Review of Sweet Chic. Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion

Dec 25, 2011
Paym Bergson

Sweets for the Fashion Savvy - cover courtesy of FSB Associates

Like fashion? Like desserts? Then you'll love Sweet Chic. More than a regular cookbook. Learn the basic "wardrobe" for desserts and how to dress them up.

It's no surprise that author Rachel Schifter Thebault, owner (and head confectioner) of Tribeca Treats in New York has created fashion desserts. After all, New York is still a designer's city. She pairs the basics of this splurge industry with fashion sense and fun; you plan and create the dessert similar to how you plan your wardrobe - there's even the proverbial little black dress! (Devil's food cake anyone???)

Food as Fashion

Sweet Chic. Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion provides even the basic beginner with all the information needed to start baking, and start creating the perfect runway show. Even better is the small bite philosophy, which so many of the recipes follow. In essence, that instead of a full plate of a dessert, the portions are smaller - so that everyone can enjoy the ending to a perfect meal (or with a cuppa midday or anytime), and not over-indulge or feel guilty.

There are three sections: Cookies, Cakes, and Confections. The book starts off though with The Basics: From the Runway to Ready-to-Wear. Here the novice is introduced to ALL necessary equipment, ingredients, techniques, etc. Even the divisions within each section come with handy "fashion equivalents". Basic cookies are likened to T-Shirts; thumbprint cookies to the chunky cardigan.

Recipes Build On Each Other

Recipes often build upon each other. Blueberry "Cheesecake" needs the recipe for Vanilla Cake batter, Cream Cheese Icing, and Graham Cracker Dough - and yes, the page numbers for each are given. Amounts created are often given in terms of what they will cover - for example, the Vanilla Icing will cover 3 dozen cupcakes or one 3-layer 8-inch cake.

Headings are all in pink font, with hints also starting in pink. Fashion emergencies, such as working with peanut butter and the oil separation, are started in a soft orange font.

While there are pictures at the start of all sections or subsections, there certainly are not enough pictures for those who are not used to baking, let alone making confections. Seeing just the perfect end result on a perfect platter does not instill confidence for those readers who think baking a cake from a mix is the height of home baking. And making candies/confections needs many more pictures of the varying steps in these somewhat complicated procedures.

Tasty Addition to Any Recipe Collection

All in all though, this tasty dessert book is a great addition to any recipe collection, as well as being fun to read. Note that the author encourages imagination of the readers to help create their own concoctions too, even if just by mixing and matching toppings.

Book courtesy of FSB Associates.

References:

Thebault, Rachel Schifer. Sweet Chic. Stylish Treats to Dress Up for Any Occasion. New York, NY USA: Ballantine Books, 2010

ISBN:978-0-345-51655-8