Rating: 
Summary: One of the *BEST* Dessert books I have ever seen!!!
Review: A truly awesome book, with beautiful photography, inspiring recipes and easy to understand and reproduce recipes. However, I will say this clearly, this book was not intended for the 'Sunday Afternoon Easy-Bake-Oven Gourmet.' Many of the recipes in this book are the kind you'd expect to spend twenty dollars or more for at a fine-dining restaurant! I believe the author intended this book for the enormous army of professional chefs and pastry chefs that are out there these days, and not solely for the home cook. However, do not let this disuade you from trying this book! Many of the recipes in here oculd be simplified by removing a few non-essential components to a dish, while some of them could be made partially in advance and then completed at the last moment before serving! Bon Appetit!
Rating:
Summary: Impress your guests
Review: I got this book because I was planning a dinner party, and I really wanted to impress my guests. I'd highly recommend the book to those who want to take their dessert repertoire beyond the "ordinary" cookbook fare and into top, restaurant-quality excitement. While there's no getting around the sophistication of the recipes (the author is an award-winning pastry chef, praised by Alfred Portale, Tony Bourdain, Ruth Reichl, etc.), the fact that the author breaks the recipes into "components" makes them less daunting than than when you see the completed (beautiful!) results. The pastry chef's tips and tricks for presentation, make a WOW impression. The beautiful pictures illustrate the recipes and key steps, and the many recipes and variations allow you to "mix and match" the cakes, souffles, sauces, cookies, ice creams, petit fours, and garnishes. The recipes are broken down by season, as well, so you can choose the recipe to go with the rest of your menu and be sure that you're using the ingredients at the peak of their quality and availability. The book is full-color and beautiful, as well as great to use and follow.
Rating:
Summary: Worth The Time
Review: My husband purchased this book as a gift for me. I was totally suprised. He said all of my other dessert books were very much the same. This book is not the same. It is wonderful. I have made 5 of the desserts. Roasted Pineapple Tart with Basil Ice Cream is to die for. With the building block this book gives, it is a new dessert world opening up. It is not for the novice baker. But, you don't need to be a pastry chef either. It is time consuming. But, it is so interesting and tasty it doesn't matter. I work so I make the desserts on the weekend. This book will inspire you.
Rating:
Summary: Worth The Time
Review: My husband purchased this book as a gift for me. I was totally suprised. He said all of my other dessert books were very much the same. This book is not the same. It is wonderful. I have made 5 of the desserts. Roasted Pineapple Tart with Basil Ice Cream is to die for. With the building block this book gives, it is a new dessert world opening up. It is not for the novice baker. But, you don't need to be a pastry chef either. It is time consuming. But, it is so interesting and tasty it doesn't matter. I work so I make the desserts on the weekend. This book will inspire you.
Rating: 
Summary: An ambitious effort NOT for the amateur dessert chef
Review: Richard Leach's guide to the last course seems to make a number of promises in its title, foremost among them in my eyes was the “Desserts Made Simple†claim. I was expecting a how-to guide that would allow me to create dishes that had a balance of ease of preparation, in terms of both time and effort, and stunning presentation. Unfortunately, Mr. Leach seems to have forgotten that most amateur chefs, who I assume are the target audience of this book, do not have the luxury of a dedicated kitchen staff to assist in preparation. In truth, I have attempted four of the creations in Sweet Seasons, and not one of them took less than SEVEN hours from start to finish.
In his rather arrogant and egotistical introduction, Mr. Leach does give a backhanded acknowledgement of the difficulty involved in his recipes, “I don’t expect all readers to put in the time required to create some of the desserts in this book.†One wonders, then, what exactly the author was referring to when he wrote the word “simple†in the title. I must recommend that unless you have your own dedicated staff to assist in preparation, you look elsewhere to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Rating:
Summary: An ambitious effort NOT for the amateur dessert chef
Review: Richard Leach's guide to the last course seems to make a number of promises in its title, foremost among them in my eyes was the “Desserts Made Simple†claim. I was expecting a how-to guide that would allow me to create dishes that had a balance of ease of preparation, in terms of both time and effort, and stunning presentation. Unfortunately, Mr. Leach seems to have forgotten that most amateur chefs, who I assume are the target audience of this book, do not have the luxury of a dedicated kitchen staff to assist in preparation. In truth, I have attempted four of the creations in Sweet Seasons, and not one of them took less than SEVEN hours from start to finish.
