'Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook' review: Sinfully good

This Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook has all the recipes you need for this year’s Halloween party and beyond.

I’m always looking for recipes for my next themed party, so I was thrilled to get my hands on a copy of the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook just in time for Halloween! The book from Julie Tremaine and Insight Editions has over 50 unique recipes that are sure to wow both your guests and your taste buds.

Each recipe is named and themed, although sometimes loosely, for one of the iconic Disney villains. There’s the colorful Anastasia and Drizella drinks named after Cinderella’s evil step-sisters, the caramel version of Snow White’s poison apple pictured in the headline image, and an Olympus moussaka for Hades! I liked that there was a mix of overtly themed items and less overt ones, as it means you can use the cookbook for any occasion.

The book is fun to look at the whole way through, with beautiful photos of most dishes, clever descriptions for every recipe, and fun illustrations of the villains placed sporadically throughout. One of my favorite things about this cookbook is that almost every recipe has an image associated with it. It’s always nice to have a picture in mind when you’re making something, and that’s the case for most of these delicious treats.

The Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook has fun for the whole family in mind, with recipes of all difficulty levels. The book features appetizers, salads, sides, breakfast, main courses, desserts, and drinks, and it lists specific recipes from each category that would be a good starting point for beginners. These include a tiger tail dessert, a chicken soup “for sick dragons,” and the cheese bowl reviewed below.

The recipes are well laid out and easy to follow. I noticed that some steps were condensed in comparison to other recipes for similar items (for example, simply mixing all wet ingredients, all dry ingredients and then combining as opposed to mixing the wet ingredients in several steps) and some bakers may choose to modify per their experience, but I followed the recipes exactly and achieved great results.

Below are more detailed review of four recipes that I tried from the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook! There are still so many more recipes that I’m dying to try, like the colorful “Bioluminescent Diversion” cake and the “Palm of my Hand” hand pies, and I hope you enjoy the recipes this book has to offer too.

‘Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook’ recipe review

Deviled Dragon Eggs

These extremely cool looking deviled eggs will be something I make for fantasy themed parties for years to come! The recipe introduction in the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook tells the tale of Maleficent missing out on an invite and sending a fire breathing dragon as repayment to Aurora’s parents, but these dragon eggs could be attributed to many different villainous or heroic dragons.

The marbling effect on the eggs is achieved by boiling red cabbage and letting the eggs sit in the purple-colored water for hours after putting some cracks in the shells. The recipe called for a 12 hour rest period. I left mine for six hours and still got a great effect, but it likely would have been even more vibrant had I left the eggs for longer. I loved how the recipe achieved this effect without using artificial dyes. It’s a very clever way to make a super cool treat!

Expectation

Reality

Taste: 4/5
These dragon eggs from the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook were yummy, but may be a little lacking in the spice department for those who are used to paprika in their deviled eggs. I appreciated the different flavor, and it will be more than easy enough to add whatever spices you want when you come back to the recipe again and again.

Presentation: 5/5
This one obviously gets all the stars for presentation. Just look at them!

Difficulty: 2/5
While these little devils are time consuming, they’re actually pretty easy to make. The hardest part is in cracking the shells just right to get the marbling effect and carefully removing the shells afterwards, but luckily they’ll look great even if you mess up in a few spots.

Accessibility: 5/5
The only special equipment needed for this recipe is an icing tip to get that classic deviled yolk look, but if you don’t have one you can still make these tasty treats by piping the yolk in with a freezer bag or using a spoon.

Fun: 4/5
This recipe was pretty passive, but it was a ton of fun to see the deep blue that the red cabbage turned the water and to unveil the final product by peeling the shells off the eggs.

Pint of Ale Cheese Bowl

This wonderfully cheesy dip features a pint of ale from Gaston himself. Don’t worry, though: It doesn’t quite have five dozen eggs in it. Since this one isn’t overtly themed, it can be your potluck pick for any upcoming gathering. People love cheese on all occasions! Dip with any kind of bread, cracker, or vegetable you prefer, as it tastes great with all of them.

