as long as you get the egg whites right so they form stiff peaks, you’re fine if you remember, as Dunn mentions, to lift your whisk out of the whites for them to hold their shape.
These are the types of tips that make all the difference between success and failure.