Cenk Sönmezsoy

Can we judge a book by its cover? In this case yes. The cover of "The Artful Baker" is a cake with chocolate leaf crenellations or maybe dragon scales that seems to be inspired by Game of Thrones. Gorgeous! And luscious.

The recipes in this book are all pretty luscious. Mr. Sonmezsoy is a sensualist, and his baking reflects an obsession with capturing the purest and best version of his creative ideas. He wants a pie that tastes exactly like apples? He is willing to try a hundred variations till he gets exactly what he wants.

Cenk Sonmezsoy lived for a while in San Francisco and when he came back to Istanbul he missed the city so much he got addicted to watching the city online. Then he started blogging. And then he started blogging about baking. And then his baking blog got popular. Very Very Popular.

"The Artful Baker" is a beautiful book based on the work he has done for his blog. More than that, though, it is a compendium of his favorite recipes. Through it we see his love of intense flavours and colours, and his obsession with details. Obsessive, yes. You must zest citrus directly into the bowl using a rasp because even using a box grater will waste some of the precious scented oil. Make your own vanilla extract. A real recipe for real dulce de leche, something I always keep an eye out for.

If you bake, buy this book.

I received a review copy of "The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker" by Cenk Sonmezsoy (Abrams) through NetGalley.com.… (mere)