Baked Occasions: Desserts for Leisure Activities, Holidays, and Informal Celebrations

by Matt Lewis, Renato Poliafito, Brian Kennedy (Photographs)

Celebrating a year in desserts, BAKED’s beloved duo Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito offer cookies, puddings, whoopie pies, cakes, brownies, and more to commemorate holidays both expected and unexpected. Rum-infused Hair of the Dog Cake for New Year’s Day and Peanut Butter Sheet Cake for Texas Independence Day join Praline Ice Cream Cake for Mardi Gras, Chocolate Pop Tarts for Halloween, and 12 Days of Cookies for Christmastime. With 65 gorgeous photographs and 75 unique recipes, you’ll have everything you need to create a wide range of sweet treats for quirky festivities and traditional holidays all year round.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Food, Nonfiction, Culinary

272 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 5 out of 5]

...and now I must troll used book sales to find my own copy of this book (and complete my Baked collection) because it doesn't look like they're still selling new copies.

The chocolate pudding cake was fantastic, and my 6 year old has decided to delay his Beaver Chef badge so that he can help me make the sprinkle cake (from the cover) for my birthday. We shall have to see what else we can make over the holiday season before this has to go back to the library.

[Christa · Rating 4 out of 5]

you know how some cookbooks are a-b-c & zed? Dry. Dust. Not this collection of mouthwatering pictures, recipes and concise directions with amusing asides. Reading the forward, I was thinking I'd like to have coffee with these fellows. The book was a joy to read and I intend to seek out other volumes of their work.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would check this out of the library again (doubt I would buy it), but some of the recipes looked delicious!

I want to try the:
Baked Ultimate Birthday Cake
Chocolate Texas Sheet Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting
Blood Orange Tiramisu
Light and Lemony Jelly Roll with Raspberry Cream Filling
Easter Coconut Sheet Cake
Strawberry Supreme Cake
Ultralemony Lemon Bundt Cake with Almond Glaze
Chai Spice Trifle with Mixed Berries
Everyone's Favorite Birthday Cake
Bonnie's Blueberry Buckle
Orange Pancakes with Honey Butter
Peanut Butter and Jelly Crumb Morning Muffins
and all of the
Twelve Days of Cookies

[Ligaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this after a round of other baking books, so it suffered a bit by comparison. I found it lovely but I actually only flagged five recipes, which doesn't reach the threshold of having to buy this book. The book is well organized and the occasions "hook" is quite clever. The intros to each recipe are hilarious—the author's writing is quite good! One cardinal sin committed therewith is that not every recipe has an adjacent photograph of the finished product. I will put holds on the other Baked cookbooks but this title goes back to the library.

[Maeve O'Hara · Rating 5 out of 5]

oof! Baked was one of my favorite places to "work from home" before it was cool. I received this book on a birthday, and the recipes are all knockouts. My favorite is the Dolly Parton Bundt cake... have been meaning to make the Rainbow Cookie Cake, but no fete as of yet has seemed celebratory enough (that is, it seems so overly decadent and amazing). And I've had the book for years and gotten married... lol.

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it! The styling is so beautiful and the recipes are well written. Many of the recipes use repeated flavors (I am very happy with this turn of events!). Expect to see a lot of chocolate, citrus, walnut, coconut, cream cheese, and peanut butter throughout the book. I am especially excited to try the cookie recipes

[Rosemary Burton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Baked never disappoints

Delightful read and incredible recipes loved all the inspired takes on classics. A fun loving bigger than life tone in the writing makes this cookbook a great pick me up.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent baking cookbook - full of recipes that are unique but still accessible for the home chef (not too many outlandish ingredients). It was fun to read and the photos were gorgeous. I'm eager to try some of the recipes!

[Beka · Rating 4 out of 5]

As usual, lots of delicious and inventive recipes and flavor combos.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the organization around holidays - both those common and those unusual ones. I also loved the used of pistachios.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The gorgeous picture pulled me in and I enjoyed going through it. The authors love to find reasons to bake and these are some of the more unusual items plus their standbys sold at their Brooklyn bakery.
I'd love to visit, I'll at least be checking to see if they have mail order. Yum.

It sounds like the authors had the recipes home tested, always important since you can't be sure you can duplicate professional style food.

The Chocolate Chip Hush Puppies, the Nutella Cookies and the Buttery Pound Cake with Salted Caramel Glaze are on my to try list.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Baked Occasions has some interesting recipes. Most of them are slightly unconventional which is great but, because of that (and the $35.00 price tag), I'd really like to see a picture of EVERY recipe. I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of ingredients without knowing what my outcome should look like. A perfect example: it would be nice to see a picture of something called, "Ugly but Good" cookies.

Note: Most of the recipes do have pictures but I'd really like a photo for each one.

[Ange · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love it! The styling is so beautiful and the recipes are well written. Many of the recipes use repeated flavors (I am very happy with this turn of events!). Expect to see a lot of chocolate, citrus, walnut, coconut, cream cheese, and peanut butter throughout the book. I am especially excited to try the cookie recipes

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of the four books, this is one of the best. I still think the original is my favorite, but this might come in second. I have so many recipes bookmarked to make!

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Delightful photographs, but all too fancy and time consuming.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish I had an occasion to make some of these. I wish each recipe had a picture as they all sound so good.

[Maggie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very pretty book. But not a single recipe that was appealing enough to consider attempting.

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perused. The pictures are pretty but nothing grabbed me.