Stunning photography makes this book well worth having even if the recipes were terrible. Landscapes relating to recipes' origins, wonderful process photos, shots of ingredients that make them look like they should be in museums, and pictures of the finished products that range from adorable to charming to drop-dead gorgeous. Seriously, the photos alone are worth the price.

But the recipes are very very not terrible. Contrary to what seems to be the norm since the pandemic began, I haven't had much time for baking in the past couple of years, but (once I get past the fact that my last stove blew up) I sincerely want to make every item in this book. And that never happens - there's always something too weird or outre or with some ingredient I don't like that I'd be fine skipping. Not here. Desserts from Chocolate Chip Cookies to macarons to something strange and wonderful called Mont Blanco; beverages from hot chocolate to elderflower cordial; recipes sweet and savory; globe-spanning foods ranging from focaccia to simit from Istanbul to Eton Mess (keep hearing about this dessert in your British television or novel consumption? Here's your chance to make it. It looks marvelous.) And, as in the Great British Baking Show, there's an ice cream section which could, if I allowed it, be life-altering.

I like that the recipe names basically follow the rule of "just tell me what it is". "Carrot cake with blond chocolate frosting/';[" - sorry, I drooled on the keyboard there. But there is also a touch of whimsey here and there - the apple cake included here isn't just an apple cake, it's a "Deeply Appley Apple Cake", which is actually something I've been looking for for years. And "The Devil Wears Chocolate", which when you think about it makes sense.

And if the beautiful pictures and the amazing recipes on the whole weren't enough, there's a recipe for making your own chocolate and hazelnut balls - "Fernando Rocher." I need to do some shopping soon to stock up my baking essentials.

The gorgeous photography had me drooling late into the night and looking forward to a baking session in the morning. There is something for everyone no matter if they have a sweet tooth or not.

I read cookbooks like they are novels, I love them. This one had several recipes I tried and loved. I plan to buy this for my Mom for her birthday, I know she will enjoy it as well

I wasn't sure what to expect from this.
Yet to be honest I might have expected more. The Artful Baker is beautifully curated but it doesnt make me wanna get into the kitchen and bake up a storm.
I think this is more for lover of Sonmezsoy and beginners than me

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.

So much deliciousness! These pastries look so yummy, I want to make and taste them all! Anyone who bakes and wants to try out something a bit different, will enjoy this recipe book. Loved the photos! I haven't tried any recipe yet, but found one I am thinking of making for my daughters b-day. It has pistachios- her favorite. Definitely worth a look.

A beautifully photographed book. The authors passion for food shines through and the recipies are achieveable for the home cook. If you love to bake you'll find something to inspire you.

This was and is an incredible cookbook. From the cover the last page you are taken away by first the beauty of the photographs, but also by the authors love and passion for food and the creations that are being made. Wanting to share that with everyone you are given step by step instructions on everything you need to recreate what was created in these pages. Since they were created in the author’s kitchen you are given the tools you need but also if there was something that was easier or a simpler step you are given that piece of advice as well. This was the first cookbook I have come across that had a chapter just for brownies. You would have thought to give the brownie there own chapter. That alone might have made this a top book, but no. It was the way the author, chief took you through each recipe and the story behind them that made this book wonderful and unique. A beautiful book art wise, and food wise from someone who loves food.

When you have a cookbook called The Artful Baker, you'd expect it to be beautiful. You'd be right. Cenk Sonmezsoy, creator of the food blog Cafe Fernando, has created a gorgeously photographed book filled with mouth-watering sweets (and some savory recipes too!) in breath-taking pictures. Not too bad for a guy who describes himself in the introduction as someone who at one point wanted nothing more than to sit on the sofa with ice cream watching The Golden Girls. As someone who can see the beauty in that, I feel like there is now a chance for me too to become an expert baker. 

The chapters are packed with flavorful recipes for brownies, cookies (oh, the macarons!), cakes, muffins, pies, tarts, breads, pastries, ice creams, sorbets, drinks, caramels, jellies, and jams. Plus, there are tips for tempering chocolate, for working with fruits, for what equipment is best for baking, and so many more. One chapter focuses on nothing but those base recipes that if you can master, you can create almost anything you want in the pastry world--flaky pie crust, pastry cream, pate a choux, short tart dough. You can start there and go pretty much anywhere you want to. 

And speaking of going anywhere, The Artful Baker includes several international recipes, like Eton Mess, Monte Bianco, Rosemary and Sea Salt Focaccia, Sourdough Simit, and Membrillo, to take you places outside of the U.S. And when you're ready to come back home, there is a Peel-to-Stem Apple Pie that looks like it could bring you to tears. 

