Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Review: Glorious Layered Desserts by Glory Albin


Glorious Layered Desserts 

Glorious Layered Desserts by Glory Albin
Published: March 2014 by Cedar Fort Inc., 139 pages
Source: I received a copy from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Description: These desserts are not to be “trifled” with!

Dessert genius and popular blogger Glory Albin shows how to combine delicious essential recipes into layered masterpieces. You’ll love the

--Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake
--Pumpkin Mousse Parfait
--Chocolate Mint Crunch
--Summer Berry Trifle

In addition to her creative desserts, Glory also shares her unique tips and tricks, the best equipment and ingredients to use, and dozens of time-saving options.

Whether you need a quick and easy recipe or an impressive dessert for a special occasion, Glorious Layered Desserts has the perfect treat for you!


My Review: I have a love-hate relationship with this book. There are so many delicious, fantastic desserts in here! My problems with it are: it is so hard to decide what to make first, second, third, etc. and these desserts are not fat and calorie free. 

I loved the forward with the author's notes. She recommends using the real ingredients (butter, cream cheese, etc). I'm sure they're stuffed full of calories, which isn't good for my body when I want to make at least one every single day. Some of the recipes are seasonal and I haven't made them yet. There are desserts with brownies, sponge cake, chocolate pudding, vanilla cream, Nutella, all kinds of fruits, cream cheese, apple, bananas, pumpkin...you get the idea. I also liked that some of these extras you make (brownies, caramel, etc) have leftovers so that you can use them for another recipe.

I made a few of these and they were great! The Caramel Brownie Trifle was really good and rich. I didn't have as much time as it recommended for the brownie to cool (at least an hour), but it still tasted delicious. There is a recipe in here for a homemade caramel sauce and I was very overwhelmed by that. However, it was fairly simple to make and tasted better than anything out of a jar. I also made the Fresh Fruit Cheesecake Mousse. I'm not sure what I did wrong, but my cream cheese was a little clumpy. I thought this one looked really good with all of the colors and it wasn't too hard to make. It was a big hit! The Chocolate & Nutella Cream Dessert was very, very rich. I think next time I make this, I'll put it in smaller glasses to serve. My family had a favorite--Strawberries on a Chocolate Cloud. This one was very creamy and smooth and the strawberries helped to offset the sweetness.

I love the pictures, too. I didn't take the time to put my fillings in bags to make beautiful displays. It tasted the same, but just wasn't as pretty as the pictures. This is a book we'll be using for a long time to come.



About the Author: Glory Albin is the author of the popular dessert and entertaining blog GloriousTreats.com. Glory's clean, elegant design style and creative ideas have drawn millions of readers to her site. Glory's work has been featured on The Martha Stewart Show, MarthaStewart.com, Parenting magazine, Women's World magazine, and countless other food, style, and craft websites. Glory lives in beautiful Northern California with her husband and two young daughters. 

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