cover image Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague

Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague

Rick Rodgers. Clarkson N Potter Publishers, $37.5 (248pp) ISBN 978-0-609-60453-3

Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague by Rick Rodgers (Barbecues 101, etc.) celebrates the sweet excesses of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's fascination with elegance, music and romance. Rodgers explores the lore of these legendary establishments, traces the creation of their extraordinary desserts loved throughout the world and provides detailed instructions for their re-creation at home for the enjoyment of new generations. Kelly Bugden's full-color photographs of the sumptuous confections, as well as the coffeehouses themselves, pay homage to an earlier more gracious era. Sachertorte, Apfelstrudel and Croissants are among the creations Rodgers demystifies. ( Feb.)