DESSERT DIVAS

Welcome to the pleasure dome! Desserts are all about pleasure – and what's life if there isn't pleasure?

Acclaimed chef Christine Manfield believes that desserts should appeal to all the senses. They should be utterly seductive, ethereal and delicious, with aesthetics that capture your imagination. Desserts must also be big on personality, which is why she has christened this collection Dessert Divas – they are dramatic showgirls!

In a sumptuously illustrated tribute to the desserts created at her Sydney restaurant Universal, Christine unveils the mystery, elegance, whimsy and fantasy behind such iconic desserts as Gaytime Goes Nuts, which stepped into the limelight in the finale of the 2012 season of MasterChef Australia. Her 'dessert divas' are designed to capture the four seasons, and to celebrate cheese and chocolate, ingredients people eternally lust after. A good dessert takes you on a taste journey. Let Christine Manfield be your guide as she shares the techniques, craft and precision that go into her signature creations. Be inspired and let the seduction begin, then taste with pleasure.

Christine Manfield is one of Australia's most celebrated chefs - a perfectionist inspired by strong flavours, and a writer whose successful books, Tasting India, Fire, Spice, Stir, Christine Manfield Originals and Christine Manfield Desserts, have spiced up the lives of keen cooks everywhere. Her professional culinary life started in the mid-1980s and has culminated to date in three ground-breaking restaurants: Paramount in Sydney from 1993 to 2000, East@West in London from 2003 to early 2005, and now back in Sydney with Universal Restaurant, which continues to win accolades from critics and diners alike. An inveterate traveller, Christine continues to broaden her global food interests, working alongside respected chefs around the world and hosting gastronomic tours to exotic destinations including Morocco, India, Spain and Turkey.