This comprehensive, practical, and heavily illustrated reference offers the essential building blocks and recipes for working with chocolate in the home kitchen. This cooking school in book form opens with 100 fundamental step-by-step techniques: chocolate basics (tempering, ganaches, pralines), candy fillings, decorations, doughs, creams and mousses, ice cream and sorbet, sauces, and baker's secrets (marbling, faultless cake, crusts, beating egg whites). Each method is explained in text and photographs; fourteen are further clarified on the accompanying ninety-minute DVD. Organized into nine sections, more than 100 recipes are then simplified for the home cook: Classics (Black Forest cake, Sachertorte, profiteroles, molten chocolate cake), Tarts (chocolate-pear, nut-caramel), Snacks (macaroons, waffles, brownies, choco-ginger churros), Frozen Desserts, Special Occasions (dark chocolate fondue, hazelnut-praline Yule log), and Candy (truffles, lollipops, coconut bars). Each recipe is graded with a three-star rating so the home chef can gauge its complexity and gradually expand their baking abilities through experience. Cross references to techniques, DVD footage, glossary terms, and complementary recipes make navigation easy. The volume includes practical resources: visual dictionaries of kitchen equipment and common ingredients; tips for conserving chocolate; a guide to dark, milk, and white chocolate and the importance of cocoa content; and a detailed index.