Customer Reviews

Great Good Desserts Naturally: Secrets of Sensational Sin-Free Sweets

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I must admit that I bought this book with great expectations after reading the positive reviews. After trying a couple of the recipes, I was greatly disappointed. The carrot cake was just average tasting, more like cinnamon bread, and I noticed that the most important spice was left out for some reason. Anyway, I thought I would make it up for the bland taste, with the suggested lemon glaze. Big mistake!! The cake became soggy and the flavor of the glaze had a strong lemon flavor, very much like cough syrup. At that point, I tried to scrape off the glaze to save some of the cake, but it was too late, the glaze had already soaked into it. My next step was to discard the entire cake.
I would think that if a recipe calls for good quality expensive ingredients, the least an author can do, is to make sure it tastes good. I believe that is a reasonable expectation on my part. I was very upset that this expensive cake ended up in the garbage. This is one book that I will not be using anytime soon.

Although I am not a vegan, I do try to limit my dairy. However, dessert is my major weakness. This book is nothing short of fabulous. It taught me how to make healthier desserts, make appropriate subs., etc. She explains all of the uncommon ingredients for those we are new to vegan desserts. I have made a ton of recipes from this book and have not been dissapointed by any! I highly recommend this book.

This book is brilliant. Of my myriad vegan cookbooks, it's recipes are consistently the best and most thoughtfully presented. Every single recipe I have tried has been mouthwateringly good. Fran (if I may use her name so informally, which only feels natural since I use her cookbook so much) leaves out no details when it comes to baking delectable desserts and provides tons of background information on healthy sugar substitutes and the like. I have made many of these desserts for my family and peers and they too have been shocked that there are no animal products or refined sugars in them. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to vegans and non-vegans alike. I am delighted each time I get the opportunity to make something from it.

I have a ton of alternative cookbooks and this is my favorite one! EVERYTHING I have made from this book is absolutely fabulous. It uses healthy ingredients (whole wheat flour, maple syrup instead of sugar, agar, etc) so I am not worrying about trying substitutions all the time. I highly recommend this book.

Finally, a well-tested cookbook! (And a chef who actually gives away her secrets!) This is one of the best cookbooks I have ever used. Every recipe I've done has worked perfectly. Her instructions are detailed and if you follow them, they will work. She also gives all the essential information on the unusual ingredients so anyone who isn't used to using tofu or agar in desserts will be able to with no problem. (She doesn't talk your ear off, either -- just gets to the point!) As a professional chef I find most vegan/vegetarian cookbooks to be unreliable, so I make up my own variations. But this book is for REAL. Delicious desserts that NO ONE will guess are healthy! The double chocolate brownies are my favorite. One thing I've noticed though is, the ultimate chocolate frosting will set quicker if you cook it with the kuzu a few more minutes than she says. The only other thing I should mention is, there are more steps involved in these than your average baking recipes. You'll need a blender AND a food processor to get the best results on some of them -- but if you're like me and you love dessert but not the junk, it'll be worth it!

I really like to bake but since I developed allergy to dairy I was stumped. Then I read a recipe online at Yoga Journal written by Costigan and tried it. Simple to make, simply the best cookie I ever ate (ginger orange crisps.) SO I bought the book and have been baking my way happily though it. The cornbread is amazing, the carrot cake the best, and the chocolate is the best I ever ate, dairy free or not. Easy to follow recipes, easy to make, tips on how to work with natural ingredients and where to find them. I am happy, my grilfriend is happy as I am the baker and cook and so are the friends who received this book from me for Xmas.

Yes, this book is fantastic. No eggs and no butter, so less or 0% colesterol. But for all the people who are new to healthy baking and cooking, and think of buying this book, be ready to order some natural ingredients, such as maple sugar and syrup, rice syrup, soymilk, arrowroot, agar-agar, and others. If this is not a problem for you, this book is what you are looking for. There are sources where you can order these ingredients, what helps a lot.

I attended Fran's desserts demonstration Summerfest and tasted the desserts made from or adapted from recipes in her book. Unbelievably great tasting and look pretty easy. She is a good teacher too. I bought her book and already tried 2 recipes, low fat chocolate brownies and blueberry slump. Yum! Easy as can be and my lucky tasters are in heaven and begging for more. This will be a well used book and I hope she wrties another one soon. She mentioned working on pies and tarts. Fran made an orange blueberry bundt cake based on tropical fruit gateau and a german style carob cake based on the carob cake in the book---which is the only carob cake I ever liked. Buy this book. You won't be sorry.

This is the best dessert book I ever used. It's clear and well organized with a lot of information but isn't overwhelming. The author has made baking without milk and eggs VERY simple and easy. I am a mom and my kids like desserts that taste good. Me too. I want us to stay away from dairy and eggs and junk but not feel deprived. I have tried many of these recipes -- they WORK and seem to be pretty forgiving -- a good thing because I am a new at baking and make a few goofs... The brownies and chocolate cake are beyond delicious. I made the lemon cake and vanilla cakes several times for parties. They make great cupcakes for kids parties too; iced with the chocolate peanut butter filling from another recipe. The recipes are easy to use in different ways. My friends didn't even ask how I made these without milk, butter, eggs, because they couldn't tell. Hope Fran writes another book because I'm working my way through all the recipes in this one fast.

The Recipe-Chocolate Cake to Live For and Ultimate Chocolate Frosting are worth the price of this book! I can cook but have not been successful with desserts. Until now! Fran's clear recipes and sense of humor have transformed me into the queen of dairy-free desserts (According to my happy family and friends). I think she must teach great classes and wish I was closer to NYC. What amazes me is that I have to fight to save pieces of these desserts for my vegan friends. EVERYONE LOVES THESE DESSERTS. I want to make every recipe. I am a chocolate person but love the blueberry slump as much. The format of the book is smart. THe beginning seems like a private class in natural foods, with so much information about healthy ingredients and how to use them and WHY and charts. I think beginners and more advanced bakers can use this book-it is like a terrific reference book with delcious recipes. She points out the recipes are easily varied. I doubled the orange cake (Tropical Fruit Gateau), split the layer in half, filled and frosted it with Chocolate and now it is a much requested birthday cake. I can't beleive how professional it looked. I am ordering onther copy for myself and definately will send this book out when a gift is needed. If I sound excited, it is because I am. Did I mention that the recipes are easy and many can be made and frozen? I can find only one negative and that is I want to see more books by Fran like this one. Yes I recommend this book.