DESSERT COMES FIRST: Manila’s Must-have Cookbook of 2013! @DessertComes1st

DESSERT COMES FIRST: From Blog to Book by Lori Baltazar!

The DESSERT COMES FIRST BOOK is a special cookbook/memoir by one of Manila’s Top Food Bloggers, Lori Baltazar of www.dessertcomesfirst.com. It’s a celebration of food in four forms: essays, food porn photos, chef profiles, and secret recipes.  

I was impressed with the quality of the book and by the discipline it took to complete this 14-month project. It’s a real privilege to be a witness to Lori’s blossoming from a food blogger/writer to the author of a best-selling book.

From a guy who doesn’t know how to cook, I can really appreciate this book. Not only does it share Lori’s own yummy stories, like her travels to foodie places in Italy and Japan, it also documents her encounters with distinguished chefs and food personalities that I also personally admire.

It’s great to be able read about the profiles of Chefs Him Uy de Baron, Ed Bugia, Stevie Villacin, Ricky Morelos, Karen Young, Roshan Samtani, Tina Diaz, Gina Lopez, the gifted girls behind Kitchen’s Best (Roselyn, Martina, and Bern Tiangco), and the late Chef Ed Quimson, all captured in this book.

This is definitely Manila’s must-have cookbook of 2013!

Here are the highlights of the awesome private book launch/party held last September 4…

It was an intimate gathering of Lori’s friends and family at Fully Booked, Bonifacio Global City.

Jaime A. Daez of Fully Booked was all praises for Lori’s Dessert Comes First Book!

Lori Baltazar’s “valedictory speech” on successfully completing and launching the DCF Book!

Cupcakes by Sonja’s Dessert Comes First. Moist yellow cake with a peanut butter and cookie butter surprise. 

Every food writer’s dream is to have a book and a dessert named after her. The Dessert Comes First cupcake, created by Sonja, was launched during the event. Speculoos and peanut butter in one cupcake…just the way Lori likes it. Sarap! 🙂

For more info, check out Lori’s post: Dessert Comes First: The Cupcake

BONO Gelato’s the Lori. Dulce de leche gelato with flambéed bananas, chocolate syrup, and peanut brittle.

I also loved this new flavor from BONO Artisan Gelato. The combination of banana and dulce de leche flavors topped with chocolate and peanut brittle was really nice. 🙂

For more info, check out Lori’s post: The Lori: A Sundae

One of Lori’s famous desserts is her cheesecake, which she would often bake as a birthday gift for her close friends and family. Finally and for the first time ever, she is sharing the exact recipe in the book!

This cheesecake of yours must really be something. It made the book’s cover and it’s your flagship recipe.

“Cheesecake is my favorite dessert, and this cheesecake recipe especially, is something that I’ve been working on ever since I was in my 20s. When I had a small home baking business back in the 2000s, this was my star product. Everyone who’s ever tried this cheesecake falls for it. Hard. It’s truly the best I’ve ever tasted, and I had to give much thought as to whether I was going to include it in the book. This is the first time I’ve ever shared the recipe.” – Lori Baltazar

One of the best moments for me: Lori signing my personal copy of her Obra Maestra!

Congratulations, Lori for an awesome book, and thank you for my signed copy!

 

About The Author

“Lori Baltazar lives to write about food – after eating it, of course. She’s been writing professionally for 15 years and has contributed to almost all the local lifestyle magazines. Aside from writing and blogging, Lori is also a food consultant, conducts food writing and baking workshops, and is an ambassador for various lifestyle brands. Lori was named one of the 20 Global Pinoys by MEGA Magazine in 2012. Dessert Comes First is her first book.” 

For more information, please contact Lori Baltazar (+63 917 855 3786 | lori_baltazar@yahoo.com)

 

About The Book

“Dessert Comes First is not only the name of Lori’s blog, it’s also the title of her first book.  

A distinctive combination of essays, chef profiles, and recipes, the book showcases the author’s food stories told through words and pictures. A select number of the blog’s most popular posts have been updated with new photos in addition to new material written exclusively for the book. Contributing a crisp dynamic are profiles of ten of the Philippines’ most notable chefs and home bakers. 

The book is also the author’s homage to dessert and her love for baking. She shares some of her very own recipes, including the recipe for her famed cheesecake, kept secret until now.

Created carefully and thoughtfully, Dessert Comes First is designed to please and engage all the senses with its thick matte paper, fluid layout, and riveting photography bound together by solid, intelligent food writing. This is an offering that fans of the blog and food lovers will feast on.”  

Dessert Comes First by Lori Baltazar
Travel photography, food photography, propping, and styling by the author. 
Cover photo, chefs’ photos, and all photos of author by Aldwin Aspillera. 
Edited by Anna Gamboa.
Designed by Patricia Silva. 

Hardbound, 302 pages 
Full color
8.5 x 11 inches
Publication Date: September 2013
Publisher: Sketchbooks, Inc. (Fully Booked) 

Available exclusively at Fully Booked.
SRP: P1,499.00
www.dessertcomesfirst.com
www.fullybookedonline.com