The Perfect Finish

White House pastry chef Bill Yosses has compiled an amazing collection of his delicious dessert recipes and adapted them for home bakers in The Perfect Finish: Special Desserts for Every Occasion ~ co-authored by Melissa Clark.

You'll find recipes for cakes, pies, puddings, crepes suzettes, candies and cookies ~ even muffins, scones and quick breads.

Each one is accompanied by the sort of detailed, step-by-step instructions that will not only yield perfect results, but will make you a better baker overall.

Yosses shares his years of expertise in a clear, concise manner that is really helpful for the home baker.

Every recipe is prefaced with authors' notes that give a little background info on the recipe along with technique tips and suggestions for easy variations.

Chapter titles include: Come for Brunch, Pick-Me-Ups, Straight from the Oven, I'll Bring Dessert, Restaurant Desserts You Can Make at Home, Birthday and Celebration Cakes and Holiday Desserts.

In addition to recipes like Banana-Sour Cream Loaf, Flat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and Lemon Pound Cake Supreme, Yosses explores some cutting-edge flavor combinations that are sure to inspire even the most seasoned home baker. Here are a few that really peaked our interest ~

Pepper and Spice Dark Chocolate Cookies ~ a crumbly dark chocolate cookie spiced with black and pink peppercorns, cayenne, cinnamon, allspice, ginger and vanilla.
Candied Bacon Peach Cobbler ~ brown-sugar baked bacon is crumbled into the dough for the cobbler biscuits that top fresh, sweet peaches scented with vanilla and honey.
Pine Nut Tart with Rosemary ~ a tart made with pine nuts, a honey and brown sugar caramel, yogurt and a bit of fresh rosemary to add a pine-like herbal note.
Sweet Basil Seed and Tapioca Pudding ~ a Vietnamese-inspired dessert that uses sweet basil seeds, orange zest, cream of coconut and vanilla to take tapioca pudding to a new level.
Asian Trifle with Lime Yogurt Cream ~ an exotic trifle that includes fruits like pineapple, dragon fruit, lychee, passion fruit and mango, layered with sponge cake and a tangy lime flavored cream.

Recipe excerpt ~
We decided to make the Orange-Glazed Olive Oil Cake with Fleur De Sel from the I'll Bring Dessert chapter while preparing our review. We followed the recipe to a tee and ended up with a delicious, moist cake ~ not too sweet, richly flavored and lovely to look at. Click here for the recipe and our photo of the finished product.

The Perfect Finish is sure to become a contemporary classic and a valuable addition to any cookbook collection. It's available at book retailers everywhere, including Amazon.com.