Robinson - Bakers royale - 75 twists on all your favorite sweets

IVE NEVER BEEN a linear person in most aspects of my life. I like the twisting roads, the blind spots, the detoursits where all the magical mistakes happen. Its through these unforeseen turns that sinkhole cakes turn into leveled beauties, imploding macarons become smooth and elegant, and weepy meringues transform into fluffy, chewy clouds. Its where you discover that cookie batter makes for the perfect, crisp foundation of a bark, that bright citrus has an elegant side with an infusion of Earl Grey tea, and that croissantswhen soaked in a cinnamon-espresso custardtake bread pudding to a whole new level. For this self-taught baker, trial and error, experimentation, and jumping into the deep end with eyes squeezed shut have yielded some of the best treats and confections I could never have dreamed up on my own.

But I didnt always know that a winding path would lead me to the perfect job, too. Before I started bakingand writing about itas a career, I was working in an office. Id sit in meetings with frosting-smeared pants, working out in my head why a recipe was failing or how to get it to that next level of delicious. Instead of fielding e-mails and meeting deadlines, I was answering reader mail on my newly minted blog, BakersRoyale.com.

At home, it wasnt much better. Home-cooked meals turned into my trying to peddle cupcakes to my (gasp) cake-loathing son while we waited for my husband to come home with takeout. I ran the mixer past midnight. Self-maintenance slipped until I was washing my hair every third day (okay, more like every fourth day). I was trying to live a doubleheck, triplelife: mom, office drone, and aspiring professional baking blogger. It wasnt long before the day came where I had to make a choice: keep up the status quo, or believe that all the sugar and butter I was creaming in every free minute was the answer to a calmer, more satisfying life.

I made the right choice.

I traded in Excel spreadsheets for kitchen tools and gained a community of home bakers who, regardless of their skill level, were baking along with me. They cheered me on, supported me when I felt like giving up, gave me invaluable feedback, and best of all, helped make me a better baker.

And that is exactly what this book is about: becoming a better baker. For the recipes in this bookjust as on my blogskill level carries no consequence. It doesnt matter whether youve been wielding your whisk for a month or a lifetime (or had to order one online just now to get started). Never mind if youve never worked with gelatin or if you dont know your tarts from your truffles. There is no prescribed program for becoming a good baker, no progression of recipes that leads to the perfect cake, no linear path. All mistakes are learning opportunities, and because its baking, they tend to be just as delicious as the victoriesif a little messier. Keep this in mind as you work your way through the desserts in this book: The success of the recipes is a foregone conclusion that only time and willingness dictates. You will eventually get to fluffy-as-a-dream frosting and perfectly coiffed candies. And whatever you do, dont be afraid of imperfection. Serve your layered cake even if its not perfectly level! Arrange those misshapen bars on a platter as though you were serving the most beautiful dessert! Believe me, no one has ever told me, Gosh, Im not going to taste that less than perfect clair.

Just get organizedseriously, you dont want to be shuffling around looking for pots, pans, and ingredients while youre trying to bake cupcakesand get in the kitchen. I promise these recipes are going to get you there.

These recipes, after all, are just as big a part of my journey as baking in the first place. Five years ago, uninspired by baking the same old recipes, I began creating updated versions of the classics. Ho-hum cheesecake got a fluffy ricotta-based, lemon-scented facelift. Outdated spumoni got spun into a fresh and fun ice cream cake. The only criteria I used were: Is it delicious? Can it be for the everyday