This review was prepared by Charli of The Berry Bushel.

Confections of a (Closet) Master Baker is the memoir of Gesine Bullock-Prado, former Hollywood executive turned owner of a small town bakery. The memoir chronicles Bullock-Prado’s reasons for getting into the movie business, getting out of it, and moving on to her true passion, baking. Each chapter begins by taking you through her life as a baker and seamlessly transitions to her history. Overall, the book is a quick and easy read, filled with humor. From the first sentence, Bullock-Prado captures the reader, doing an especially wonderful job of connecting her story emotionally with the recipes she provides. (Be warned though, this can lead you to want to make every single recipe.)

The following review was prepared by one of our dearest members: Ami. Her Daring Kitchen user name is LAMonkeygirl. Ami is a non-blogging member of The Daring Kitchen.

The restaurant cookbook offers home cooks the glamorous prospect of creating, in one’s own home, the very dishes served up in glossy, famous eateries. One could, conceivably, rush home from an expensive meal in a beautiful room and then, in the dingy, cramped space of your own kitchen, make the exact same dish just enjoyed, plated up on Ikea dishes instead of oversized French porcelain.

Truthfully, no one can pick up a restaurant cookbook and make precisely the same food served in the restaurant. It’s simply not possible. Not only do home cooks have consumer-grade appliances and cookware, but access to ingredients, time and sous-chefs is also sorely limited. The best a home cook can achieve is a reasonable facsimile, the flavors of a dish approaching but not duplicating something that comes from a professional kitchen.