From simple sweets to complex confections, create dazzling desserts with this beautifully illustrated chocolate cookbook from "a legend" ( The New Yorker ). Though Maida Heatter's life's work was teaching millions of Americans to bake, through it all, she had one undying passion: chocolate. A famous chocolate addict, she once declared: "I am the Chairperson of the Board of the Chocolate Lovers Association of the World. (I worked my way up from a Brownie)." Her love for chocolate in all its forms produced hundreds of recipes for chocolate cakes, puddings, pies, cookies, confections, and of course, The World's Best Hot Fudge Sauce. The very best of those, the most fan-favorited, requested, irresistibly chocolatey delights, are reproduced in this definitive collection of the greatest chocolate desserts from the woman the New York Times dubbed a baking "genius." Each recipe is accompanied by a gorgeous full-color illustration and a heaping spoonful of Maida's no-nonsense, deeply lovable, and witty instructions -- along with her promise that if you follow each recipe to the T, it will simply work . With recipes ranging from the simplest tea cake or cookie to the most elaborate confections (like Maida's September 7th Cake, her perennial birthday cake), this is a must-have book for chocolate lovers and for any baker who lives to please a crowd.