Review:  I was blown away by Tack and Richardson’s first book, Hello, Cupcake.  The designs and photos were stunning and often had a sense of humor as well.  But many of the designs I really admired (like the dogs on the cover) seemed like a lot of work, and I, who has a set of icing bags and tips and has taken cake decorating classes, was also skeptical about using canned frosting and zipper bags to do most of the work.

When I heard there was a new book, I was still excited.  And the new book blows the old one out of the water, if that is possible.  The cupcakes and photos are still stunning, but now there are both difficult and complex designs along with “EZ” ones.  I especially think the first part of the book is invaluable, with very clear pictures of cupcake materials, tools, and techniques.  Showing what and how they use all kinds of candies, sprinkles and more makes it easier to understand the directions that follow, but also serves as an inspiration for readers to create their own designs.  The labeling of the photos gives the reader a reference of sorts to match to the instructions.

The designs themselves run the gamut from cute to creepy, with bright yellow rubber ducks, bouquets of flowers, fake Chinese food, ants, cockroaches (too realistic!), haunted houses and silly monsters.  Some of them, like Ring Bling or Flower Power lend themselves to make it yourself activities for children’s birthday parties.  Others, like Formula One (a racing car made of cupcakes) , Robo-Cup (robot), Sand Castles, and Haunted House would make great edible party centerpieces.  There are more adult friendly cupcakes, like bouquets of mums and roses, golf, and one that shows you how to copy a pattern that would be great for showers, weddings, or birthdays.  For a large or more elaborate party, it would be fun to make several different designs that have similar themes to serve together, like Haunted House, Black Cats and Jack ‘O Lanterns, or Sand Castle, Making Waves, and Whale of a Good Time.

When I decided to try some of the techniques myself, I decided to try a variation of Flower Power.  First I baked perfect cake mix cupcakes using french vanilla cake mix.  They were very moist.  Then I used the dipping cupcakes method to cover the top of each in bright green vanilla frosting.  This technique really works, it makes a perfect smooth almost shiny topped cupcake.  The only thing problem is if you heat the frosting too much, it becomes runny and doesn’t stick.  Then I attached cookies to pretzel sticks to serve as the flower base.  I found this less than satisfactory, as the chocolate never seemed to get hard, even after time in the fridge.  I used regular frosting in zipper bags to pipe frosting on the cookies in different flower shapes and used various candies and sprinkles to decorate them.  I did have a hard time with this, as the frosting warmed up quickly from my hands and was hard to control.  I think possibly my kitchen was too warm, but I think in the future I might try again but stir some powdered sugar into the frosting.  I found that the spearmint leaves were easy to cut into thinner leaves and made very attractive leaves for my flowers.  My biggest disappointment was realizing that these cupcakes were not very easy to transport, although I realize now that the cupcakes and flowers could be made separately and assembled on site.

You can see a few designs from the new book on Amazon:  An Apple for Teacher Cupcakes and Playing for Koi.  Some of their designs are also available from Duncan Hines.

Review Excerpts: “Kids and adults alike will find joy in the many artful creations, including a “pizza” supported by cupcakes and topped with fruit “pepperoni”; a banana split with cupcakes in the form of ice cream scoops, and Chinese takeout complete with Tootsie Roll broccoli florets. This is an innovative title that doesn’t hold back.”–Publisher’s Weekly

Reviewed from electronic advanced copy from NetGalley.  Amazon Affiliate: If you click from here to Amazon and buy something, I receive a percentage of the purchase price.

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.