Diner Desserts

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Summary: Being a former diner owner....
Review: Being a former diner owner I was surprised with this book!It does a great job of capturing the simple diner recipes and doesn't leave out the great taste!
The double chocolate fudge cake is fab!!!!!And very easy to make!The high and might cake, well you make it and serve it to your family, I am sure you will get an eye opening smile, huggs, and kisses! It is also a wonderful cake for birthdays, hint hint!
This book will not let you down!

Rating:
Summary: great collection of good ol' American desserts
Review: I bought this book from amazon based on reviews.

When it arrived I was delighted by the beautiful design of the book. Through a combination of photography, graphics and printing, it succeeds in conveying the 'feel' of a diner to the reader. For those, like me, who buy cookbooks to read as well as cook from, this one will be a treat.

The recipes are well laid out and detailed, with each receiving a short introduction. The recipes are well-written and complete; after making about ten of the recipes I haven't noticed any missing ingredients or steps.

The difficulty factor changes quite a bit from recipe to recipe. None are difficult to make, but some are more involved and require more time than others. However, everyone will find items suited to their abilities, and may use the book for trying new techniques and more complicated recipes.

My personal favorite in the book is the recipe for 'High and Mighty White Cake'. This recipe produces a beautiful cake suitable for any occasion. I have used this cake, with various frostings, for a number of occasions and it has always gotten complements. Her carrot cake recipe is also excellent. The 'Old Time Peanut Butter Cookies' are also a great option, with just the right balance between sweet and salty. The 'Classic Diner Cheesecake' is nothing unusual, but it does make an excellent cake. As stated in the book, the 'Devil's Food Cake' is intensely chocolate for people into that, and I've had great results with her accompanying white frosting, and with chocolate frosting on it. The 'Lemon Layer Cake' has become another favorite of mine and a hit with those for whom I've baked it, giving plenty of lemon flavor accompanied by a lemon-y frosting.

I haven't tried any of the puddings, etc., because they aren't what I like to make.

This book is an excellent buy for the money. Though softback, the binding and cover are of particularly high quality, with the cover being a heavy plasticized paper. It will make a much-appreciated gift for any bakers on a gift list!

Rating:
Summary: clear directions, perfect results
Review: I'm interested mainly in cake baking and I have to say, this book has perfect cakes. clear, detailed instructions lead to foolproof cake making,with delicious results. my favourites are the choc fudge layer cake and maple walnut cake. one complaint though..I'm 19 and love the sweet stuff, but grown ups have complained about the sweetness in the frostings, which can be reduced.

Rating:
Summary: Just Needs A Little Work
Review: If you love to go to or miss going to diners, especially for the desserts, this is the perfect cookbook for your aching sweet tooth. Not only will you find loads of goodies to make but also you'll enjoy reading through it. From the B&W photos of diner scenes are sprinkled throughout the book to the witty chapter names. Be sure to notice the clever page numbering done in monetary units. For example, the S'more Sundae recipe starts on page $1.64.

Chocolate Cream Pie was absolutely wondrous. You won't be able to eat a lot of it in one sitting because it's so rich but you'll still find yourself making excuses to have another slice whenever you can. The only hiccup I had was during the bubble stage. It's not exactly clear from her instructions what you should look for to know when the chocolate mixture should come off the stove. You are told that when you see bubbles you should cook for another minute then pull the saucepan off the stove. Much later in the instructions she mentions that you should be dealing with pudding at this point. When I reached bubble stage and then stirred for another minute, I still had chocolate milk.

Another recipe that had some problems was with her Chocolate Cheesecake Bars. Though I bake these interesting bars for 70 to 75 minutes at 300 degrees, it was still close to raw mixture. An additional 10 minutes helped stiffen it up but it could have easily gone and extra 20 minutes or so before I think it would be truly ready. The problem is by cooking so long, the cheesecake topping starts to brown just past comfortable. As for taste, I'm not familiar with this dessert so I'm not sure. It was tasty but I was surprised at how less sweet it was compared to the ingredients used.

All in all, I was pleased with the recipes created from this cookbook. If you enjoy making old-fashioned sweets, you'll find plenty to choose from here.