Expectation

This was one of the few recipes not pictured in the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook.

Reality

Taste: 5/5
It’s a cheese dip. Do I even need to say more? Aside from an excellent sharp cheddar taste, this dip also had a perfect texture for dipping.

Presentation: 4/5
It’s nothing too fancy, but it gets high marks for presentation because a bread bowl is always impressive, as well as delicious, and you can arrange the items for dipping to look however you want.

Difficulty: 1/5
Very easy and very quick. The hardest part was cutting the bread bowl, but luckily, you don’t need to be as strong as Gaston to cut through bread.

Accessibility: 5/5
If you have a pot and a cheese grater, you can make this “Pint of Ale Cheese Bowl” from the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook.

Fun: 3/5
The “Disney villains” theming on this one was pretty loose, but I had a lot of fun crafting the bowl, pouring the cheesy dip into it, and arranging the dippers for my guests.

Huntsman’s Pie

Fear not, no human hearts were harmed in the making of this pie. But a whole bunch of other huntsman’s spoils were! This isn’t your typical pot pie. It’s extremely dense and meaty, and a slice of it will make a hearty meal for anyone. Well, unless you don’t eat meat, in which case this one is definitely not for you.

I’ve been wanting to try a meat pie for a while, and I’m so glad this recipe was my first attempt. The crust was simple and turned out flawlessly, and the whole pie was a huge crowd pleaser. I went with chopped parsley for the heart on the top of the pie instead of the recommended red dye, and you could also use a knife to trace a heart on the dough for the same effect.

Expectation

Reality

Taste: 4.5/5
The pie filling was well spiced, and the crust was just the right amount of flaky! The pie could potentially benefit from some more non-meat textures, but it followed its theme perfectly.

Presentation: 5/5
On top of its great taste, this is a superb looking pie. It’s the perfect little dish to sit in the center of your table before you unleash your inner huntsman and cut it open!

Difficulty: 3/5
The “Huntsman’s Pie” is definitely one of the most difficult recipes in the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook, but anybody could still make it work with a little elbow grease. As with most pies, the most difficult part is the crust, but the recipe is simple and well laid out, and the crust rolled out almost effortlessly. This is a time consuming one with a lot of work involved, but it’s well worth it.

Accessibility: 3/5
There’s some specialty equipment needed for this one, including a 10″ springform pan and a food processor.

Fun: 3/5
It’s a lot of work, but if you like to get in the kitchen and get your hands dirty, this one will be a lot of fun for you.

Unbirthday Cake

Is it your unbirthday? Well it just so happens that the Queen of Hearts has an unbirthday today, too! And because it’s the queen, of course we had to paint the unbirthday cake red. At least on the inside. The outside is decorated with suits of clubs, spades, diamonds, hearts, the reddest of roses, and hundreds of chocolate chips.

I used my heart shaped pan for this one because it seemed fitting, and although the recipe calls for a round pan, you can make this super moist red velvet cake with rich cream cheese icing in any fun pan you want before topping it in a manner befitting the queen!

Expectation

Reality

Taste: 4/5
The cake and icing both tasted really good, the cake was perfectly moist, and the chocolate chips were a great addition. The cake loses a point simply because I would prefer for my red velvet to be a little softer and fluffier, but that could likely be achieved by perfecting the recipe or adding some minor tweaks.

Presentation: 5/5
This is one of the best themed items in the Disney Villains: Devilishly Delicious Cookbook, and would be a great centerpiece for any table.

Difficulty: 3/5
The difficulty in this recipe comes in mixing the cake batter just enough, and in sculpting the decorations out of fondant. However, these cookie cutters can help anyone feeling intimidated by cutting the fondant.

Accessibility: 4/5
A stand mixer comes in very handy for the cream cheese icing, but it can also be made with a hand mixer or even by hand with enough grit!

Fun: 4/5
Putting this cake together and decorating it is a lot of fun, especially since the final product looks like it was lifted right out of Alice in Wonderland.