Simply Cadbury's Chocolate

by Joanna Farrow

Simply Cadbury's Chocolate contains one hundred deserts dedicated to, or at least influenced by, this sumptuous ingredient. Cadbury's chocolate is synonymous with rich, indulgent, if unsophisticated pleasure, and many of these recipes are along similar lines. Its instant appeal will be to the seriously sweet toothed and they will not be disappointed with recipes such as "Fudge Cheesecake", "Chocolate Fudge Ring" and "Chocolate Truffle Gateau". Though the appeal of this book is the Cadbury's chocolate association, manyof the recipes do aspire to something more sophisticated than perhapsexpected. The potential sickliness of the chocolate is wisely tempered by additions such as fruit, nuts and even alcohol. The net result of this is recipes along the lines of a frozen "Chocolate Prune Marquise", "Chocolate Walnut Biscotti" and "Banana, Chocolate and Pecan Cake", all of which use more adult ingredients, be they whisky, marscapone, rose water or almonds. All the recipes are simple and require just a few precise ingredients--many are suitable for children. Desserts are classified between Teabreads, Quick Cakes, Biscuits and Cookies, Iced Desserts and Hot Puddings. The layout is straightforward and about a third of the recipes are accompanied by colour photos. Although not exclusively for the chocoholic, the appeal of Simply Cadbury's Chocolate is largely down to the childish appeal of that lovely ingredient. The "Chocolate Prune Marquise", despite some great ingredients really wouldn't have the same appeal were it not for the inclusion of that seductive 'C' word. -- Rachel O'Connor

Genres: Cooking, Reference, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published September 1, 1999

About the author

Joanna Farrow trained as a home economist and has worked as a freelance writer for several food magazines including BBC Good Food Magazine. Joanna has written a diverse range of cookery books, from 30 Minute Vegetarian to Simply Cadbury s Chocolate and also styles food for book, magazine and advertising photography

Reviews

[Kirsty · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cadbury's chocolate is the best selling brand in the UK, and my personal favourite! So I was really looking forward to trying these new recipes, as I hate baking with standard cooking chocolate as it is far to oily.

There is a good variety of recipes within the book including; iced desserts, hot puddings, biscuits/cookies and cakes. The difficulty of the desserts are also varied, with simpler recipes for a beginner and also larger challenges for the more experienced baker.

The big downside of the book for me was that 95% of the recipes use Bournville chocolate. This is a dark chocolate, and is quite bitter, so will not be to everyone's taste. I have made three of the recipes with the dark chocolate so far, and I have to say they weren't sweet enough for me. I think I'm going to have to mark the few recipes that use dairy milk and stick to making them, as I prefer a much sweeter, smoother chocolate.

I would also have like to see more pictures in the book, as I don't like not knowing if my finished product looks as it should.

Overall, probably a book for dark chocolate lovers only, rather than fans of normal Cadbury's milk chocolate.