Claire Heitzler Patissiere (French Language)

Having recently left the pastry kitchen at Paris’s Michelin-starred Lassere, Heitzler is now creative director of the Ladurée tea rooms. The clean lines of her elegant desserts, with their frequent reliance on fruit, should make a great fit there.

This book, her first, is concerned with plated desserts which are usually carefully composed from a variety of contrasting elements. For instance, crunchy pistachio pâte sucrée and creamy mousse are paired with multi-citrus marmelade, clementine sorbet, and preserved grapefruit segments.

Recipes are meticulously written and for each Heitzler documents her visual inspiration for the presentation, such as an earring, a bridge in a Japanese garden, or a piece of pottery. Stunningly attractive.

In French. Color photographs throughout. Hardcover.