Kirjahaku

Baking and decorating a cake can be a challenge, and when the end result doesn't taste as good as it looks, a big disappointment! Author and seasoned baker Gesine Bullock-Prado has perfected a method for creating eye-catching spectacular cakes that measure up. Her step-by-step instruction for baking, piping, and making decorations make each bit manageable, whether it's baking layers ahead of time and freezing, or taking the time to crank out a slew of gorgeous frosting flowers that hold beautifully in the freezer until you need them. Her aim is to present a 'system' for cake decorating that carries you through from baking to finishing, no step skipped or left unexplained. Just remember BaDASS: Bake ahead, Dam, Assemble, Smooth coat, and Spruce it up. The layers are as easy as box mixes, and the smoothing and decorating instructions work the first time (not a thousand passes later). From custom shapes to complement a party theme to ultra-gorgeous cakes for special occasions, it's all within reach.

A former Hollywood insider trades the Hollywood Hills for Green Acres--and lives to tell about it in this hilarious, poignant treat of a memoir. As head of her celebrity sister's production company, Gesine Bullock-Prado had a closet full of designer clothes and the ear of all the influential studio heads, but she was miserable. The only solace she found was in her secret hobby: baking. With every sugary, buttery confection to emerge from her oven, Gesine took one step away from her glittery, empty existence--and one step closer to her true destiny. Before long, she and her husband left the trappings of their Hollywood lifestyle behind, ending up in Vermont, where they started the gem known as Gesine Confectionary. And they never looked back. Confections of a Closet Master Baker follows Gesine's journey from sugar-obsessed child to miserable, awkward Hollywood insider to reluctant master baker. Chock-full of eccentric characters, beautifully detailed descriptions of her baking process, ceaselessly funny renditions of Hollywood nonsense, and recipes, the ingredients of her story will appeal to anyone who has ever considered leaving the life they know and completely starting over.

When Gesine Bullock-Prado left her Hollywood life in 2004 and moved to Vermont, she fell in love with the Green Mountain State’s flavours and six unique seasons. Spring, summer, autumn and winter all claim their place at this table, but a true Vermonter holds extra space for maple-forward mud season—that time of year before spring when thawing ice makes way for mucky roads—and stick season, a notable period of bare trees and gourds galore prior to winter. In My Vermont Table, Bullock-Prado takes readers on a sweet and savoury journey through each of these special seasons. Recipes like Blackberry Cornmeal Cake, Vermont Cheddar Soup, Shaved Asparagus Toasts and Maple Pulled Pork Sliders utilise local produce, dairy, wine and flour. And quintessential Vermont flavours are updated with ingredients and spices from Bullock-Prado’s own backyard. With stunning photography, Vermonters and visitors alike will revel in a seat at this table.

In this new cookbook, Gesine Bullock-Prado invites her fans into her kitchen, where the harvest is local. Whether she’s picked the lettuce from her own garden, visited a farmers’ market or shopped at the local grocery store, her seasonal cooking is accessible to all. Delicious recipes share the page with fan-favourite family stories and tips on growing food, understanding the soil and more for aspirational (and actual) gardeners. Bullock-Prado once dreamed of self-sufficiency—living off the land, cooking pies with scavenged berries, keeping bees and foraging all things wild—but was not wholly successful. Her hybrid approach is on display here, and she encourages readers to be realistic and celebrate fresh ingredients wherever they were grown. From Zucchini Waffles to Pickled Peaches, Peony Jelly to Preserved Lemons, these are dishes to make time and again. Gesine Bullock-Prado’s, My Vermont Table was praised as: “Brimming with joy […] it is irresistible in every way […] You will want to hold this book close.”—Susan Orlean, journalist and best-selling author