38 of the finest pastry chefs worldwide today, together with samples of their glorious confections. Some of the chefs are up-and-coming, others are well established; all are innovative pioneers in a uniquely appealing creative field.

Profiles of each pâtissier include an informative biography giving a sense of their individual style. Among those featured are Rosio Sanchez, pastry chef at Noma, voted World’s Best Restaurant; Bonnae Gokson, crowned Queen of Confectionery in Asia by America’s wedding-event guru Colin Cowie; Nathaniel Reid, one of Dessert Professional magazine’s Top 10 Pastry Chefs ?in America; and World Chocolate Master, Carmelo Sciampagna.

Also included are 89 recipes for world-class cakes, tarts, biscuits, petits fours, plated desserts, pastries, confectionery, chocolate, ice creams and sorbets, with a final chapter focusing on the lavish sugar-paste world of celebratory cakes. Unusual ingredients and sophisticated kitchen equipment may be required, but each recipe has been home-tested by amateurs and each is rated by difficulty.

Over 300 photographs display the chefs in action, whether in their shops, cafés or restaurant kitchens, as well as their awe-inspiring pâtisseries, from Gontran Cherrier’s new classic ‘Strawberry and Cucumber Tart with Basil’ to Marike van Beurden’s exquisite ‘Mum’s Flower Garden’, from Pierre François Roelofs’s exotic ‘Hibiscus, Berries, Bubblegum’ ?to Bobbette & Belle’s Alice in Wonderland-themed bridal shower cake.