For A Passion for Chocolate, Beranbaum didn’t just translate the French, she also went into the Bernachon kitchens to observe and ask questions, giving the reader a look into a space usually off-limits. Instead of buying chocolate like most patisseries and chocolatiers, Bernachon’s workers start with raw cocoa beans, which they process into the high-quality chocolate used in the shop’s desserts and confections.

In the introduction, Beranbaum writes, “In this book, I have presented myriad of Bernachon’s special tips and secrets, such as ageing the ganache for superior flavour, candying orange peels without the usual bitterness, baking ladyfingers on cardboard for maximum moistness.

“Intermingled are many of my own special techniques, which offer the same spectacular results as the sometimes more rarefied commercial methods but with greater speed and ease – such as making nougat in an electric mixer, melting chocolate in the microwave, making ganache and cream-puff pastry in a food processor. The fine recipes in this book are the Bernachons’, but the explanations and directions for the American kitchen are my contribution.”

If you’re new to desserts, you will appreciate some of the easier recipes, such as chocolate madeleines, brownies or the several types of mousse.

The more complicated dishes include l’Aveline (rum-soaked layer cake of chocolate génoise, chocolate hazelnut filling and chocolate glaze); le Cinghalais (rum-soaked chocolate génoise layers with cinnamon chocolate ganache and praline buttercream); Le Saint-Honoré au chocolat (caramel- or chocolate-glazed cream puffs on pastry with chocolate pastry cream); le succès (almond meringue layer cake with chocolate ganache); and fruits d’automne (chocolate candies with chestnut buttercream and marzipan).