Sweet Paris: Seasonal Recipes from an American Baker in France

If you love Paris, you will adore this book. I knew it would be gorgeous because Frank has an exquisite eye, but it surpassed my highest expectations.Not only will you find a beautiful curation of original recipes, clearly explained and easy to follow, you’ll delight in finding each nestled like a jewel in the context of Parisian life. This is a book to bake from, yes, but it’s also a coffee table book (Joann Pai’s photographs are stunning) and one to cozy up with and read cover to cover as you move through a year in Paris with Frank, immersing yourself in French culture and its seasonal rituals.The book is organized by season, with local insights and must-not-miss experiences for discovering all the city has to offer, and the vignettes preceding each recipe are love letters to the cafes, markets, flowers, and flavors that color Frank’s experience. He writes beautifully in the extended introduction and the opening of each chapter about being an expat in the City of Light, and you will fall in love with him and his Paris.And if you love to bake (not a prerequisite for enjoying this book!), you will delight in these recipes—an exquisite marriage of American classics, like buttercream, with French patisserie, giving you gems like the Caramel Beurre Salé Cake, Lavender Honey Madeleines, and Raspberry Lemon Rose Tea Cake inspired by Pierre Hermé’s signature croissant Ispahan. Frank walks you through each recipe with ease and gives you all his best tips—and an index of his Paris addresses.Truly, a gorgeous book. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

This book is swoon worthy. The photography, the recipes and the way this book is put together.

Ein Amerikaner in Paris! Meine Lieblingskombination! Hier geht es um die hohe Kunst der Patisserie, und dabei sind die Rezepte nicht schwer nachzumachen, also zumindest für mich mittelmäßige Hobbybäckerin. Ein wunderschönes Buch, gegliedert nach Jahreszeiten, mit schönen Fotos aus Paris und einigen Insidertipps dazu.

Fantastic book on baking and a little bit of Frank's life in Paris. Can't wait to make more cakes!

I bought this on the back of glowing reviews but am ultimately disappointed. I have yet to try any of them, but the recipes seem fine and the photography is undeniably beautiful . However, the recipes are nothing new or exciting. Additionally, too many pages are given to the author's self indulgent ramblings about what seasonal flowers occupy his vase, arty shots of various rooms in his abode or ingredients/produce, but not enough to actual finished recipes which are infinitely more valuable to readers. Lastly, several tart recipes feature pictures of unfinished tarts with raw fruit placed in unbaked pastry shells when the recipes explicitly instruct to blind bake the pastry shells before filling them with fruit. It feels as if there was a concern that if the tarts for the photoshoot were made according to the recipe they would look less aesthetic, thus seemingly prioritising optics and fantasy-building over accuracy and cohesion. It smacks of disingenuity and I find it alienating, as would anyone in the market for trustworthy recipes as opposed to lifestyle aspirations.