You can tell just by looking at the cover how exquisite these recipes are. Right there, drawing you in, is a decadent devil's food cake covered in perfectly tempered chocolate shards. No wonder baking goddess Dorie Greenspan is a fan! 

The Artful Baker is the perfect gift for wannabe bakers, or better yet, for yourself. With accessible recipes, all the tips you need to succeed with this tantalizing treats, and beautiful ideas to create masterpieces, you too can make art with your baking. 



Galleys for The Artful Baker were provided by Abrams through NetGalley, with many thanks.

This is one of the most beautiful cookbooks that I have ever seen. With great recipes, illustrations and instructions that are easy to follow, this book will be on every bakers holiday wishlist.

My apologies - I'm so sorry I couldn't finish the review of this book before archival. I try to test recipes before my review and I couldn't do it in time.

The gorgeous chocolate creation on the front immediately attracted me to this book, and the photographs inside are just as mouth-watering and quirky. The author has an engaging writing style which begins with his journey from childhood to food blogger, and gives great background and tips on all the recipes he has developed. He admits to judging other cooks on the quality of their chocolate chip cookies, and I don't think that's a bad gauge to go by. Although many of the recipes contain hard-to-come by or unusual ingredients, and some are quite involved and time-consuming, there are plenty of others here that pique my interest. Although the digital version is impressive, I think a hardcover would be fantastic on any kitchen bookshelf.

***Disclaimer: This e-ARC was provided to me by the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Huge thanks to them. ***

Love to bake, but want to bake something really special and beautiful? The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker by Cenk Sonmezsoy, creator of the popular food and travel blog, Café Fernando, is a fabulous cookbook filled with decadent recipes that are actually doable at home.

While the recipes are mostly for desserts, there are also several excellent bread recipes. I first tasted Simit at Simit Sarayi, a chain of Turkish bakeries – this one was in London and I fell in love with these chewy sesame-coated pieces of heaven. So the first recipe I tried from this impressive book was the Yeast Simit. They were quite easy, and so good, that it’s no wonder that Simit is a bread that has become extremely trendy. I made the Banana Walnut Muffins, which were immediately devoured, and every time I pick up the book, there seems to be something new to add to the queue. There is a recipe for a Fig, Thyme, and Blue Cheese Galette, as well as Crispy-Chewy Oatmeal Walnut Cookies, Lime & Ginger Cookies, Double Chocolate Bundt Cake, and Vanilla Bean Meltaways to name a few “must-taste” baked goods.

Sometimes famous cooks try to intimidate their readers by making the recipes seem more difficult than they really are. Sonmezsoy, on the other hand, makes the ones in this cookbook easy to understand with concise step-by-step instructions. The target audience here is the home baker, and there is something for everyone, whether a seasoned baker or a beginning baker.

The photographs are beautiful, the book is well-organized, and every baker will fall in love with Turkish baked goods. The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker is highly recommended as a must-have in any respectable recipe collection.

Special thanks to NetGalley for supplying a review copy of this book.

This is one of the most beautiful cookbooks that I have read in 2017. The photographs are stunning, the recipes are delicious, and it really is like looking through an art book.

The book is divided into types of dish, including: Cookies, Brownies, Cakes Muffins Cheesecakes and Meringues, Tarts Galettes Pie Quiche Cobbler and Crumble, Bread and Pastries, Ice Cream Frozen Yogurt and Sorbets, Confections and Drinks, Jams and Jellies, Base Recipes, and Ingredients, Equipment and Conversions.

There's a lot of personal stories and name dropping in this book, making it clear that the author has a level of not just passion, but pride in what they do. You learn why they included the recipes and ingredients they did, and what makes them the best.

In addition to the recipes, there's also a TON of extra tips and techniques in this book. There are step by step photos of how to deal with vanilla beans, there's a whole section on perfecting macarons, there's a guide to tempering chocolate. It's clear the author wants to help you succeed with their recipes! There's also a lot of storage advice, which is appreciated.

As I mentioned, the photos are beautiful. A lot of the things look too beautiful to eat (I mean, not that that'd really stop me, but you know what I mean). There's an abundance of photos too, at least one per recipe though there's often more.

One of the downsides is that some of the ingredients are relatively hard to find, like sakura flavored white tea leaves. You'd need to plan well in advance for some of these recipes, they don't all lend themselves to spur of the moment baking.

Some of the recipes that sound the best to me include Sour Cherry and White Chocolate Macarons, Sakura Madeleines, and Isabella Grape and Kefir Ice Cream.

This book is fantastic, and any home bakers looking to up their game or to more finely hone their baking techniques would find something to benefit from in this book.

I received a copy in exchange for my honest review.

