Three Layer Cake

The first recipe I ever clipped from a newspaper and the first I transcribed into my cooking diary was an article titled, “In Pursuit of the Perfect Sticky Bun”, in the Washington Post in 1996.  Lisa Yockelson, unknown to me at the time, had been writing for the Washington Post already for twelve years and had ten books under her belt by the time I clipped that article.  I tried the recipe and they were in fact the perfect sticky buns.  I was sold.  I went out and bought my first Lisa Yockelson cookbook and became a religious Washington Post Food Section reader in hopes of finding more of her recipes.

It was an unbearable five-and-a-half-year wait between then and her award-winning Baking by Flavor.  We baking-addicted readers thought that it couldn’t get any better, but then just last year, after another excruciating wait, she published ChocolateChocolate.  Good Great things come to those who wait.

ChocolateChocolate, released in September 2005, is an amazing display of skill and knowledge.  “The content of this book is reflective of years of research in chocolate-baking and for as many years as I have been writing about baking professionally and loving chocolate personally (a lifetime!), I always had some idea that the subject matter would find its way in print in a way that best exemplified my work on the topic. Surely, it was my creative destiny.” she said.  To an outsider, it may seem like an exceptionally beautiful, painstakingly put together, detail-rich book on baking with chocolate.  To an industry insider, the book is all of that and more— the four color book with satin ribbon place marker represents a grand accomplishment with her publisher.  Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of the seminal masterwork, The Cake Bible, wrote of ChococolateChocolate on her baking blog that it’s a cookbook author’s dream to do a book as high in quality content and appearance.  Few publishers will actually do this kind of cookbook, she added.

Lisa explained, “Many of my earlier works were, indeed, smaller illustrated volumes on charming single-subject topics. In ChococolateChocolate, I was lucky enough to be inspired by Pam Chirls, my editor at John Wiley & Sons, Inc., who allowed me the opportunity to put my creative stamp into motion and bake for 155 photographs--a very demanding but nonetheless rewarding task.”    Part of her creative stamp and input in the publishing vision of the book was also to use her styling skills as well as her personal collection of linens, china and tabletop accessories.  The end result is an encyclopedic volume on chocolate which leaves nothing out and nothing to chance.  Organized in the fashion of a personal baking diary, all the way down to the author’s memories which accompany each recipe and have accompanied her over the years, it is very tempting to keep one book for reading and buy a second copy for use.

In her interview with Three Layer Cake, Lisa very generously discussed her love of chocolate, the development of her beautifully written book, as well as provided chocolate tips for the home baker and suggestions for bakers with children.  It is always encouraging to know that your favorite baker is available for help when you need her.  In fact, in the introduction to her book (which is a wonderful piece of writing which shows how warm, kind and dedicated Lisa really is) she includes her email address, should readers have questions:  fourstarbaking at earthlink dot net