I have always liked miniature things, little versions of something else.  I had a Fisher Price dollhouse when I was little, and later built a wooden dollhouse from a kit.  I made little tiny accessories for the dollhouse, including food and a bedspread and more.  I love finger food, appetizers and the like.  I could eat them at every meal:  little sausages, little quiches, little tarts with sweet or savory fillings, little jalapenos stuffed with cheese, little biscuits or rolls filled with ham or roast beef or chicken or tuna salad, egg rolls, spring rolls, all kinds of chip and dip and salsa–I could go on for days.

Of course, this also includes the wonderful world of miniature desserts–tiny cookies, cakes, cheesecakes, sweet bites that you pop in your mouth and then realize you’ve eaten more then you should have.  It seems the rest of the world agrees, especially when it comes to cupcakes.  I remember peeling off the little paper cup, licking any frosting that clung to the edges and njoying my own little cake.  It was even better if it had sprinkles.  Now cupcakes are the thing to have, for parties and weddings and showers and get togethers.  They come in all kinds of flavor combinations, but I still think the oldies but goodies are best:  chocolate and vanilla!

The first cupcake book I really got interested in was Cupcakes from the Cake Mix Doctor by Anne Byrn.  I already owned the original Cake Mix Doctor book as well as Chocolate from the Cake Mix Doctor. I was sure I didn’t need this one.  But then when I checked it out from the library, I realized I was wrong.  So many new varieties of cupcakes and muffins, all starting with the convenience of a mix.  Many new frostings and decorating and even party ideas.  I broke down and bought a copy, and have been using it ever since.  A few of the cupcake recipes can be found here.  I even have made several of the recipes in this book as full sized cakes, and also have had great luck with altering and modifying the recipes for various mixes, flavors, and more.  Sometime after this, I also got a great set of scoops from my sister which I highly recommend if you are going to make cupcakes or muffins often, as it makes filling tins easy.  The scoops are also great for cookie baking.

Last summer it seemed like Karen Tack and her book Hello, Cupcake! were everywhere.  The cupcakes were incredible, and it was hard to believe how easy they were to decorate and make.  (There are some tips here.)  I haven’t given up my pastry bag in favor of ziplocs for piping, but I have started to look at all kinds of things at the grocery store and other places wondering if they might be used to create a cupcake masterpiece!  A few recipes are around on the web:  Corn on the Cob cupcakes, three recipes from a Today Show segment, garden party cupcakes, flower, chick and bunny designs from McCormicks and an often changing new design on their site.

Recently a friend and fellow baker and cake decorator told me about the Whimsical Bakehouse.   I was able to get my hands on Little Cakes from the Whimiscal Bakehouse through the library.  (Yay for the library, since we’ve moved to Florida, I have little room for increasing my book collection, so I rely on theirs to help me find what I need.)  I thought this book was delightful, especially in that it included techniques, recipes, and projects for all skill levels.  I really thought the sand buckets and flower pots made out of chocolate were excellent, as were the flower cupcakes.  Not as much in this book about chocolate transfer technique, which can be found in the first book and on their site.  (So happy to see someone not afraid to share some of their recipes and techniques  online, as this will only lead to more book sales in the end.)

Finally the most recent cupcake book I have perused is Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes.  This book has a great variety of recipes and includes a ton of ideas for decorating as well.  I love that there is a HUGE picture of every recipe and project, and that so many of the recipes lend themselves to altering and modifying for different flavors or kinds.   The decorating ideas are simple but lovely, and many of them are quite charming and add to the homeiness and coziness of the cupcakes.  I absolutely can’t wait to try making flowers out of dried pineapple.  I did try the marbled cupcakes, and was disappointed that they came out very dry and the cocoa flavored batter seemed very heavy.  The flavor was good though, and I do have to wonder if not using whole milk and not carefully measuring out the batter to flavor with chocolate could have effected the recipe.  A few of the recipes are too fiddly for my tastes.  (Says the baker who often used the short cuts of the Cake Mix Doctor.)  I do not see the reason for many recipes to use only egg whites, and I will probably never buy a bag of cake flour.  And yet, so many of these recipes appeal to me, a trio of cupcakes with the flavor of favorite cookies sounds like fun:  chocolate chunk, oatmeal, and peanut butter.  (The peanut butter ones have frosting with the criss-cross fork imprint!)  So do the little cookies and cream cheesecakes and tiramisu cupcakes and many, many more.  Ten of the recipes (including the tiramisu cupcakes) from the book are here.  Some of these are in the book (including the dried pineapple flower) and here are some of the decorating ideas.