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Summary: Delicious and easy recipes!
Review: The first recipe I tried was the recipe for the picture on the cover- the chocolate cream pie. I was a bit apprehensive because the last time I tried to make pudding I ended up with chocolate milk, and as I was making this for guests I really didn't want that to happen again. After following the instructions carefully I had perfect chocolate pudding! Not only had the pudding worked, but it was the best I'd ever had. After pairing it with whipped cream and a chocolate crust, it was absolute bliss! The best chocolate cream pie any of us had ever had! The pie also kept well in the refridgerator for several days. The next recipe I tried was the mega oatmeal, walnut, and chocolate chip cookies. They were absolutely fabulous! It made over 40 cookies so I brought them to school. When word got out how delicious they were, they were gone in a matter of seconds. I got many requests to make them again. The other recipe I tried was the Devils food cake. They were moist and delicous and chocolatey. There are still many recipes I want to try. For my birthday I plan on making the chocolate fudge layer cake! It sounds fabulous! There are no pictures in this book, but there is also no need. Anyone could make these recipes perfectly if they just follow her clear and easy instructions. This book is worth the money!

Rating:
Summary: clear directions, perfect results
Review: The German Chocolate Cake recipe alone is worth the price. This is a great collection of diner favorites. To fully enjoy the goodies from this book I'm having one of those revolving dessert display cases installed in my kitchen. This is a great book for even the most casual baker, like me. The directions are clear and concise. The ingredients are basic. The results are fantastic.

Rating:
Summary: Hanging out at the diner...
Review: The recipes in this book-mile-high cakes and drippy cakes and puddings and cookies-take you back to the good old days when we were bad, hanging out at the diner, insulting each other and flirting and watching the muscle cars in the parking lot. The photos are great black and white shots of diners from across the country. The short-order cooks, the counters, the menus, the cakes under glass. The recipes are well written and work (so far!). I haven't got out of the pudding chapter yet (you have to try the Banana Caramel pudding) but I have my eye on the cakes, especially the Chocolate fudge Layer Cake. This is a really unusual book, and even if you have a big cookbook collection, you won't have anything like this.

Rating:
Summary: Terrific selection of recipes, for varying skill levels
Review: This really is a superb collection of recipes, most of which I can't wait to try. Directions are clear, illustrations are helpful and/or interesting, and layout is really nice.

Most of the recipes are straightforward and seem "doable" for bakers of average skill. A few, however, tend to the complex...the Toasted Almond Cake praised by other reviewers, for example, sounds outstanding--but the recipe goes on for four pages, and requires making your own almond brittle, soaking syrup, syrup to be mixed into the frosting, etc....I just don't have the patience for that anymore!

On the other hand, some of the recipes are outstandingly simple--Root Beer Floats and Double-Chocolate Shakes, for example. (The Shake calls for making your own very simple chocolate syrup from milk and semisweet chocolate squares--amazing the difference in flavor!)

Even if you just read cookbooks for pleasure, this one will be a joy for you...just try reading the recipe for Bread Pudding without salivating onto the pages....

Rating:
Summary: Get it for the Rocky Road Brownies.
Review: You won't find any revelations here, but this has everything you'd want in a book of fairly basic desserts. No skimping on ingredients, and as long as you know basic baking, you don't need to worry about the results. There wasn't anything I tried that I didn't like. The coconut "dream" pie and coconut cake are particularly good. I also liked the lemon cake and the all-chocolate cake very much. The cheesecakes are a little too dense for my taste, but the lemon cheesecake with blueberry topping has a nice flavor. The instructions are very good, and everything I made came out exactly as described (I'm beginning to think this is a rarity among dessert cookbooks).

Rating:
Summary: Good tasting, good directions
Review: You won't find any revelations here, but this has everything you'd want in a book of fairly basic desserts. No skimping on ingredients, and as long as you know basic baking, you don't need to worry about the results. There wasn't anything I tried that I didn't like. The coconut "dream" pie and coconut cake are particularly good. I also liked the lemon cake and the all-chocolate cake very much. The cheesecakes are a little too dense for my taste, but the lemon cheesecake with blueberry topping has a nice flavor. The instructions are very good, and everything I made came out exactly as described (I'm beginning to think this is a rarity among dessert cookbooks).