Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor

Rating:
Summary: Scrumptious and decadent chocolate desserts!
Review: I have only made a couple of recipes from this book, but they have been very well received. Nobody can believe they come from a mix! The book has a wide variety of recipes for cakes and other concoctions. If you're on a diet or watching your carb intake, these recipes are not for you! There are a few "light" recipes, but they would still be forbidden on any diet I know of! The cookie recipes seem a bit involved; I'm looking for quick and easy preparation with flavorful and fabulous results and the recipes for cakes and brownies give the most bang for the effort. I also like that she seems to have cut down on the number of recipes containing alcohol; the original Cake Mix Doctor had a whole lot of "saucy" cakes. Besides the great recipes, the book discusses common add-ins for cake mixes and gives lots of suggestions and hints. I found it informative and entertaining, as well as an excellent source of recipes. When I was too busy to bake anything for our last potluck at work, everyone was so disappointed that I brought a frozen cheesecake instead of one of these wonderful cakes! The best part is that the cakes are very moist! Excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Scrumptious and decadent chocolate desserts!
Review: I have only made a couple of recipes from this book, but they have been very well received. Nobody can believe they come from a mix! The book has a wide variety of recipes for cakes and other concoctions. If you're on a diet or watching your carb intake, these recipes are not for you! There are a few "light" recipes, but they would still be forbidden on any diet I know of! The cookie recipes seem a bit involved; I'm looking for quick and easy preparation with flavorful and fabulous results and the recipes for cakes and brownies give the most bang for the effort. I also like that she seems to have cut down on the number of recipes containing alcohol; the original Cake Mix Doctor had a whole lot of "saucy" cakes. Besides the great recipes, the book discusses common add-ins for cake mixes and gives lots of suggestions and hints. I found it informative and entertaining, as well as an excellent source of recipes. When I was too busy to bake anything for our last potluck at work, everyone was so disappointed that I brought a frozen cheesecake instead of one of these wonderful cakes! The best part is that the cakes are very moist! Excellent book.

Rating:
Summary: Darn good chocolate
Review: I have post-it notes on about 10 of the recipes in the book that I really want to try. The problem is that I made "Darn Good Chocolate Cake with Martha's Icing." It was so "darn good" that I have made it 3 times in 2 weeks for various parties I have gone to. It is so moist and delicious. I hope to get to trying the other recipes soon. Some of the recipes appear to be repeats from the first book (including the Darn Good Cake recipe). There are good pictures of many of the cakes and recipes for white chocolate also.

Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed with this one---
Review: I highly recommended Anne's first Cake Mix Doctor with a "5". This one, however, seems to have some odd-sounding recipes in it. Chocolate cake mixes are mixed with anything from apricots to limes to zucchini. There are only a handful of recipes in this one that even interested me. Also, if you have the first cookbook, a lot of the chocolate ones are repeats. I realize Ann is a busy lady, but as of two weeks, she never responded to my e-mail---her e-mail address is provided in this book. Some of the recipes may be good but the first book included a variety of good chocolate cake recipes also. I don't recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: A little disappointed with this one---
Review: I highly recommended Anne's first Cake Mix Doctor with a "5". This one, however, seems to have some odd-sounding recipes in it. Chocolate cake mixes are mixed with anything from apricots to limes to zucchini. There are only a handful of recipes in this one that even interested me. Also, if you have the first cookbook, a lot of the chocolate ones are repeats. I realize Ann is a busy lady, but as of two weeks, she never responded to my e-mail---her e-mail address is provided in this book. Some of the recipes may be good but the first book included a variety of good chocolate cake recipes also. I don't recommend this one.

Rating:
Summary: CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE! CHOCOLATE!!!
Review: I just got the new CMD CHOCOLATE book yesterday!!! Anne, my friend, you have OUTDONE yourself!! I am so stunned I can't get past the pictures!! Even my dear husband said 'Let me see what all the fuss is about...WOW, look at THAT one!' I mean, Cappucino Angel Food Mousse Torte?! Frozen Chocolate Neopolitan Cake?! Ooo la la - you really know how to hurt a girl! Thanks Anne for your hard work in turning out another AMAZING book. I especially appreciate the ideas for elegant (but SIMPLE) finishing touches - a real inspiration for those bakers like myself that enjoy 'kicking things up a notch' (can you tell I am a FoodTV junkie?)! The cakes in this book have definite WOW FACTOR and are SURE to be crowd pleasers. I can't wait to get started on the new recipes! THANKS AGAIN! Franny

Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: I made the Ever-So-Moist Chocolate Cake w. a Vanilla Buttercream Frosting--my husband and guests loved it! I'm a low-key hostess--so the fact that this beautiful cake really only took 10 minutes to prepare is a real plus for me. I'm hooked--can't wait to have more dinner parties and try out more recipes!

Rating:
Summary: Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor
Review: I purchased "Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor" about a month ago. I've tried nearly 6 recipes in that time. It is so easy to follow the recipes. She gives helpful hints. One thing I like most is that there are so many bundt cake recipes, which I find are easier to make to transport to functions than a layer cake. I enjoyed this book so much I just ordered her other book "The Cake Mix Doctor". All I can say is "try it you'll like it".

Rating:
Summary: Chocolate Heaven
Review: I've died and gone to Chocolate Heaven! Who knew that tired-old cake mixes could be so easy to liven up. With very few ingredients and time, The Cake Mix Doctor makes me look like a professional baker!

Rating:
Summary: Perfect cakes, everytime!
Review: I've never been much of a cook -- I once left the eggs out of that traditional teenaged girl staple, chocolate chip cookies, and wondered why they came out so runny and weird until I saw the egg carton still sitting on the counter, untouched. I have made food that's so terrible that even my boyfriend won't touch it for all his love for me. But even though I'm a horrible cook, when the boyfriend and I have our friends over, I'm seized with the Urge To Produce Baked Goods.

Before, those baked goods were always a dish of brownies-from-a-box. My audience was usually appreciative, even when they came out hard as rocks, but making brownies-from-a-box every week gets dull. I tried expiramenting with the mix to liven it up, but that was a raging disaster. So when I got a bookstore gift certificate for my birthday last year, I picked up this book along with her first book. Since then, I have made a lot of the cakes from both of these books, and every single one of them has turned out beyond my wildest expectations. I just made up a batch of the 'Easy Chocolate Poke Cake', the one with gooey caramel ice cream topping in the middle, and my friends devoured every bit and almost came to fighting over the last piece! The chocolate mousse trifle has made steely-willed dieters break their diets! (Did I mention that I actually made chocolate mousse? And it tasted like chocolate mousse?)

Everyone who has tasted recipes that I made from this book thinks I'm a cooking goddess, and I'm enjoying the attention too much to set them straight ;)

The only complaint I have, and the only reason this book gets four stars, is that a good number of the recipes are "off limits" to me because I'm allergic to milk. I wish that she would have included more milk-free recipes, or recommended good substitutions.