Baked Occasions: Desserts for Leisure Activities, Holidays, and Informal Celebrations Hardcover – October 7, 2014

I own all the Baked Cookbooks. Chances are, when I need to bake something to impress someone, I'm going to pull out a Baked cookbook. They boast lots of ingenuity and offer refreshing, adventurous twists on the standby classics. Baked Occasions is such a book. It turns the classics on their ears and injects new life and flavor into them.Baked Occasions is exactly what it sounds like: a baking book dedicated to turning out holiday desserts. It is arranged by month instead of by category such as cookies or cakes. Some of the holidays are expected: Italian Christmas Cookie Cake on Christmas or Vanilla Bean Angel Food Cake with Milk Chocolate Glaze on Valentines Day. Others are a blast and clearly illustrate the authors' sense of fun (as well as why I keep buying their books), such as: a Coconut Bundt Cake with a Dark Chocolate and Coconut Filling to celebrate Dolly Parton's birthday (January 19th, if you're curious) or Derby Cookies to celebrate the Kentucky Derby.The book begins with the typical "user's manual" introduction: what pans and implements will be used in the recipes and what main ingredients will be most used. I particularly enjoy the anecdotes at the beginning of each recipe. It's always fun to find out where the authors get their inspiration and pick up tidbits about perfecting each recipe. The recipes are well-written and give ingredients by both weight and volume. There are a few unusual ingredients (such as a purple yam powder and some gel colorings that are all available on Amazon). I think this is a book for the moderate level baker. Many of the recipes call for several components to make a finished dessert.The photography is beautiful, mostly focusing on the finished dish instead of relying on the current artsy fad of showing a cream covered whisk or a dirty pan. I applaud the authors for a book as beautiful as it is useful.The only reason that I am deducting a star is that in this particular book, I felt the authors were reaching a wee bit far in order to produce a recipe in some places. As another reviewer noted, there is no way that I am ever going to construct a giant "cake" out of rice krispies. Cake would be better in every instance. There were a couple of other recipes in the book that didn't look to be anything special, such as the popcorn balls and an icebox cake. I also found that the index needed further work. The index states the giant rice krispy cake is on pages 161-163, but it is actually on pages 181-183. I don't think there are other errors because these guys generally produce great work, but I think it's important to note.Those minor criticisms aside, I truly enjoy this book. The Toffee Coffee Cake Surprise was a real hit in my house--any cake with a ribbon of yummy through the middle is a winner in my book. Next up is the blood orange tiramisu! If you are new to Baked books and don't know whether to buy one, skip this one and get one of the earlier ones. If you already own a Baked book, then the answer is yes, you want this book too!

Baked Occasions is another hit, despite the less-than-useful organization scheme (Black Forest Cake Festival? National Chocolate Pudding Day? I don't need another reason to bake these goodies). I have a huge crush on Matt and Renato, having bought the last three books and finding that everything I baked from them was exceptional.The only major difference in terms of style with this cookbook is the fact that there's no paper cover for the hardback. Otherwise, they go through all the kitchen tools and ingredients you'll need, including their specific preferences for certain brands in a few cases, with sourcing options at the end of the book. As before, each section has an overall story at the beginning, and then there's a cute little blurb in front of each individual recipe. Some of these recipes are quite complicated and may span several pages, but they have included notes with options for reducing the time (coconut sheet cake) or replacing a hard-to-find ingredient (purple yam in the Gonzo cake)I was worried that there would be some "too similar" recipes, because how creative can two people be with four cookbooks in six years and lives to carry on? While there are definitely some obvious elements that are repeated across the four books, the recipes presented here are fresh and intriguing takes on their previously-established favorite ingredients (booze, coconut, chocolate, lemon, caramel, etc), with a couple completely different entries (Meat and cheese utopia easter pie). The inclusion of a vegan option - Hippie (chocolate) Cake is really nice to see. My lactose-free roommate is very excited.In all, Baked Occasions offers roughly 24 cake recipes, 20 cookie recipes, 4 cupcake recipes, 3 bar recipes, 2 pancake recipes, and some miscellaneous recipes for things like pie, pudding, pop tarts, ice cream sandwiches, trifle, tiramisu, caramel corn balls, rice crispy "cake", and shortcakes. There are photographs for almost every single entry, and each one is stunning.I made the black cocoa bundt cake today (I do love chocolate) even though it is not Father's Day, and my co-worker asked me to marry him. Seriously, these recipes are that good. Do yourself a favor, and buy this book.

A lively and fun pair of bakers who are not afraid to experiment with exotic ingredients or toy with classic recipes.They are witty and urbane which adds to the overall appeal of this beautifully designed baking book. I have a few minor quibbles. Some things should be left alone simply because they are perfect just the way they are. Texas Sheet Cake is not improved by a peanut butter frosting, it may indeed be delicious, but it is no longer Texas Sheet Cake...its not improved by switching out pecans for peanuts and dropping the chocolate icing. There are too many peanut recipes for my taste, I'd love to see what they do with hazelnuts, but perhaps these were covered in earlier books. I am also not a big fan of food coloring and the Rainbow Cake was terrifying to behold. Black cocoa is over-rated and I am not intrigued to try anything with purple yam powder. Scones and 5 spice powder and sesame seeds should stay miles apart even if they recommend slathering them with peanut butter. I also did not care for the Chocolate Rice Crispy cake which is a sad use of home-made marshmallows. But I am a purist at heart so I recommend this to anyone who likes turning things upside down.

I have only made the orange pancakes. I made it the morning of Thanksgiving. I doubled the recipe and fed 15 people. The fresh orange was really good. My Mom wanted the recipe and that is a good sign. There are quite a few recipes I think I will make. Just need to get through the holidays... I have so many baking cookbooks, but I consider it a success if I make at least one recipe and want to make it again. The next one I want to make is the birthday cake on the cover. Please someone have a birthday.

Great book part of great series. Wife has already made several of the recipes.Purchase used as this is the only option at the time. - was in good condition.

The guys at Baked never disappoint, though could do without the recipes for c*****t.

I will admit that I have used the two pervious Baked cook books more often than this one. But I appreciate (as always) how the book is organized, the wonderful photos and the little story that follows the recipes. I would recommend any Matt Lewis Baked cookbook to anyone - especially if you enjoy "reading" a cookbook as much as you enjoy using it!Oh and unlike some other bakery cookbooks - these recipes all work.

Love, love, love the Baked boys! The recipes are imaginative, delicious and they work. Not at all 'the same-old' stuff. I own hundreds of baking books and these are my go-to books for party recipes. So many new, creative recipes in this book. I can't wait to try them all. Anybody got a party they need baking for?

Another great book from the Brooklyn boys. Thank you for including metric measurements. I still can't understand why each recipie cannot have a photo so you know what the finished article looks like.

Encore et toujours de la perfection ! J'ai tous les livres de BAKED et à chaque fois c'est une fête pour les yeux, les papilles ... Et je ne me lasse pas de la prose ! J'en demande encore !