Long before award-winning superstar chef Michel Richard cooked his first cote de boeuf or filled his first foie gras terrine, he was a pastry chef. Pastry lovers in Los Angeles lined up outside his bakeshop on Wilshire Boulevard, waiting to enjoy the bread and pastry they'd heard were the best in town, maybe even better than anything in Paris. Now, in this outstanding cookbook, the superstar chef returns to his first love, the food that first made him famous-desserts.

Creating exquisite dishes using a few simple ingredients-butter, eggs, sugar, flour chocolate-requires the soul of an artist and the instincts of a magician. Sweet Magic offers the knowledge to unlock the inner dessert wizard in every home chef, teaching the newcomer and the old hand alike how to avoid common missteps and seduce the most flavor and texture out of every ingredient. Here are 50 mouthwatering, foolproof recipes for American classics like pecan pie and pound cake, Richard's personal classics like the microwave chocolate floating island and the espresso cloud, French classics such as profiteroles and Christmas log (buche de noel), fruit favorites, including tarts and pavlovas, and, of course, plenty of cookies.

Going beyond traditional cookbooks, Sweet Magic shares in depth Richard's insights into the thinking and craft behind every aspect of desserting in mini-essays that explore, explain, and entice-accompanied by the chef's own playful and practical line drawings that add personality and an artistic flourish.