In his rather arrogant and egotistical introduction, Mr. Leach does give a backhanded acknowledgement of the difficulty involved in his recipes, “I don’t expect all readers to put in the time required to create some of the desserts in this book.†One wonders, then, what exactly the author was referring to when he wrote the word “simple†in the title. I must recommend that unless you have your own dedicated staff to assist in preparation, you look elsewhere to satisfy your sweet tooth.
Rating:
Summary: Degrees of Delectable Dessert Difficulty
Review: These made according to Leach's specifications are of the utmost in time, skill and technique. However, as with most sophisticated chefs, the author here encourages us to only take what we want to bite off. Serve only a portion, use a presentation method with a totally different dessert, etc., etc. These function around carefully worked out organization, with numerous steps and components to architecturally outstanding multi-layered spectaculars! The collection is based seasonally around the very best of that time's ingredients. Such artistic mastery as" Walnut Tartlet with Chilled Spiced Cream and Golden Raisins; Pear And Pistachio Torte with Pear Fritters and Roasted Pear Puree; Glazed Ricotta Cheese Tart with Fresh Cherries; Chocolate-Espresso Cube with Chocolate Sorbet; Caramelized Banana-Mango Disks with Tamarind Sauce. Comparable to Charlie Trotters in complexity, however, not the demands on ingredients, as most of these are readily available to the interested home gourmet. Presentation is somewhat formidable, but instructive and gets one thinking about what elements to incorporate in one's own creations. Not for the weak of pastry accumen.
Rating:
Summary: Degrees of Delectable Dessert Difficulty
Review: These made according to Leach's specifications are of the utmost in time, skill and technique. However, as with most sophisticated chefs, the author here encourages us to only take what we want to bite off. Serve only a portion, use a presentation method with a totally different dessert, etc., etc. These function around carefully worked out organization, with numerous steps and components to architecturally outstanding multi-layered spectaculars! The collection is based seasonally around the very best of that time's ingredients. Such artistic mastery as" Walnut Tartlet with Chilled Spiced Cream and Golden Raisins; Pear And Pistachio Torte with Pear Fritters and Roasted Pear Puree; Glazed Ricotta Cheese Tart with Fresh Cherries; Chocolate-Espresso Cube with Chocolate Sorbet; Caramelized Banana-Mango Disks with Tamarind Sauce. Comparable to Charlie Trotters in complexity, however, not the demands on ingredients, as most of these are readily available to the interested home gourmet. Presentation is somewhat formidable, but instructive and gets one thinking about what elements to incorporate in one's own creations. Not for the weak of pastry accumen.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for the timid
Review: This book is a joke if you are interested in baking --even sophisticated bakers and pastry/cake decorators such as myself would be hard-pressed to find the ingredients (pistachio paste?) or the time to attempt any of these. Also it should be noted that while the concentration of this book is on presentation, NOT ALL OF THE RECIPES INCLUDE PHOTOS. So much for re-creating the recipe in your home kitchen. It is very entertaining, however, if you want to sit and page through it, at the library, as each page is more spectacular -- and astounding -- than the prior.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous indeed
Review: This sumptuous book succeeds for me on several levels. The artistry of the creations and beautiful photography are worth enjoying on their own merit. However, the greatest pleasure certainly comes from actually experiencing the creation, presentation, and deconstruction of these wonderful recipes. I disagree entirely with the remarks of some earlier reviewers who may be confusing 'complex' with 'time consuming.' I am an amateur cook but had little difficulty reproducing one of the more involved recipes using the author's directions. It did require 5 or 6 hours to prepare the 10 parts needed for the final construction, but the descriptions of the individual elements were so clear that they were indeed simple to make. Nearly all of them could be prepared one or two days ahead (the author clearly specifies which parts should be made at the last minute -- very few). The final constructions are well described and illustrated and the process seemed as entertaining to my guests as the eating. These desserts do take time -- but the final result is definitely worth it; and though the visual effect and interplay of different textures, flavors, and temperatures make it most rewarding to make the whole dessert, portions of each hold up well on their own. Last night, I impressed guests with the "Cherry and spice custard with warm financier" but the custard alone would have made an excellent dessert that would have taken less than an hour to prepare.
I also found the process of making one of these desserts to be a cooking lesson in itself. By the time I finished one, I realized I had made spun sugar, a frozen souffle, perfect honey tuiles (with homemade stencils) a sabayon sauce, creme brule -- all for the first time. The author guides you through the steps in a way that makes organization natural- and the final construction straightforward.
A final recommedation to readers-- The web sites in the back of the book have all the ingredients, molds, etc. used for the recipes. A little advance planning on the web can save considerable time driving around searching for a savarin mold (although a muffin tin worked nearly as well) or some other special item.
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