Looking at the cover of The Artful Baker by Cenk Sonmezsoy I thought it would be way above my home baking skills. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself marking recipe after recipe to try. A few were more adventurous than my liking. Overall I was pleased with the mix of recipes. I decided to try the recipe for dulce de leche brownies. It mixed up well and the flavors were good. My problem was with the baking time. I had to back them almost an hour before they were done in the center. This made the edges a bit over done. I think they would have baked better in a quarter sheet pan. I am not writing the book off completely, but some adjustments do need to be made.

The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker by Cenk Sonmezsoy is for sure a cook book that deserves to become one of your most read and used cookbook for your baking days.

The author divides the book in these sections:
Cookies, Brownies, Cakes, Muffins, Cheesecakes and Meringues, Tarts, Galettes, Pie, Quiche, Cobbler and Crumble, Breads and Pastries, Ice Creams, Frozen Yogurt and Sorbets, Confections and Drinks, Jams, Jellies and at the end base recipes.

The story of this author is great, because in his life he didn't want to become a baker, he tells, but for a reason or another, he set up once a blog Cafe Fernando sharing with people his recipes. That blog became so successful that his recipes ended up also in the Washington Post and in the San Francisco Chronicle. A great launch for other contacts, the proposal of a book and here we are.

His recipes are original. For example in the recipe of sweet chocolate cookies the author adds real pieces of chocolates to the cookies.

Delicious the section dedicated to Macarons and succulent the one at brownies. I found very elegant the three-bean vanilla bundt cake, while if you want also a spicy apple cake try the Deeply Appley Apple Cake.

The Devil Wears Chocolate Swirls will be noticed because of the chocolate "waves" in comparison to a common chocolate cake for a visual, yummy success!

There is also a recipe called Monte Bianco.

In the section bread I signal Sourdough Simit, the most common Istanbul bread and of course for a delicious and succulent breakfast croissants and pains au chocolat. It will take a lot of time I can tell you because I do them sometime, but the work will be compensated by a great and loving delicious product and taste!

Another delicious dessert in particular when you have some guests can be profiteroles.

The author is a great ice-cream lover and so you' ll find wagons of different kind of ice-cream recipes for all tastes!

If you love caramel you will want to try the Salted Butter Caramels or the million-dollar raspberry caramel.

Do you want a splash in the chocolate, absorbing at the same time many other ingredients mixed with it? Fernando Rocher will be the best answer for you.

Suggested a Hot Chocolate during the cold winter-time.

Beautiful! cookbook for sure.

Highly suggested!

I thank NetGalley, ABRAMS and Chronicle&Abrams for the ebook.

This is an amazingly beautiful cookbook with great recipes that I highly recommend.

I also received this book as an advanced copy from NetGalley in exchange for honest feedback.

<i>The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker</i> is impressive in the digital version and I would love to collect it in hardback. Cenk Sönmezsoy is a food blogger whose mission is to meld the food traditions of his Turkish heritage with those of his beloved, adopted city of San Francisco.

Autumn is baking-season and there is a lot here to get excited about. New flavor twists on tried and true recipes are my speed. I'm just an average home baker whose Pinterest-perfect ambitions are far beyond my skillset, so I like to take an experienced guide along on my culinary adventures.

This book is ideal for beginners with its equipment instructions and a section of base recipes. But, for advanced bakers, there is a sizable section dedicated to the classic French macaron, as well as detailed instructions on making your own green apple pectin stock to thicken jams and jellies.

The photos in this book are beautiful, but not the usual shots. Let's just say they have personality, but they also work well to set this book apart from the typical. The author's creativity and enthusiasm come through in this work. And, yes, there is a gorgeous photo for each recipe, so you have a visual goal to aim for. Sönmezsoy also adds just enough personal information and baking commentary to keep things personable and interesting, without drowning the recipes in background.

While I would love to give this book five stars, unfortunately, the only fair way to rate a cookbook is by testing its recipes. I have only tested one recipe so far: the Lime & Ginger cookies. The texture turned out great, although the ginger I used turned out not to be as strong as I would have liked. Overall, there are plenty of recipes here that I am eager to try, so no fear of this book being pushed to the back burner. I will revisit the stars when I have done some more baking.

A gorgeous collection of Turkish-American inspired desserts that look so beautiful it would be impossible for me to recreate them. Well, some I could recreate, but they'd never look as good as they do in this book. Especially the macrons. I could never get those right.

I received a free electronic copy of The Artful Baker: Extraordinary Desserts From an Obsessive Home Baker from NetGalley for my honest review. This is honestly the most beautiful cookbook I have ever seen and I have seen a lot of cookbooks. This is not your typical baking book. Cenk Sonmezsoy's
recipes are sinfully and deliciously beautiful works of art. Absolutely delightful!